Changes in the Gardens

This is what this waterway looked like when our Botanic Gardens opened just five years ago. Behind the waterfall there is actually a stormwater drain which had to stay - it drains the stormwater for a large part of the adjacent suburb - so the landscape architect made it an integral part of the design.

This next photo was taken one year later. The twiggy shrub in the right foreground has been completely defoliated by caterpillars. This seems to happen about three times a year, with no detrimental effect. The leaves grow back and the shrub keeps growing!

We are just about to celebrate our fifth birthday and this is what the waterway looks like now! It is very hard to see to the top because of the lush growth, most of which has been pruned heavily at least twice and still looks like this. We do live in the tropics after all.

We are very proud of our Gardens, they are so peaceful to go walking in, and most visitors are very impressed - of course we get the odd one saying why haven't we done more planting in the newest sections. They seem to forget that infrastructure has to come first, no use planting if the irrigation system is not in place. More later.