Natural Wonders

Flowering Grass Trees, September 2009 Wilsons Promontory National Park

I've just returned from a family expedition to Wilsons Promontory - at the very southern most point of Victoria.  We stayed close by to Wilsons Promontory National Park and made a day outing to the park.

During last year's fires a large portion of the park was decimated by fire which started from lightning strike.


Like many things in life it is often when they are taken from us that we appreciate them all the more.  The most amazing regeneration is taking place in the park.  One of the most spectacular is the flowering of the grass trees.  This is most likely to take place after fire and while they send up there flowering spikes (usually brown) it is often only after fire that they flower prolifically.  And in fact in areas protected from fire they are unlikely to regenerate without these conditions (Ward & Lamont).

The beauty of the regenerating landscape is quite astounding.  In this area of the park from what I could tell the flora was primarily Coastal Banksias and Grass Trees.  The Banksias are shadows (however the fire has opened their seed pods and they will regenerate) with the Grass Trees taking centre stage with the magnificent background of the granitic peaks.  

Further on stands of eucalypts were regenerating in their rather magnificent fashion of shooting out from the trunks and larger branches making them look as if they were covered in creepers - I haven't a photo here as there is only so many times you can make the whole family stop while you take photos of your niche interest! However the Wilson's Promontory Parks website has photos of the regeneration which are very interesting.
 
At the Tidal River camping ground the main flora was stands of tea tree (immersed in water in swampy ground).  Aaah nature - you are the best designer of all.

 

 

 

Vertical Web Wanderings

Vertical Display at Flora Grubb

The thing I love about the Web is that it opens my world to many things that would otherwise simply be out of my physical reach.  One of these is the San Francisco based Flora Grubb Garden Store.  They seem to have the most gorgeous displays of plants and garden accessories.  

One of my current favourites that they have on display is something called "Wooly Pockets" not the best name you would agree but seemingly a rather delightful low investment vertical garden.  Designed as a simple modular system for creating a vertical garden for inside (waterproof) or outside.  Even better they are made from recycled plastic bottles which has to be a good thing.   

Other vertical delights featured at Flora Grubb include those using succulents and a fantastic use of tilandsias. I highly recommend you hop over there for a look whichever way is possible (physical or metaphysical).

Dreaming of Water

Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens

A couple of weekends ago I walked around the Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens for the first time in quite some time. I was devastated by the impact of drought on these gardens - the gardens used to be a local haunt for me. I spent many happy afternoons there when my son was a baby, sitting on a rug beneath a tree or strolling around. In those days the ornamental lake was brimming with water the tree canopy and undergrowth was thick and lush. No longer. The gardens are a shadow of their former selves.

A Botanic garden is a very difficult thing to maintain in drought years - many of the plants are exotic specimens that require greater quantities of rainfall than Melbourne - even in years prior to water restrictions could naturally supply. In average rainfall years this extra water could be delivered artificially but no longer. Even the indigenous plants seem to have suffered - the canopies of the eucalypts have noticeably thinned. Clearly efforts are being made to renew and replace plantings to cope for these restrictions but the structure and form of the garden has been created over decades and it is impossible to recreate this in a few years.

So it was with a fairly heavy heart that I left the garden and strolled onwards to the National Gallery of Victoria to take a peek at the sculpture garden. I had glimpsed on the NGV website a picture of a marvellous bamboo sculpture rather ironically created to invoke the idea of a rushing, torrent of a waterfall.

"Five Elements" by Master Tetsunori Kawana

The sculpture entitled Five Elements – Water is created by Master Tetsunori Kawana. Master Kawana has been creating these sculptures for more than 30 years. He has travelled the world to create bamboo installations of a spectacular scale unseen in the related traditional practice of Ikebana. His creation is a unique bamboo sculpture made from hundreds of seven-metre lengths of Madake bamboo, many split into thinner reeds for flexible construction. Rather a wonderful construction but I'm still yearning for the real thing in these thirsty times.