Melbourne Places » Gardens

Guilfoyle’s Volcano in the Royal Botanical Gardens – look into the crater.

Melbourne — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 06:49:20 +0000

There has been some water seepage from Guilfoyle’s Volcano. To address this, the water has been drained and a new liner on the bluestone wall is being installed.

At the time of writing this – mid July -it is a chance to look inside the crater of this folly and see what an enormous space it is. It is mind boggling to think of the amount of water that it will take to refill it.

Guilfoyle’s Volcano is part of the water management plan which enables The Royal Botanical Gardens to improve the use and management of water. So this huge reservoir of water is put to use.

When these repairs have been finished the floating islands will be restore. I guess they will be start from scratch and it will take time for them to become established again.

It was interesting to return to Guilfoyle’s Volcano again and of course fascinating to find it empty. It is about 15 months since it was established and I first saw it. See here

The plantings have grown. Most of the species have taken to their new home with love and have flourished. They help to create an architectural structure to the garden. This gives a strong visual impact.

Getting there:-
Tram 8 will take you almost to the Volcano. Get off at the Corner of Domain Road and Park Street and walk into the gardens. It is right there.
The Botanical Gardens can also be accessed from St Kilda Road – follow the signs to Guilfoyle’s Volcano.
Parking:- 1 hour free in Domain Road. Paid parking in Birdwood Avenue.

Opening Hours:-
The gardens are open from 7.30am to sunset every day of the year.

Tours:- can be arranged by calling (03) 9252 2429

Butterflies at the Melbourne Zoo

Melbourne — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:41:15 +0000

The door to the Butterfly House

The butterfly house at the Melbourne Zoo is one of the nicest places to be on a cold winter’s day. In the summer it has charm but it is in the winter that it is magical – a place where everyone quietens and move slowly. Boisterous school parties loose their bounce as they enter and their voices lower. We talk softly to each other in the Butterfly House.

The atmosphere is tropical and heavy and in this atmosphere the butterflies flit about. They are delicate and fragile, quick and beautiful – hard to catch on camera.

There are feeders for the butterflies to sustain themselves.

Stand still and they settle briefly on your head or arm. There is a faint and gentle pressure when they alight on a bare hand or arm.

The butterflies charm and entrance and to be entranced you have stop and pull back. There are a few seats and they are always occupied and people stand and lean on the railings.

It is possible to name most of the butterflies from the identification boards but somehow that doesn’t matter. Just saying, “Did you see that blue one?” is enough.

A butterfly identification board

I am sorry that there isn’t an independent butterfly house we can visit on it’s own. I would like to see one in the Melbourne CBD. It is a place to be soothed and I could see myself popping at lunch time after a trying morning.

Nonetheless the zoo is always interesting and in a strange sort of juxtaposition of huge and fragile the elephant enclosure is by the butterfly house. This give a chance to watch the elephant family lumbering along as they go about their daily routine. Mali mentioned here in a previous post is grown but is not keeping pace with the younger male baby. He is going to be a much larger elephant as all bull elephants are. Watching the elephants and then stepping into the Butterfly House is an unique experience.

Melbourne Zoo opening times:-
Daily 9.00 to 5.00pm including Christmas Day

Phone:-
(o3) 9285 9300

Web Site-

http://www.zoo.org.au/MelbourneZoo

Getting There:-
Tram – No 55 runs from West Coburg through to William Street in the city and stops outside the zoo.

Train- Upfield Line from Flinders Street to the Melbourne Zoo Station (Park Royal Station)

The sealed capsule in Women’s Pioneer Garden, Royal Domain Gardens

Melbourne — Mon, 16 May 2011 06:16:09 +0000

The nice thing about doing this blog is that I keep learning more interesting information about Melbourne from the comments people leave on my posts. I have written about this beautiful and tranquil garden before in the The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden Post. Julie has left a comment asking about the capsule that is underneath the sundial.

This is the result of a fund raiser for the establishment of the garden. In the 1930s women paid one shilling to put their name or the name of a pioneer woman ancestor on a list. I have read that thousands of names – the exact number doesn’t appear to be recorded anywhere- were collected and the capsule was buried under the sun dial with the supervision of the Unemployment Relief Programme. Thinking on that it suggests that one shilling was a lot of money for people to pay. There is a plaque.

Julie asks if there was a copy taken of the names and a record kept of them. From what I can understand that wasn’t done. I imagine that in the 1930s it wasn’t easy to copy documents.

Does anyone else have any further information? It is good to remember the women who helped to make this country great.

Getting there:-
The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden

Any tram from Federation Square that runs along St Kilda Road as far as the Domain Road Intersection, or if you want to get off in Domain Road and walk across the park lands from there catch the No 8.

There is metered parking along Birdwood Avenue and Linlithgow Avenue.

Melbourne Botanical Gardens and the Terrace Cafe on a wet day

Melbourne — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:30:20 +0000

I joined friends for lunch at the Terrace Cafe in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens on a wet weekday morning. It was a long standing date and we went despite the rain.

The easiest way to reach the Terrace Cafe that overlooks the ornamental lake is to enter the gardens from the corner of Anderson Street and Alexandra Parade. The paths are lined with trees which shelter them from too much rain.

The entrance on the corner of Anderson Street and Alexandra Parade

The gardens are different in the wet. The first sound we noticed was the pure ringing note from the bell birds. They appear to like warm, wet, still days.

As we walked moorhens scooted around us giving their high pitched squawk, the earth smelt of vegetation and the noise from cars in Anderson Street was deadened.

Friendly Moor Hens

We passed this notice.

I always look for turtles but I have never seen one even on a wet day like this one. I wonder if they are real and if any one has ever seen one.

It is quiet expect for the birds, the sound of rain on the leaves and the voices of visitors. Even voices seem to quieten on this moist day. It was peaceful and relaxing wandering along to the Terrace Cafe.

The cafe was restful too. We sat outside at the back completely protected from the rain and with glimpses of the lake. For a wet day the Terrace Cafe was busy, couples chatted over coffee, singles read, someone wrote and a group of mothers met there with very young and quiet babies. The voices came from the mothers in animated conversation.

The ornamental lake in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens as seen from the Terrace Cafe
The cafe is known for its scones, cream and jam. It is the one of the best places to have a Devonshire tea. The scones are so good you want to go home and try making them so you can keep indulging.

Scones cream and jam at the Terrace Cafe

Lunch is fairly simple.

Baguettes with a variety of fillings. These ones are smoked salmon and avocado.

Thai chicken pie.

The chips were excellent. If you like chips order a serve to have with your coffee if you just want a snack.

Presentation is tops. One of our group brings her own bread to have sandwiches made to order. This is what they created.

To cleanse your palate the fruit salad not only looks good but is refreshing. I like the way they write on their white plates

Rain or shine the Terrace Cafe is a relaxing place to be with good simple food. There is a garden shop next door with some interesting items including a very beautiful umbrella covered in pansies. Too beautiful to use – a beautiful present, perhaps.

Getting there:-
Tram No 8 get off at the corner of Domain Road and Park Street.
Enter the gardens from there and follow the signs.

Parking:-
There is 3 hour parking in Anderson Street and 2 hours on Domain Road.

Opening Hours:-
The Royal Botanical Gardens:-
Every day of the year from 7.30 to sunset.

The Terrace Cafe:-
9.45am to 4.00pm, May to September
9.00am to 5.00pm, October to April

Alister Clark Rose Garden St Kilda Botanical Gardens – they have names, now

Melbourne — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:25:22 +0000

Something wonderful has happened to the roses in the Alister Clarke Rose Garden in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens. Well, it is wonderful to me. Some lovely person has identified these roses and now they have name plaques.

There is something about looking at a rose and knowing its name. It adds an extra pleasure. With no names it’s like a never ending sea of flowers. There is no way to distinguish one from the other. I like to isolate the individual. I have mentioned the lack of names before see here. And see Ester’s comment. I hope it has been a labour of love and my thanks to Ester.

It is also fun to see the names the rose breeders have come up with; Dolly Parton for example. Would you have guessed the name by looking at the rose?

Then there is Apricot Passion – it sounds like a wallow in a mango.

Reading the names as I did the other morning, showed how many of the roses had been propagated by rose breeder David Austin.

Then there are those attributed to Alister Clark and of course it is his rose garden. This name of his is a puzzle.

I thank the ‘Rose Namer’. It is lovely to become acquainted with these roses – it’s a pity the prickles prevent a handshake.

Where:-
St Kilda Botanical Gardens
The gardens are open from sunrise to sunset (from dawn until dusk) seven days a week.

Getting there:-
96 Tram to the terminus the end of Acland Street. Walk up Blessington Street – on your left.
67 Tram to the corner of Brighton Road and Carlisle Street and walk along Blessington Street -on the right off Brighton Road.

Fitzroy Nursery – Artist’s Gardens on Brunswick Street. Fitzroy

Melbourne — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:53:36 +0000

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy can be hot on summer days. But even the hot pavements don’t keep us away. We still flock there to meet, drink coffee, eat, shop and so on. I often browse in the weekends and when I wish for a cool breeze or just time out from the hurly-burly of the street I head to the Fitzroy Nursery on the corner of Brunswick Street and Leicester Street .

This is favourite Melbourne Place of mine to relax, unwind, cool down and drift. I love the atmosphere, the sound of running water and all the large leafy plants. I have mentioned these gardens in a previous post here .

On a recent visit I was introduced to some new and different metal sculptures. As I listened to the sound of trickling water and stood under the shade of some large, leafy shrubs and trees I admired these iron sculptured animals.

Grant the Goat

Blind Mouse

The metal animals seen in my previous post are made from recycled corrugated iron and created in New Zealand. They have moved to new homes and these have taken their place.

This is Clara the Cow leading the bunch along Brunswick Street

They are made in Vietnam from recycled and scrap metal. I understand that they are made in a community workshop with the money going back into the community. Check them out – you can do this by walking past. They are so creative. I can’t decided whether the colours are the original colours painted on the metal or whether there has been a bit of touch up. If you look carefully you can see parts of old brand names. I’m fascinated by their eyes. I have been trying to work out what those metal circles were used for in their previous life. Someone may know.

Where:-
Fitzroy Nursery – Artist’s Gardens
390 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy

Opening hours:-
9.00am to 5.30pm weeksdays
9.30am to 5.30pm Weekends and Public Holidays

They change their hours slightly in the winter – may be worth checking.

Phone 9417 3272

Getting there:-
Tram 112

St Kilda Botanical Gardens – the Magpie-larks make it time to stop and stare.

Melbourne — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:05:45 +0000

A pair of magpie-larks or mud-larks, as they are sometimes called, have honoured the Rainman statue in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens by making a nest on his arm.

They look very much at home and secure as they fly to the statue and settle on their nest to keep their eggs warm.

I haven’t seen many of these little magpie–larks in the gardens. You can hear the shrill, piping voice of one or two of them occasionally. So I think these must the ones I heard piping and shrilling away during the winter and I like to think they see the gardens as their home.

The Rainman is rather a forlorn figure these days. His pond is almost empty and his base is exposed so he no longer looks as if he is standing on water.

The Magpie-larks have chosen a secure and friendly place to bring their family into the world. No four legged-predators can get across the muddy pond and disturb them. When it rains the Rainman is there to shelter them.

The magpie-larks build round nests that are quite small. They make them of grass, plant material then plaster all this together with mud and then line the nest with feathers, soft grass and fur.

I like the thought of the three of them; the Rainman and prospective Mum and Dad settling down together every evening.

These two small black and white birds don’t appear nervous of being watched and photographed and they are happy to potter around in the muddy edge.

Magpie-lark or as it is sometimes called mud-lark at the St Kilda Botanical Garden

Getting there:-
96 Tram to the terminus at the end of Acland Street. Walk up Blessington Street – on your left.
Trams 67, 3 or 16 to the corner of Brighton Road and Carlisle Street and walk along Blessington Street – Blessington Street is on your right when you get off the tram.
Opening Hours:-
Between sunrise and sunset seven days a week and the conservatory is open between 10.30am and 3.30pm week days and 1.00pm and 4.30pm Saturday to Sunday and public holidays.

Cooks’ Cottage set in the Fitzroy Gardens takes you back to the 18th century.

Melbourne — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 09:20:38 +0000

This is not a cottage that James Cook, the great explorer and discoverer of Australia, actually lived in himself.

His parents moved there after he had left home to begin his life of adventure. It is thought that he visited the cottage at times when he was on leave from the British Navy and in that way has a strong connection with it.

James Cook in the garden of Cooks’ Cottage

James Cook is one reason to visit the house, other reasons are its charm and its depiction of the way life was lived in the cottage in its early years. It was built in 1755 in Great Ayton in England and moved brick by brick to Melbourne in 1934.

The cottage is sweet. Sweet is a good word because by today’s standards it is like a dolls house. It is tiny, the doors low and stairs positively dangerous they are so steep and narrow. There is a dress on show that was worn by a ‘lady ’of the day. How she managed to go up and down those stairs carrying ‘stuff’ and not get tangled in her skirts and finish her life in a heap at the bottom, is hard to understand.

James was the second of eight children so when the Cook family moved into this cottage we can suppose there was still a number of children at home.

When you look at the kitchen, imagine a family of say four children moving around, working, eating and stepping over the family pet. It would be something of a logistics feat and we can only suppose that everyone was very careful where they put their feet. There would be no place for anyone the least bit clumsy.

This is a version of an 18th century door mat. It is made of flint and I understand the same flint was used to make fine bone china. The door mat has stood the test of time and is still effective.

Cooks’ cottage is well worth a visit. It is charmingly arranged with clothes and furniture and objet d’art all from the right period and the house certainly has a feeling of a home. You can image the occupants crowding around the table in the kitchen, writing at the desk upstairs and scraping their boots on the door mat .

There is an audio component that helps to explain life in Captain Cook’s time. However I found that the number of people who were visiting when I was there drowned out most of the sound.

The garden is joy. It is sort of laid out like an English kitchen garden with herbs and flowers mixed together.

I was impressed with the angelica plant. I love angelica when it is crystallized and used in cake cooking.

A healthy angelica plant in the garden at Cooks’ Cottage.

Where:-
Cooks’ Cottage
Fitzroy Gardens
Wellington Parade
East Melbourne

Opening hours:-
Monday to Sunday: 9am to 5pm

Phone 9419 4677

http://www.cookscottage.com.au

Getting there:-
Fitzroy Gardens are about 10 minutes walk from Federation Square
Tram:
No 75 and 48 travel along Wellington Parade.

Camellia time at the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens is July and August

Melbourne — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:46:04 +0000

The camellia collection at the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne is planted in an imaginative way. The area is a sort of square with a twisting path that wanders between the plantings giving a touch of magic – almost as if you were in a private room of camellias.

Turn right after this beautiful tree and you are in the camellia garden

The magic is more pronounce at the moment with plantings of daphne amongst the camellia trees. The perfume from the daphne wafts around as you stroll along the path. It’s a heady sort of perfume.

There are early and late camellias so you are never there when every tree is in flower but the Royal Botanical Gardens say August is The camellia month. There is plenty to see at the moment and many of the species are identified by name.

Some beautiful white blooms.

Clumps of snowdrops tucked between the camellias give a touch of early spring.

Getting There:-
Any tram that goes down St Kilda Road.
Tram 8 runs alongside the gardens and into Domain Road which also borders the gardens.

Opening Hours:-
7.30am to sunset

St Kilda Botanical Gardens – a winter view

Melbourne — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:18:00 +0000

The St Kilda Botanical Gardens are in winter mode. It is a lovely time to visit and see the gardens preparing for spring and summer. Occasionally you see a sign of things to come with clumps of bulbs sending up their first spring shoots.

The ambiance in the Alistair Clarke Rose Garden is different at this time of the year. The roses have been pruned – the green and the flowers have gone and the canes are stark against the mulched ground.

I am interested in their pruning style. When I studied the canes and what was left after such abundant growth earlier in the year I realized that I had been very timid when I pruned my few roses. The gardens have cut them back severely.

I am looking forward to seeing how these canes sprout and how quickly the flowers come. Last season they were beautiful.

The grass is very green after all the rain we have had and bare branches of the deciduous trees stand out against the sky and the luscious green of the Macrocarpa hedge that protects the rose garden.

There is a lot to see at this time of the year.

Getting there:-
96 Tram to the terminus the end of Acland Street. Walk up Blessington Street – on your left.
Trams 67, 3 or 16 to the corner of Brighton Road and Carlisle Street and walk along Blessington Street – Blessington Street is on your right when you get off the tram.