Monday, October 25, 2010

National Botanic Gardens Canberra

I really love visiting Botanic Gardens, whether they are the state garden, or one of the many regional gardens...or even in this case the national garden...I find them to be inspiring places that bring out ideas and thoughts about my place in horticulture and arboriculture that would probably otherwise never occur to me.

The National Garden in Canberra was the best garden yet...probably because of the striking combination of established Eucalypts with genera of plants laid out beneath them...across the site.

Entrance to the gardens from the cafe

There really is no way a post on the blog can do justice to the garden...but I will try and put up the best of the photos I took.

Blending shrubs under trees
  
One of the oldest established trees in the garden; The Parish Tree
 
Showy Banksia flowers

As always my eye is drawn towards interesting tree body language

Some of the trees had extraordinary cambium splits!
 
Bed of Acacia


Attractive water feature of the local rock strata
 
Very attractive temperate rainforest section

Raised timber walkway

The walkway goes for quite some distance 100m or more

By the time we had completed the short walk, which should according to the informational signage have taken just 90mins....3hrs had passed and it was time to rush to the airport and fly out of our nation's capital.

I could easily imagine spending a great many days wandering around the Nation Botanic Gardens if I lived in Canberra.

I suspect it is exactly what a great many people do.