Event 4 2021. Geelong Botanic Gardens


Event Report by Terry O'Brien

Tuesday November 2, Melbourne Cup Day, was the day for us to explore the Geelong Botanical gardens. Not for us the thrill of flashes of bobbing silk and punting. Dick Patterson had arranged this excursion earlier but was cancelled.   Now with the recent easing of restrictions Dick was able to organise a second chance for this visit. A group close to 20 gathered at Buninyong at 8.15 and once car-pooling organised off we went to Geelong.  We experienced very foggy views of eastern beach as we arrived at the eastern park arboretum where the gardens are located. The fog soon lifted however, and we had perfect sunny conditions for the excursion. Morning tea at the Gardens tea house was the start of our immersion into these magnificent gardens. During morning tea, we discovered our leader for the day had to detour from the garden excursion and for the rest of the day his mission was elsewhere. This meant we all learnt something about medical monitoring technology and all happy to hear later that all went well for our leader. 

We meet our two guides from the Friends of Geelong Botanical gardens - Sarah King and Jane Salmon. FGBG approach to this role is very professional and was evident by their uniforms and the depth of information provided by their experienced guides. All enjoyed the cheerful and relaxed tour provided and doing it with guides certainly adds a richness that we would miss if we didn’t have this sharing of information. 

In these gardens you see the progressive development over time with 3 distinct landscapes. You start at the entrance where a 21st century garden showcases plants adapted to drier conditions. Created around a basin of sand and rocks we see the Bottle trees, Dragon tree, agaves and cacti and many plants of Gondwanan heritage. The innovative design at work here and the sculptures and plants make a dramatic entrance to the Geelong gardens. 

 When we proceed through the wrought iron gates and greeted by the bollard of Mr Bunce (first curator) and green lawns we are into the 20th century garden. These gardens are significant for their collections of heritage roses, pelargoniums, and salvias. 

Further on from the Fountain you have the original 19th century gardens and some of their magnificent heritage trees and the Gingko and Giant Sequoia are located here. The perennial border is maintained by volunteers from FGBG. 

From there we headed over to the new visitor centre and saw the new plantings in this section representing Pacific Rim Gymnosperms. The Peppercorn promenade and Gingko Avenue also grabbed my attention in this section of the Gardens. 

 The gardens have many different environments and paths to explore. So many distinctive worlds of plants to seek out. After our tour some of us wondered through the conservatory and nearby native plant garden.  

Don’t think any of us made any money on our Melbourne Cup bets on this day but we had a very enjoyable excursion. Thanks to Dick and Andrew for their organisation, our Guides, Jane and Sarah for their excellent commentary, and to all of us for being part of the group for the day. Sharing stories over morning tea and lunch all add to the day. Have no photos for this excursion report and so please add if you have some. 


  

Photos - Andrew Parker




































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