Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne

One of the delights of Melbourne is the Cranbourne Garden, an auxiliary to the Royal Botanic gardens. This garden specialises in Australian native plants and is set in acres of natural bushlands which can also be explored by eager bird watchers.

The centre of the gardens has been designed to represent the Red Centre of Australia and from that central point other themed area have been designed. Our visit was only a short one, but I am looking forward to returning and spending more time walking through the other areas.

This, I think,  represents one of the rivers with towering red cliffs and rock pools.  Someone more local may be able to give an accurate explanation.

And a few of our native plants

Liz Needle  -  linking with:

"Our World Tuesday"

"Outdoor Wednesday"

"Wednesday Around the World"

Melbourne Botanic Gardens

I recently spent a very pleasant few days in Melbourne with cousins. One of our outings was a morning in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens - in the rain, I might add. I was amazed at the beauty of these gardens right in the centre of the inner city.

I  first visited way back in the sixties, having always felt an emotional tie as my great grandfather  E B Heyne was head plantsman there in the 1850s and drew up the plans for the original gardens under the guidance of the director Ferdinand von Mueller. Family legend would have it that he was the designer, but later research has found no indication of this, though he was certainly the draftsman.

This is not a copy of the original which was in black and white, but it is a modern replica.

It was rather surreal and kind of nice walking through gardens where my great grandfather had worked and seeing old trees which he may have seen and even planted over 160 years ago.

Liz Needle  -  linking with

 "Our World Tuesday"
 "Outdoor Wednesday"
"Wednesday Around the World"
"Wednesday Waters"

Still Spring

The weather man is being so kind to us this Spring with a series of beautiful mild days - perfect for gardening - and a decent rainfall every week. I have only had to water the garden once this Spring. Great for the water bill - I wish I could say the same for the electricity !!!

Some more Spring delights from the garden.

My one Rhododendron has been gorgeous - actually I have 2 of them, but only this one actually flowers properly. I have always struggled to keep rhododendrons alive - heavy clay and not enough water perhaps. Anyhow, this one has thrived.

I do love the Phildelphus. The flowers are so delicate and pure.

And the roses have excelled themselves - but please don't ask their names - I am hopeless at remembering names.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Floral Friday Fotos".

Spring

We waited a long time for Spring this year and although the heavy rains were welcome, they have made a lot of work in the garden Every vaguely sunny day I have been out weeding, cleaning up the remains of the bulbs, doing lawn edges and tidying after winter. Now Spring is here and almost gone and I still have to clean up the later bulbs, lay mulch, another weeding and a lot of Spring pruning.  Nevertheless, despite the weeds, the garden has really put on a great display.

Early in Spring, the irises were really gorgeous

The prunus showed its Spring coat

The dogwood looked stunning

 The crab apple looked like a bride in her lovely gown

The magnolia looked a dream

The tulips popped up among the bluebells

And the aquilegias came up all over the place

I do love the garden in Spring. Still more to come next time.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Floral Friday Fotos".

Wild Bird Wednesday

I recently spent 5 wonderful days on holiday with a very dear cousin, Margaret and her husband in Melbourne. We wandered through Botanical Gardens, visited Heronswood - home of the Diggers Club -and caught up on years of memories.

John, her husband is a very keen birder, so we were constantly stopping to look, exclaim and snap - with pleasing results. It is so enlightening to walk with someone who knows birds. I am determined to go back and spend some time in John's favourite birding haunts - my birding tends to be limited to our garden.

I will post photos of the gardens later, but here are some of the bird shots I was able to capture.

Black-fronted Dotterel taken at Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens. The shot is not as clear as I would like, but it was taken at a very long range.

A baby Dusky Moorhen. His siblings were off having a great time with mum and he was on his own. He was being harassed by a couple of silver gulls. The next two shots were taken at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.

This was very cute. This baby Purple Swamphen was chasing his mother everywhere for a feed, constantly getting under her feet. He was lucky not to be stomped on.

One of my favourite little birds - Superb fairy-wren  - so photogenic. This little fellow and his mate were in coastal scrub at Mentone.

And probably my favourite shot of the holiday. Taken at the Mornington Pier, these guys are proof positive that either birds can't read or that they refuse to follow the rules of man.

Thanks for reading this blog. For more great bird and outdoor shots please visit

"Wild Bird Wednesday"  and "Outdoor Wednesday".

Liz Needle