Hamilton Base Hospital Gardens
Winter update........
Gadday there bloggers. While I am sitting here writing this blog it is seven degrees outside and it is trying to rain, that would be Winter! It has been damper than the last few years. At a quick glance, it appears we have measured almost the same amount of rain this year as last for April, May and June, being around 160mm. It is a positive sign and hopefully a trend that continues.
In the garden, the grass has slowed right down now and only needs a trim every fortnight or so. I have finished the rose pruning and can think about moving a couple of deciduous trees and shrubs. I have a bed that needs a makeover near the Education Centre and am concentrating on that. It involves killing out some Acanthus (a plant I love, but which always fails over Summer), leaving an empty bed. It also tends to spread like a weed and compete with everything). I’ll then shift a couple of the roses there before digging it all up and planting out with whatever. I guess I will see what is in the nurseries at the time. For practicality, I seem to favour hardy exotics and natives nowdays and of course, there is always room for Daphne. Recently, I had reason to visit the Police Academy at Glen Waverly and was impressed by the simple yet effective gardens around the old monastery. It was mainly large shrubs and trees but definitely all drought tolerant plants, the same sort of thing we have here but older and more advanced.
Apart from that there are some hedges to trim, weeds to remove and general cleaning to observe.
Around the grounds, there is the sweet smell of Daphne everywhere and in between that you get the odd whiff of Wintersweet, the plants of which were strategically planted some years ago and are starting to show up. My relatively new bed of Camellias along the doctors clinic are flowering already and should be quite something in a few years time. A number of natives including Thryptomene and Hardenbergia (Happy Wanderer) are also in full flower and look stunning. I see the Geraldton Wax are also budding up around the Chapel. Of course, the big old oaks, elms, liquidambers and ashes all add to that winter look. I love this time of year….
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