gardens – Canberra's Green Spaces

November 19, 2023

Canberra in late spring: ladders and gardens….

Lately we’ve had a very busy time spring cleaning the house and garden.

Paul suggested painting the cabin, which was long overdue. The good news was we had recently bought (at great expense) a very solid and reliable ladder.

However, I had recently read about the many household and garden accidents as a result of home usage of ladders.

Despite our new ladder, I was concerned about “the father of the bride”.

So, it was agreed, I would come out and hold the ladder where there were uneven surfaces.

Everything went smoothly, and while I held the ladder occasionally , I had time to look around the garden, on that lovely warm spring day..

While I stood holding the ladder, I saw some of the flowers in the garden that I hadn’t noticed recently. When there was a chance, I went inside to get my camera.

**Love in the mist …taking over the garden, but in a pleasant way..**

After a while I sat in a garden seat, but still kept an eye on Paul’s progress, especially when he changed the position of the ladder.

From my new position, it seems the garden is changing daily. The last of the sweet peas have almost doubled in size, competing with the hedge to reach the sun. They still have their wonderful scent, which always reminds me of my mother.

The Wormwood shrub was shining in the sun, whereas the Chinese lanterns in the photo below are closing up….. enough sun!

The Lupin above has been featured in a previous post of mine, and I’m proud of this showy shrub because we have tried to grow them in previous years, with no luck.

However from my observation garden seat, I noticed for the first time that the Lupin had several saplings self seeded in the pathway! I’m now hoping we can grow more Lupins for the garden.

Years ago, I read and kept a great quote from a fellow gardening blogger, Rhonda, whose blog is called Down to Earth.

“A garden will give you much more than vegetables, herbs, and fruit…..if you let it. It gives a sense of peace and connecting with the natural world, a place to think and a quiet haven from a noisy world…When you create your garden make sure you have a few seats to remind you to linger……”

It is lovely to turn into our street and see the beautiful Brindabella Mountains, everything is looking green and we are all hoping for a peaceful summer without bushfires.

Best wishes, and where ever you are in this noisy world, may you find a quiet haven.

October 18, 2023

Spring time in Canberra, the garden, the birds and housing for chickens..

Despite the changeable weather, and perhaps because we have had so much rain, all the spring flowers and bulbs were smiling this year..

The wind blows relentlessly across this part of the garden, but the tulips stand firm… I love them!

The Aquilegias are thriving in the garden, which is quite remarkable because the possum (and family, we think) pay a nightly visit to this part of the garden…. they jump into and over the flowers to get onto the plum tree. Very very annoying!

The garden looks a colourful yellow in early spring, the daffodils defy all odds and come up looking stronger every year. The yellow flowering plant on the left is Bulbinella Nutans, which we bought at Lambley Nursery in Victoria.

Australian native plants have their own colour and beauty especially in the early morning light.

This part of the garden has become very shady, with maturing Manchurian Pear trees, Japanese Maples and big and small birdbaths. All birds have their favourites!

This delicate Japanese Maple attracts the tiny Silver-eye birds and the Honey-eaters. These birds come to the tree even when we are sitting under the branches. Our granddaughter says this is because it is a magic tree.

Paul has grown some lovely vegetables this year. He has just cut some Silverbeet and he gave some to our neighbours, Lois and Sandi.

Sandi made four Spanakopita pies and gave one to us. It was delicious and we took a photo of our empty plates, and sent them to him. Spanakopitas is a Savoury Greek spinach pie.

In early spring we noticed this little Sulphur Crested Cockatoo while we were walking up Heartbreak Hill. It was soon joined by a large (noisy) group of Cockatoos. Phew!

We are frequent visitors to Open Gardens, and quite often we see varied chicken coops.

This chicken coop is in the wonderful estate of Retford Park in Bowral. What lucky chickens, it may even be temperature controlled.

I hope you are enjoying spring, or autumn in your part of the world. During this time of turbulence across the world, I am acutely aware of the peace, tranquillity, and friendship we find in our garden, our home and our neighbourhood.

September 24, 2023

Canberra: A spring morning walk after a wedding…

September has been a very busy month, as we had a wedding in the family!

Our daughter Jess and her lovely husband Mike got married in the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion, a beautiful venue built up high on the hills around the National Arboretum.

My apologies for using the above photo in my last post, however, it shows the height of the building and the views. This photo was taken a while ago and the trees around it have grown.

September is the beginning of our spring, and a festive time in Canberra. The biggest event is Floriade, a month long event in the Commonwealth Park, with huge garden beds exploding with colourful spring flowers. (the planning and planting for this festival goes on all year.) Tulip Tops is a smaller, but equally pretty display for spring, and the photo below shows some tulips called The American Dream.

Canberra is well known for its very cold winters (by Australian standards) and so we tend to celebrate spring as if we were in the Northern Hemisphere! We all long for warmth and sunshine by September, and even more so with a wedding coming up. Fortunately the stars were aligned and delivered a warm day with continual sunshine. The winds were blowing, but that was better than rain!

It was a lovely happy wedding with everyone in a festive mood. The gods were smiling on us. I hope to have some photos soon.

All good things must come to an end, and we enjoyed our time with family and friends. Our older daughter Rebecca lives in Melbourne and she and her family came to stay for a few extra days, which was an added bonus.

Needless to say, when everyone left, we missed the patter of little feet, and the early morning chatter of our grandchildren….not to mention our children and close relatives!

The Museum of Australian Democracy (Old Parliament House) looks down on the The Australian War Memorial and Anzac Parade

However, the weather was still warm and sunny and we decided to take a walk around Lake Burley Griffin. As Floriade was in full in swing we had to park near “Old Parliament House”.

Once we parked the car, we went to the gardens of Old Parliament House to see the lovely wisteria decorating some of the elegant buildings outside Old Parliament House (now known as the Museum of Australian Democracy.)

We were too late to see the white wisteria on the right hand side, and now looks as if it needs a trim.

Beyond the bench is a Bowling Green and an accompanying cottage.

Paul worked in Old Parliament House for a while and enjoyed the quiet elegance of the building and the gardens.

Beyond the gardens we found new statues of two important women in our history, both looking very elegant wearing their hats and holding their handbags. There was a plaque for both which told how much they had achieved…

Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons

Dame Dorothy Tangney (1907 – 1985) was elected to the Senate and was the first female member of the Labor Party to be elected to the Federal Parliament.

Dame Enid Lyons (1897-1981) was the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives and the first female member to be appointed to Federal Cabinet. She married Joseph Lyons who became Prime Minister. She supported him greatly, and they had eleven children and the 12th child died in infancy. What tough lives they had!

We walked down to the lake, but unfortunately we had missed the white blossoms of the Manchurian Pear trees. Fortunately I had a photo from 2019 which showed the lovely blossoms and life before Covid!

We walked along the pathway and all the trees were looking very green and fresh. On the right there are Manchurian Pear trees and on the left there are Claret Ashes. Needless to say this avenue of trees looks glorious in the autumn.

Many thanks for spending some time to read my blog post, and may your gardens be flourishing regardless of the weather!

July 17, 2023

Choughs, Bower Birds and Cockatoos: while we’re away, the birds will play..

There is no doubt about it, although we have a wonderful range of birds in Canberra, the big birds are troublesome in the winter. This year we’ve had an abundance of rain, so there is plenty of greenery, lovely rich soil (thanks to Paul’s hard work) so there are worms aplenty. We also have four birdbaths, with fresh water and/or rain water.

However, a cockatoo on top of the veggie patch is an absolute no-no, and luckily we got home in time to see this… they do humour us by flying off when we chase them. ..but all gardeners know, they’ll be back!

However, this winter we have two breeds of birds that are new to this area. The White-winged Choughs, apparently are very sociable and love to move around in groups of up to ten.

***White-winged Choughs (perhaps too young to have their tipped white wings.***)

According to the website, Birds in Backyards, White-Winged Choughs have claws a bit like a chicken, and can dig with their beaks and scratch with their claws. While we were away, they took the opportunity to rake over our back garden, and gradually turned over the veggie patch. We had a hard time persuading them to leave their garden paradise.

White winged Choughs are found in southern and eastern Australia, and are only distantly related to the European choughs. However, Kent Wildlife states that Choughs in Britain have a long history in heraldry in glass sculpture, coats of arms, flags, and even signs.

I read that Choughs are connected with kingship, nobility, wisdom and might.

I couldn’t wait to tell Paul our Choughs had long distance prestigious cousins. Paul, perhaps a little garden weary said “we should add that Australian choughs are just a nuisance.”

The Choughs have flown off to greener pastures, thank goodness, because we now have the Bower Birds.

***Two female Bower Birds picking through the wires to reach the sweet peas.***

Last year they pecked away at the foliage of our garlic crop, and this year they decimated the rhubarb and any other sign of life in the veggie garden.

Paul says they sound like Ewoks in Star Wars as they seem to chat and whistle to each other in the neighbouring trees. They are still visiting the garden, and we are still chasing them away.

Life is never dull with all these birds in the garden, but every now and then it is just lovely to see a shy King Parrot, patiently waiting for other birds to finish drinking from the bird bath. Perhaps we need a Canberra Coat of Arms for our King Parrot.

One thing about having cockatoos around every corner, we’re never lonely!

Best wishes to everyone, and may you have pleasant weather and enjoy your day.

April 30, 2023

A cruise down the Nepean River and a visit to the Mother Earth Nursery…

On a sunny autumn day, Paul and I joined a group of gardeners from the Bowral Garden Club on a coach trip to the Nepean River. This tour included a cruise down the Nepean river on The Nepean Belle, an old world style paddle wheeler designed on the Mississippi sternwheelers.

The tour included a picnic lunch and a visit to the Mother Earth Nursery, known to be a gardener’s delight!

Our **Nepean Belle** on the right hand side

We had an early start boarding the bus and drove to the Nepean River, with a few eye-catching moments on the way. As we turned towards Penrith, we passed the construction and building of the new airport in Western Sydney.

The new airport being constructed in west Sydney..

It was an amazing sight, (even from the road rather than the air) with enormous cranes that could match windmills, and along the highway we could see suburb upon suburb of new houses. All the houses seemed very close together, hardly a bit of space for gardens, and not a tree in sight anywhere!

Many years ago, as a very young teacher, I taught at a school around this area, but with no airports, and no suburbs. In fact, my walk from the train to the school was surrounded by paddocks! Now the city has come to the country!

None the less, this is a beautiful part of the world on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park.

***The Nepean Belle*** slowy moving through the water to pick up our group..

Once we boarded the boat, and chatted to fellow passengers, we were served with tasty scones, strawberry jam and cream. As you can imagine, after our early start, the scones and tea/coffee were very welcome!

The Nepean River (and the Hawkesbury River) supplies water to the city of Sydney’s five million people, as well as providing agricultural production. As such, it is a lifeline for Sydney.

As the Nepean river is at the base of the Blue Mountains National Park, it provides a haven for natural flora and native wild life, and has walking trails and canoeing and kayaking.

Some of the wildlife seen in this area are, wombats, wallabies, lizards, eagles, cormorants and even mountain goats. We did see one White Breasted Sea Eagle, but no other sign of any other wildlife.

The White Breasted Sea Eagle perched on a branch. Flood damage is very obvious in this photo..

The Nepean and Hawksbury rivers have flooded many times, however, the flood in July 2022 was the worst since 1978.

On the cruise it was easy to see the damage done by these floods, with broken trees and huge boulders rolled across cliffs and sand..

Fortunately some trees show amazing resilience, growing in between rocks, with very little soil.

This photos show the long winding Nepean River and the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park

To end the day, here we are at Mother Earth Nursery, with an enormous amount of plants to buy or just look at and enjoy..

Mystic Spires and Santa Barbara (Mexican Sage)

…and here we are back home, with our two new plants and a wish list for Paul for two new Dahlias

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today, and best wishes to all who are gardening in spring and those who are enjoying autumn (some of the time)

April 17, 2023

Canberra in autumn, down memory lane ..

Canberra is the capital of Australia, a planned city, with many parks, bush trails, green spaces and lakes. However as with many capital cities, Canberra is often seen as short hand for federal government rather than a landscape where people live. One quote I’ve read is “”Canberra has too many politicians, too many roundabouts and too much cold weather!”

When I retired from teaching in 2013, I decided to write a blog about Canberra, the beauty of the mountains and the lakes, and also the every day life of people living in Canberra.

Paul and I took a cruise along the lake, stopping at the Governor General’s House and beautiful garden.

Many of the photos of Canberra in this post were taken between 2014 and 2017, when I began blogging, and regular readers may recognise some of the photos…

Canberra in autumn is usually sunny, warm and pleasant, the best season of the year for planning gardens, going for walks, runs and rides, and taking photos!

Lake Burley Griffin in autumn, gorgeous Manchurian Pears and Black Mountain Tower in the distance.

National Library of Australia, a Tourist boat and the Manchurian Pears in full bloom.

Spring in Canberra can be windy and chilly, but the beautiful Manchurian Pears are out in bloom, which lifts the spirits. The National Library of Australia is one of my favourite buildings, often seen in my blog, I know! The small rather quaint tourist boat has, for many years, taken tourists who prefer a gentle slow tour of the lake.

In our early days of retirement, I was so keen to take photos that I dragged Paul out before dawn to walk around Lake Burley Griffin…. always worth it.

Canberra is full of early morning rowers, riders and walkers.

We often walk around the Parliamentary Triangle, and I love this Federal Government building…amongst others.

All along the paths the trees are changing, and the birds are in attendance.

The Cockatoos tend to eat with their left claw, uninterrupted by pesty photographers.

Galahs often feed close to Cockatoos, but today this Galah is with two small Red Rumped Parrots

A young cockatoo attacking the last of the tomatoes.

During summer and autumn we eat breakfast on our deck, overlooking our garden.

At the risk of getting indigestion we often have an interrupted breakfast to chase big and little birds out of the veggie patch..

Thank you for taking the time to read my post today, and may your autumn or spring gardens be full of colour and joy.

January 16, 2023

Canberra in summer: gardens, sunshine and life with cockatoos

Canberra’s usual spring planting was lost to rainy weather. Finally, close to December, the rain stopped falling and the sun came out, but most of us were still struggling with Hayfever, after months of long grasses growing in between suburbs and on verges of gardens.

The rain prevented the lawns and pathways from being mowed.

Once the rain stopped and the sunshine came through, it was lovely to walk through the garden and see it blossoming for summer.

We’ve never tried growing Lupins before, but during Covid we ordered three Lupin plants online, and this was the only one of three that survived, and thrived! The bees loved it.

The Salvias have also attracted the bees, and although I was tempted to trim this red Salvia as it spread, I took my cue from the bees buzzing around me!

When we visited the UK I was amazed to see hedges of fuchsias growing like weeds. They are tricky to grow in this part of Australia, but these two seem hale and hearty.

This hydrangea is loving its place under the plum tree and this year it has the right amount of water and sunshine.

Paul has grown an impressive crop of garlic this year, and to think he was worried that our continual rain in November, might affect the crop. Once the crop has dried out, (in our garden shed) Paul will keep the garlic under the house, in a cool dark shelf.

Buddleia /Buddleja (not sure of the spelling here)

I have included this lovely plant although it grows in Melbourne, near the home of our daughter and family. Our granddaughter, aged five, said she watched a cartoon about bees, and when they saw tempting flowers, they said to each other “Let’s have a party!”

This gorgeous blue flower is always full of bees having a party, and if we ever have a space in our garden, we’ll try to grow it.

Canberra has many paths between suburbs and plenty of choice of walks. During the summer months Paul and I walk almost every day. One of our favourite walks is near “Five Ways” otherwise known as Ken’s garden, which I featured last year.

We live on the side of Mount Taylor and so we walk up a path called Heartbreak Hill (named by one of our neighbours) and along to Ken’s garden and then back home.

Ken began by planting some Red Hot Pokers and Agapanthus on the verge of his house and garden, and then gradually extended the garden.

It is a wonderful social space where people tend to linger on a summer day, chatting to Ken, his wife, or other passers-by. It is very much valued by the community.

Not to mention birds, and Wattle Birds in particular, as you can see.

The birds in Canberra have never had such a feast of grasses, flowers, seeds and berries. As a result we now have far more big birds than usual, many living on Mount Taylor near us. (Currawongs, Ravens and Cockatoos)

When it comes to Cockatoos, the War of the Roses has nothing on the Wars for space in the best Eucalyptus trees. We live opposite two mature Eucalyptus trees, and this summer, there has been constant screeching and chasing each other in and out of the trees. Their wingspan is incredible and their screeches can be ear-splitting.

When they are in the trees, they often peel the bark and drop it, or they shred flowering trees, (or our Almond tree.)

Mercifully they all seem to fly off to the mountains once their young are mature enough to be self-sufficient.

Paul found this wonderful card in the National Library, and it just sums up cockatoos perfectly……

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today, and may you be happy and healthy in 2023.

December 22, 2022

Christmas in Canberra: birds, books, bloggers and flowers

Christmas is such a busy time that I’m going to keep this post, short and sweet.

The first sweet item is a book that I ordered online, through Booktopia. It has arrived in time for Christmas! This book is part of a series, written by Laurie Graves. Laurie lives in Maine, USA and I live in Canberra, Australia, so we couldn’t be further apart, but the wonderful part of blogging is getting to know and enjoy fellow bloggers. I have been reading Laurie’s blog posts for a few years now, and I know just how much time and effort she has put into this series.

We are a family who love stories and reading and we’ll enjoy this book. Many thanks Laurie!

My granddaughter pointed out these Rainbow Lorikeets in the playground, completely oblivious of children playing around them.

This Crimson Rosella has spent some time in our garden this year, without a partner….very unusual, hopefully the new year brings a partner.

Another Crimson Rosella, this time at the coast. He or she is navigating the spiky bush very well considering she has a beak full of food!

We recently bought a Hibiscus shrub to put on our deck, and this is the reward, a regular supply of beautiful flowers.

Another Rainbow Lorikeet swaying in the breeze…

A flashback to winter. Every year we get a visit from a pair of Kookaburras, and this year they had two juvenile Kookaburras with them.

There is something endearing about Kookaburras, and perhaps it is their early morning call, one of the unique sounds of the bush in Australia.

We walk past this plant in a neighbour’s garden almost every day in spring. I don’t know the name of this wonderful plant but it lights up the garden in the early morning.

It looks like Waratah flower with the leaves of a Woolly bush.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog post today, and may you all have a peaceful Christmas where ever you are in the world.

PS the header photo is a red flowering Eucalyptus …it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

November 4, 2022

Bathurst Spring Gardens: Welcome to old Mill Cottage

Spring has arrived in Australia, and for the first time in almost three long Covid years, we are able to visit open gardens all over the southern states.

Last weekend, the country town of Bathurst, New South Wales, held its Spring Festival.

We don’t live far from Bathurst and Paul and I met at College in Bathurst many years ago, so we have great affection and memories of this town.

Machattie Park in the centre of Bathurst.

There were many open gardens to visit, both in Bathurst, and around the district. We spent so long looking at some of the country properties and gardens that we will have to come back next year for the rest!

The owners of the gardens often provide ”a story” about their garden, and this is the beginning of the story of Mill Cottage, in O’Connell near Bathurst.

“We bought Mill Cottage, also known as the Garden House, attracted by the historic house, the old garden, and orchard and the lovely setting beside the Fish River. “

“The original 100 acre farm was taken up by Daniel Roberts in about 1829. Daniel Roberts was born in Wales in 1800 and arrived in the colony in 1826. The 1828 census lists Daniel as being a free settler, a carpenter, aged 28.“

“Daniel met Catherine Spinks about 1828. She had arrived in the colony in 1820 when she was only 13 years old, with her convict mother, Anne. Daniel and Catherine were married in Parramatta in 1828. They left on horseback after their wedding and arrived in O’Connell, where they settled.”

A very long way to travel by horseback…they were tough in those days!

‘The present owners know there was the stone and brick house here by 1837, called the Garden House. This assumes there was a notable garden from the beginning, maybe tended by the two convicts allocated to the Roberts family.‘

‘Daniel built a water mill, located about 200 metres upstream from the house in 1833. He saw the need for a place to mill the wheat that the early settlers were busy growing. Local farmers brought their wheat, it was ground into flour, and a sack cost them one penny!‘

‘Daniel became a prosperous local businessman and over time the property was sold, and the land around was subdivided.‘

Here is the impressive rhubarb patch and many other vegetables, well mulched and fertilized.

The present owners have extended and expanded the garden over the previous ten years .

The garden has mainly cool climate plants, bulbs, roses, salvias, hellebores and many other perennials, with a wonderful shady Box elder (maple) tree in the centre of the garden near the house.

We were lucky to have a lovely sunny day to visit Bathurst and surrounds, however, like much of the Eastern states of Australia, Bathurst has experienced heavy rains this year, and the Fish river, (seen in the photo below) was rising.

All parts of the garden have attractive borders of plants, and this gave us a chance to wander through the garden and take time to look at all the flowering spring shrubs.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to the owners of the property, but I did wonder if kangaroos hopped over the fence/gate to eat the abundance of fruit, vegetables and flowers.

We had a wonderful time wandering through this garden and it was a delight to be out and about amongst fellow gardeners. Many thanks to the owners of the property, as it must take an enormous effort to get ready for an Open Garden weekend.

For those who are interested in learning more about the house, Lee Steele’s Volume Two of “Heritage Homes of Bathurst and District” describes this house in more detail.

I have photos for at least one or two more gardens, so I hope you can look out for them.

July 1, 2022

Winter in Canberra: walks in Haig Park, birds, and a Book Barn when you need it..

Winter arrived in Canberra on 1st June with snow falling on the Brindabella Mountains

The first day of Winter: Photo: Canberra Times

During autumn we had seemingly non-stop rain and so the occasional wintery, but sunny day was welcome. The storm water drains around the inner city were flowing steadily with water, hard to believe after so many years of drought, not so long ago.

We have taken to walking our daughter’s dog Charlie once a week, which is very good exercise and we visit parts of the city with good walking/cycling tracks.

One of my favourite walks is through Haig Park. This park reminds me of parks in Europe, perhaps as so many of the mature trees are European, and as in Europe, people stroll through the park all week and all through winter.

The park was planned and trees planted in about 1921, as a wind break shelter within the city. 7000 trees were planted, mostly exotic evergreen and deciduous trees.

Since that time the park has had times of neglect, but is now a wonderful addition to inner city living.

However, in contrast to European parks we have possums rather than squirrels and many different colourful birds..

Despite the regular walkers, and a very popular, busy market in the park on the weekend, there are plenty of birds to be seen everywhere.

Eastern Rosellas are very shy parrots, so I was happy to get a photo of these two Rosellas.

Needless to say the cockatoos are everywhere..

Last week we went to Sydney to visit Paul’s mother, and on the way home we stopped off at one of our favourite bookshops Berkelouw Book Barn.

This inviting Book Barn has a roaring fire in winter, and is a wonderful place to browse for books, (second-hand and new ones) at any season of the year. We always have coffee and sometimes cake, which provides the fuel needed to hunt out new books and second-hand books. We came away with an interesting pile of books, as always..

*Berkelouw* *Book Barn Bookshop* Photo: Trip Advisor.

Nowadays the Book Barn is also a restaurant and a wedding venue as well. However, these don’t start until midday, so the very best times to visit are the mornings and week days if possible.

Lastly, a flashback to autumn when we visited our family in Melbourne. We always stop about half way, at a small town in the Alpine region called Myrtleford. Next door to our Air BnB is a vacant block of land, which is used as a wildlife sanctuary.

This family of Kangaroos always come down cautiously to see us…no feeding required, .. they are just curious, or as the Aussie expression would have it, they are Sticky beaks!

Finally, my favourite photo of the year so far, a young kookaburra in our garden. Every winter about this time a family of kookaburras come to our garden. I’m sure the family love the fact that we have many birdbaths filled with water for them, and many worms in our vegetable garden..(Paul doesn’t love that side of things)

However, I like to think, and I’m sticking to my story, that they also come back to show us their latest very cute offspring.

Best wishes to everyone and thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.

We are living in a turbulent world these days, and during times like this I remember my mother, who concentrated always on the small, simple and pleasant parts of life, to help get through the difficult parts, and her favourite quote, as I have mentioned before:

”When the world wearies and society does not satisfy…. there is always the garden.” by Minnie Aumonier