Visit to the gardens of St Erth in Blackwood Victoria Australia.

St Erth gardens in Blackwood

A quick entry this month on a recent visit to the gardens of St Erth in Blackwood Central Victoria. The St Erth gardens are one of several gardens operated by the diggers club which is basically a company that specializes in selling heirloom seeds and plants. They are located on Simmons Reef Rd in a small and charming town named Blackwood which is in between my hometown Macedon and Ballarat. For those not acquainted with the diggers club I recommend you have a look at their webpage www.diggers.com.au. You can find some really rare plants there. If you are into growing your own produce you will find the gardens of St Erth amazing. They are decked out with all sorts of edibles and have a large assortment of espaliered fruit trees. It also features an arboretum and several ornamental beds.

What a fantastic tree in bloom. If it wasn't for the hose in the bottom right of the picture this would look like a scene from the Hobbit.

I thought the new bean frame I made at home looked great and then I saw this one. So much more artistic than my standard design.

The Hellebores were still in bloom.

More incredible trellising.

Below are some examples of how in St Erth they use edible plants as ornamental features.

A border of chives.

Garden art / functional grow frame with a fellow friend gardener (you know who you are :) ) spying something in the background.

Espaliered fruit trees are in abundance in St Erth. They must get a large yield come harvest time.

View looking back at the house (circa 1860s) from the arboretum.

Lots of Dafs.

A view from inside the house looking out onto a part of the ornamental garden. I love the plant that is climbing the post on the left.

Narcissus and other florals in Macedon

All of my Narcissus bulbs in Macedon have finally fired up and I now have a flower or more from each of them. Below is the Narcissus x tazetta 'greats ballade'. It's the type of flower most people would associate with the word 'daffodil' however daffodil is just a common name for the genus Narcissus, so it actually describes all the species under the Narcissus genus. In some of these pictures the sun was shining behind the flowers making them appear they are glowing. Narcissus x tazetta is native to southern Europe.

The next two pictures are of unknown bulbs. I got them in a mixed bulb pack so I'm not sure what they are. The first looks to be Narcissus x jonquila 'paperwhite' and the next plant is called Narcissus x jonquila 'erlicheer'.

Lastly for this post is a picture of my grape hyacinths which have just strated to flower. I bought these at the flower and garden show this year thinking they had large flowers only to find out later that they are small. Anyway I love the shape of them so its not the end of the world. The botanical name for grape hyacinths is Muscari latifolium. A common name for this plant is 'Baby's Breath'. This one is only half open.