Our trip to the Ferny Creek Horticultural Society was attended by 32 members. We gathered on a cold, cloudy morning, ready for a wet day in the Dandenong Ranges. However just as we began our guided tour, the clouds parted and the sun shone, highlighting beautiful views of the surrounding hills and the autumn colour in the garden.
The garden consists of a huge range of established, ornamental plants including some unique and rare plants. It provides space for even the largest trees to grow and to show off their true form. The Mt. Fuji flowering cherry tree for example, often restricted and heavily pruned in the suburban garden, was beautifully displayed.
The ‘new' garden section is situated in an open, warm space andthe ‘old’ garden is situated in a cooler section which is shaded by magnificent eucalyptus trees. The garden features many plant collections such as a large planting of various proteas. There is agroup of trees selected for their unusual or beautiful bark including the cork oak with its soft, textured bark. There is also a collection of Kurume azaleas which were all selected from the ‘Wilson 50’. The ‘Wilson 50’ is a list of 50 varieties of Kurume azaleas which were originally chosen by Earnest Wilson when visiting Kurume, Japan, in 1918. The selected plants were then propagated and spread to gardens and parks around the world. The Society currently has a project to try and identify the specific varieties of the ‘Wilson 50’ grown in their garden.
Despite the visit being in late autumn, we still saw many plants in flower. An interesting plant displaying a bright yellow flower was Metrosideros laurifolia. This plant is a relative of the New Zealand Christmas tree but originates from New Caledonia. Other flowering plants included some beautiful and unusual fuchsias and there was a vireya bush from Papua New Guineadisplaying brilliant orange flowers. While the garden lacked the full colours of Spring, the timing of the visit allowed us to admire many other outstanding features of the plants. There was a plant called winter gold for example, which bare of leaves, displayed outstanding yellow/gold branches.
Our tour concluded with morning tea and the Society’s nursery was opened for plant sales. The lunch stop was Ferntree Gully Hotel. Thank you to Helen and Marilla for organising this interesting and enjoyable trip. Pat and Helen’s work even included taking lunch orders to speed up the lunch delivery. We also appreciated the time and knowledge that the Society’s volunteer guides shared with us.
