MOTHER NATURE TURNS IT ON FOR THE OPEN DAY!

Sunday 12th September was an Open Day for three Australian Gardens in Warrnambool and, for the first time for about six weeks, we had two fine and sunny days in a row! The weather was perfect and the gardens a delight to see.
They were all so different: The Sparrow garden, on a suburban quarter acre block; the Halls garden on half an acre plus nature strip; and the Deppeler garden, a 15 acre property fronting the Hopkins River. Each one had its own character and style and all the owners were passionate about growing Australian natives and happy to talk about them to anyone interested. All were members of the Warrnambool & District Society for Growing Australian Plants and had meticulously labelled almost every plant, which meant we could quickly identify what we were seeing and either take notes for future reference or – as I did – photograph the plant AND the label. (Don’t you just LOVE digital cameras?)

Eremophila drummondii - a great way to record an unknown plant.

It was fascinating to see the different focus of each garden.
The Sparrows have a huge range of Cymbidiums, Dendrobiums, ferns and native ground orchids as well as Correas, Eremophila, Banksias, Hakeas, and other mid to large shrubs in every possible corner of the small garden.

A covered entrance sheltering Native Orchids and ferns.

The Halls, with two large house blocks to play with, have a beautifully landscaped back garden with a huge range of trees, shrubs and ground covers; as well as a front nature strip collection of native grasses, rocks, prostrate acacias and other ground covers. 

Banksia blechnifolia – a fascinating prostrate Banksia

 After a beautiful lunch on the river in Warrnambool we drove out of town to the 15 acre block of the Deppelers where we entered along a lane lined with Acacia cognate and Eucalyptus sideroxylon ‘Rosea’. There has been an enormous amount of work done over seven years to transform a weed-infested farmland into a flourishing garden and nursery. With all that space to work with, there is a very wide range of plants of every sort, from ground covers through every size up to large trees. There are views over the Hopkins River and a lot of riverside planting as well as rockeries around the house which display an amazing number of native ornamentals.

Banksia coccinea – Now there’s an ornamental!

We were able to pick up information and hints from every garden and we were also supplied with a number of free publications about growing Australian natives, weed identification, societies and associations which offer valuable membership and, at two of them, we could buy plants of many varieties at very reasonable prices.
All in all – an exceedingly successful day.
Photographs of some of the more unusual and spectacular plants are available by clicking: HERE