One tick on the bucket list

I have wanted to visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens for a long time.
It lived up to how I imagine it would be and more.
We spent quite a few hours wandering through the gardens - this is just a glimpse.

Lush tropical "jungle" walkways

Fountains surrounded by orchids

John also surrounded by orchids

The bromeliad house

An arched walkway of orchids and philodendrons

We spent about an hour or more in the orchid house.

The bromeliad house again

We had lunch in a little café in the ginger garden

A local volunteer told us a story about Australians who were prisoners of war in Changi. The Japanese had them build steps (not these) to one of the buildings they were using which now forms part of the gardens. In typical Aussie style, they signed their work and many years later came back to check the signature were still there.

The Ginger Festival

Today we went to the Ginger Factory at Yandina - about an hours drive up the road. It was their annual Flower and Food Festival. Ginger plants, ginger recipes, cooking demonstrations and gardening talks.

I did not buy one ginger plant.

As we walked into the main cafeteria we were greeted by this enormous floral arrangement featuring beehive and torch gingers as well as various heliconia and other flowers. (This is just the lower half)

Heliconias (my favourite flower) made up the upper half

To get an idea of scale, you can see it was twice the height of a person.

 

There's an extensive garden shaded by large trees. The ideal growing conditions for gingers and other tropical plants.

Love this combination

 

This was the view from where we sat to eat lunch.

 

They sell all manner of ginger products - cosmetics, candles, etc, jams and sauces and chocolate coated ginger (some of that came home with us)

I didn't buy any ginger plants because they need more shelter than we can provide yet. Heliconias, on the other hand, don't mind full sun and when they grow tall will help provide shade for the ginger plants I might buy next year.

I did buy a few heliconias

 

and

they're already in the ground.

Wallum Wildflower Walk

Wallum is an Australian ecosystem of coastal south-east Queensland characterised by flora-rich shrubland and heathland on deep, nutrient-poor, acidic, sandy soil. Seasonal changes in the water table due to rainfall create swamps. (so says Wikipedia)

Apparently, the wildflower walk is an annual event, part of a number of nature walks in the area to mark the start of spring (which officially starts in 2 days).

I was well prepared - sunscreen, water bottle, rain jacket & camera in my backpack. Joggers on my feet.

I should have worn gum boots.

It had rained the night before our walk.... and I don't mean a couple of showers - good hard rain, so I could just as easily call it a swamp walk. In fact the route arranged had to be changed because the water over the path was too deep.

It was still fun and I saw wildflowers I'd never seen before.

Many are very tiny and delicate, like this Sprengelia sprengelioides.

We were given a pamphlet with photos plus many plants were tagged.

I noticed the labels were dry so someone had been around in the morning before our walk and placed each label.

Patersonia sericea - the native iris. The plants only grow to 40cm high . You can see how tiny the are relative to my soggy joggers.

Looking up - Banksia

Looking down - Sphagnum moss

Wallum Wedge Pea

Swamp Pea

Common Sundew - a carnivorous plant. The largest was about 4cm diameter. They grow on the ground and live on small insects.

Wallum Boronia

Leptospermum polygalifolium 

Burchardia umbellata - Milkmaids

Sowerbaea juncea - Vanilla Lily

Epacris - Bell Heath

One of the organisers explained that some years ago, the parcel of land we were walking over was to be developed for a housing estate. A group of people fought in the courts to have it declared protected. They won and eventually it was made a National Park. 

I'm so glad they did.

These were a very small selection of the wildflowers that were within a few feet of our path - I haven't posted all the pictures I took, some flowers I didn't photograph and some I did try but they were out of focus. 

These are not bright showy plants. Most are tiny and delicate- but beautiful plus many are unique to this region. 

As you can see from the photo below, if the organisers hadn't marked some of the plants with tape, I may have walked right by.

   Dry track

Wet track

Where to buy plants?

When starting a new garden from scratch, it's all very well to have a design in mind with specific plants chosen - not that I have firm plans just yet (but if I did) sourcing the plants can be a hurdle. I haven't had to buy plants for quite a while. I propagated many of the plants for Missy's garden. Although we brought plants with us, we will still need to buy quite a few.
I got a shock when I looked in the garden section of the big green shed and a tray of mini mondo grass was selling for $28. Surely I can find better value.

Being new to the area, we spent a day last weekend on nursery reconnaissance - checking out the variety, price and plant health. We headed south and visited 6 nurseries in the Deception Bay to Morayfield area i.e. within 45 minutes drive.

I forgot all about taking photos, but I will be back to a few of them soon so I will hopefully remember next time.

This was a wonderful nursery (photo from their website) Their presentation of plants was outstanding. Lots of ideas for ways to multi-plant pots and display special plants.

A different nursery called Garden Gems (website photo again) just crammed with healthy plants.

One I won't return to.  There was little variety and the plants were very expensive. All the rest were great.

One was a huge surprise. It wasn't on my list but a lovely man at one of the other nurseries told me to go there. It's a Produce Store selling animal food, farm supplies, etc and has a nursery section. Great plants quite cheap. We bought a couple of things even though we aren't ready yet to plant and this was just a fact finding mission.

This again is a photo from their website.

If we hadn't been advised to go there we would never have found their garden shop.

Then, the next morning, we went to the local markets.

Along with all sorts of other stalls and entertainment, there were about five or six plant stalls as well. Most were plants being sold by private local gardeners.

Stocked up on fruit and veg for the week here.

 

There are markets most Sundays so I think a visit to the markets may become a regular occurrence when I'm ready to start filling the garden.

 

My next reconnaissance mission will be heading north to the Sunshine Coast. There are dozens of nurseries to check out and we are getting closer all the time to being able to start planting.



 

Welcome to my new blog

It's taken me a while, but I've finally started a new blog to replace Missy's Garden. Those who know us would already know - we recently moved from an established garden on one acre to a new home on a small plot of land with no garden at all. I'm not just starting a new blog, or even just a new garden. I'm starting a new life. This blog will be the story of how that new life unfolds.

GARDEN
It seems a bit weird to start a gardening blog when we have no garden - but we will have one soon. Follow along and step-by-step you'll (hopefully) see it develop. To a true gardener, "garden" is what we do as much as the end result - and I love to garden.

EXPLORE
We chose to live on Bribie Island for the beauty and lifestyle. I'd like to share that with you as well. Much of the island is National Park. There are miles / kilometres of beaches and waterways. The Sunshine Coast and it's Hinterland are a short drive away. We intend exploring our new environment and sharing our discoveries.

CREATE
Although it's not properly set up yet, I have my own art/craft studio now. I love painting and I'm determined to find time for creative pursuits, especially with so much inspiration at my doorstep. There's a community art centre on the island with regular classes and groups so I expect to meet some wonderful creative people as well.

EVOLVE
This part was going to be called retirement, but that's not really what I'll be doing. As you know John retired from his job a few years ago and my goal is to do the same at some stage - sooner rather than later. I'm still in the early stages of this transition, deciding what will suit me best, researching options and planning for the future - so I thought evolving was more accurate than retiring.

Who knows what the next phase will look like

Not me.

Not yet.

 

I'll let you know when I do