Lechenaultia formosa |
By contrast with Canberra's long start, the Mount Annan land wasn't acquired by the Royal Botanic Gardens until 1984 and it opened to the public only four years later. The small miracle of its rapid development was achieved due to more recently discovered techniques for growing natives. The sharply sloping hillside on which the Terrace Gardens sit was cleared back to the bedrock in 1987. The terraces, some concrete and others of compacted earth on the lighter slopes, were used to retain the growing medium on different levels. |
|
| Crushed coal waste from the nearby Clutha Coal Washery was used as a base to give excellent drainage and then covered by more than half a metre of an appropriate soil "cocktail" containing differing quantities of sand, peat and the topsoil, plus fertiliser and mulch. Fast-growing wattles were planted as nurse trees to protect young plants from wind and frost. Shelter belts of casuarina and wattle were put around the edges to give further protection. |
Guinea flower |
|
Grevillea 'Poorinda Marion' One of the many marvellous Poorinda cultivars |
In this way, the spectacular achievement of Mount Annan was brought about in a very short time. We need such places, where native grasslands can be displayed, where native landscape can be considered. This, I have no doubt, will occupy our thoughts increasingly. Factors such as urban sprawl, hobby farms, land degradation, eucalyptus dieback and the spread of weeds are contributing to the death of genuinely Australian landscapes. Gardens such as these show that it need not continue.
-John Blay
(Some parts of this first story first appeared in The Good Weekend Magazine.) |
