Saturday 23 April 2011

Another walk in the Gardens

Late yesterday afternoon Jock and I went walking in the Botanic Gardens.  the reflections were lovely.

This is a photo of what the drain now called the Brigalow belt garden looked like just after planting seven years ago.  The plants all came from the dry hinterland behind the coastal ranges just west of Mackay.  Their natural habitat is in and around creek beds which are dry for most of the time, but have raging torrents rushing down after heavy rain.  the annual average rainfall in that area is about 23 inches as compared with our average of about 65 inches.

Amazingly, the area has thrived as you can see from this photo taken yesterday.  So far no brigalow trees have been planted, I personally doubt that they would survive the wet, but perhaps we should experiment - hat is what Botanic Gardens are for after all.  Brigalow trees are an Australian native which grows in huge tracts (or used to) in Eastern Australia, particularly in Queensland.  When the trees are felled, the land becomes very good grazing and cropping land, so is highly prized.  So many areas have been cleared that there are now tight restrictions on clearing any trees at all.

I am off my soap box and had to show this serene picture of the Eulamer lagoon at sunset - so peaceful

This is looking the other way, and showing the old water tower from the other side than is shown on my header.  There must have been a couple of hundred people walking in the Gardens late yesterday as the weather was so good.  Fingers crossed it holds till Tuesday.  Anzac Day on Monday is likely to be either wet or very hot!

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures Robin - the pool and lagoon look so peaceful, and what a difference seven years of growth has made, it's totally transformed that area. It's St.George's Day for us today and hot, far too warm for April. I have come indoors to cool off. Have a good Anzac Day with hopefully comfortable weather.

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  2. Lovely photos, glad it has stopped raining for a while. We of course need rain and it looks rather as if we may get frosts instead, such a nuisance as we have crops in and the early part of the year had been so good.
    Ballarat ws great, even had a lass from townsville in our class.

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  3. Such lovely and peaceful pics. I do love the reflections.
    I hope the weather stays settled for you.

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  4. What lovely photos. I do like the before and now photos, how the planting has flourished. I say go for it and plant at least one Brigalow tree - nothing ventured and all that.

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  5. I, of course, love to see all of your garden photos Robin, and particularly those where water is featured [perhaps I see so little of it......]. I'm surprised to hear the annual rainfall for an area in NQ, it's similar to our average. We know the Brigalow tree and 'country' very well indeed, and of course, have lived in what is called the 'brigalow belt' for many years. I think you should give them a try. Have you visited our Myall Park Botanic Gardens around Glenmorgan??

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