Gardening and growing great plants.

Rob and Jane cross the Nulla.

You've seen the movie - no you haven't. But this story does somehow remind me of 'Thelma and Louise' which sees our cast comprising of two of 3AW's finest gardeners and experienced travellers. I bet they do have a few travellers stashed away somehwere in that caravan.

That's right, you probably heard Vasili filling in for Jane Edmanson on the 3AW gardening show. Jane is caravanning across the Nullarbor with Robyn Hollaway - a legend herself in the art of selling radio advertising. So as the 2 ride off into the distance looking for their Brad Pitt, lets hear a few thoughts from this dynamic travelling duo:

August 3rd

Hi All,  it’s Wed 2pm and we are at Ceduna just about to go for a walk/explore.  27 degrees, sunny, eating at the sailing club tonight with the sailors!!

Car and caravan just magnificent.  Sleeping like logs and drinking and eating like royalty.Scenery just perfect, birds lots of galahs, dingoes, elephants, emus (true)  Staying in Wayside stops with other caravanneeeers and also at parks.

Both well and laughing all the time.

August 7th

Still on the Nulla and having the best time ever.  Yesterday we spent 5 hours at the head of the Bight watching the magnificent whales with their amazing babies,  So close to the shore and around 40 Mums and calves!!!  Today as we crossed from Ceduna to Eucla we stopped off at every point possible, drove down to the Bight and sat watching more whales, giant limestone cliffs, sand dunes, turquoise sea, very restful and quite overwhelming again.

The wayside stops are fantastic and lot’s of travellers use them instead of staying in caravan parks.  They are set in the scrub, no electricity of course but we have the battery pack for all power and the Baby Q Weber for cooking on.

August 12th

Hi all,

We are off the Nulla, we made it, we received our diploma from the Information centre Norseman, we also bought one of those lovely we crossed the nulla tea towel for you all!!!

We didn’t contribute to any road kill . We managed to eat and drink our way across in great humour, laughing all the way to the next gum tree.

So here we are in sunny downtown Esperance in the Foreshore Caravan Park, after camping off road across the nulla, the hot shower was fantastic.

Today we spent touring the Archipelago, sea lions, fur seals, dolphins, sea eagles just to mention a few of the highlights, and the great tourist road around the most magnificent beaches I have ever seen.

We met this bloke who lives in Mornington, travels here each year to take visitors into Cape le Grand and he is taking Jane and I out for the day tomorrow..... not my type but Jane?   He’s a true blue aussie rough diamond.  Lovely bloke who helped us unhitch the caravan, please note the corrects terminology we are picking up!!, and talked for the hour and a half on the intricacies of caravanning....tyre pressure, parking, backing...etc.

From us both we are good, enjoying the fun of travelling this wonderful country, listening to the sea, watching the bright stars.

August 15th

Beautiful morning to wake up to this morning . we are sending this today as we are heading back across the Nulla calling into Fowlers Cove (3 days away) to go whale watching in a boat. Then to  Streaky Bay to pick some supplies for the way home and that will be a hessian bag of oysters. Bike riding into the Clare Valley and topping up the cellar at Barossa.

 

We have had 3 days in Esperance  lovely to have a sabbatical.  Cape Le Grand is a wonder.  The wildflowers were beautiful and the beaches superb.  We left at 8am and got home around 5pm. Long day but worth it.  Yesterday we went to Lake Moonabell gardens to see the grevilleas, Banksias, Hakeas etc.  All natives endemic in W.A. amazing!!

We then saw a sign ‘Yabbies’ and bought 1,1/2 Kilos– 9 inches long.  Before we could prepare them for eating they escaped from there carry box and scuttled all across the floor in the bathroom,   into the sink .into the veggie box etc. Tricky little devils to pick up. We are hoping we don’t meet any on Nulla waiting for us in the bathroom!!!  They were big enough to even eat the claw meat.

 

This will be the Rob and Jane Show saying Hooroo for now, and we hope you tune to have a listen in Monday morning next week....We think we’ll go home now!!!

 

Did Flemings have the best garden at Chelsea in 2011 ?

By James Wall

Ok,....so I may be biased, but Flemings show garden at Chelsea looked to be best in show, or at least a gold medal, but it was awarded a Silver Gilt. Well ummm, I only actually saw the gardens on Better Homes and Gardens last night, but I did just check out the 360 degree virtual tour on the Royal Horticultural Society website and still reckon it was close to the best.

Flemings garden

Of course best in show went to the Daily Telegraph for the third year in a row, who sponsored the garden designed by Cleve West - referred to by some as the Heston Blumenfeld of landscape design - how very British ! Ok, so it was a few poles with some nice flowers.......now now.

Cleve West - Best In Show

Of course the Australian Garden by The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne took out a Gold and was another feather in the cap for designer Jim Fogarty. It included bright orange sand which looked like it had come from the Simpson Desert. There was also a boomerang shaped water feature to really aussie-fy it.

Jim Fogarty designed Australian Garden

Why did Flemings not win a gold. I am thinking that maybe it was the white canopy - very stylish, but maybe too modern for the RHS crowd. If anyone went to the show, let us know what your thoughts were about seeing it in the flesh.

maybe the structure was too modern

Still, it looked like Wes Fleming was having a pretty good time. He laughed with the queen, talked to the Prince of Monaco and was honoured to meet Fergie's daughter Princess Beatrice.

Wes entertains the Queen

Wes looks honoured to meet Princess Beatrice - both hatless.

Ok, so one of our staff in Justine actually did go to Chelsea, and when she gets back, we will post her review and see what she thinks. And even though Flemings didn't take out a gold, Wes will be back down to earth as we speak, and in a couple of weeks, Flemings Nurseries will once again deliver thousands of bare root fruit and ornamental trees to nurseries all over Australia, including right here, at Gardenworld.

Around The World In 80 Gardens

Last night I watched the first episode of  Around The World In 80 Gardens. (8.30pm Tuesday nights on ABC). As the BBC say: "In this stunning series, Monty Don set off on an enchanting journey to visit 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens, from ancient to modern, large to small, and grand to humble."

I must admit that I wasn't disappointed. Monty is a bit of a puncy pom, but he is rather dapper and presents the show with that initimable English charm. Last nights episode took in Mexico City's floating gardens, other Mexican delights and then colour and charm in Cuba. The scenery was sensational but also showed the simplicty of good garden design. Every gardener would have come away with at least one idea they could use.

Next week the show includes gardens from Australia and NZ and includes Dame Elizabeth Murdoch's Cruden farm, in Langwarrin, Melbourne and Alice Springs Desert Park in Northern Territory. Well worth a watch I would have thought

Links: Around The World In 80 Gardens

More than just good looks.

By James Wall

Am at Mount Coolum in SE Queensland and driving down the road towards my accommodation I see this good looking thing. It is tall with a shady appearance and has the most vivid orange flowers I have ever seen. It's like a lighthouse every time I drive past. After checking with a local I find it is in fact a tree called the African Tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata). Well, I was pretty impressed, until he told me it was a weed and that when the flowers fall on wet concrete, it is dangerously slippery - yes, this trees even got OH&S issues! A quick check with the QLD Dept of Primary Industries and yes, it is a Class 3 declared plant under Queensland legislation. "It infests gullies, vegetation around waterways and disturbed rainforest". It is an even bigger problem in Nth Qld and is also a problem in Hawaii. So much for good looks.