On May 2nd the Willow Glen Garden club ventured
into the ACT for an excursion to Canberra’s National Arboretum which is home to
94 separate forests containing over 48,000 trees including extensive
collections of rare and endangered species from around the globe.
Everywhere you look art has been imprinted into the
landscape, lit timber panels and glass etchings tell stories of plant evolution
as they frame the entrance walk into the award winning ‘Village Centre’, Once
inside the centre, you are immediately struck by the beautiful “Tree Ring”
floor feature which has been skilfully crafted using mostly native hardwoods.
The Arboretum also houses many unique sculptural artworks
such as the “Armillary Sphere Sundial” located on ‘Dairy Farmers Hill’ and
‘Nest III’ which is a stunning sculpture of a wedge tail eagle on its nest. the
children’s playground is an artwork all of it’s own!
Pleased to escape the morning’s icy chill we congregated
inside the architecturally outstanding ‘Village Centre’ lobby. While we waited
for everyone to arrive we explored ‘The Curatoreum’ which is the Arboretum’s
charming little gift shop and spoke enviously of Warren and Judy who were unable
to join us this month as they were off gallivanting in warmer climates.
Joy’s birthday the previous day seemed like the perfect excuse
for coffee and cake so our rather small group quickly made our way to the café
for an extended morning tea and catch up. With our president away, the lovely
Irene stepped in to chair the meeting and ensure that we at least briefly
discussed our gardens before heading off to explore the bonsai exhibit!
What has been best described as “living artworks” The
National Bonsai and Penjing Collection showcases around 80 specimens both
exotic and native, each perfectly manicured tree or miniature forest of trees
has taken many decades to create, some were over 60 years old which we were
told was still fairly young for a Bonsai, with the oldest known worldwide
having been handed down the generations for over 800years.
We were lucky enough to see several of the tiny trees
displaying magnificent autumn colours and we felt as though we were giants
peering into tiny worlds as we wandered among the display; I half expected to
see fairies darting about the little branches!
We then had a walk through ‘The Canberra Discovery Garden’
which is all about teaching sustainability, they have planted vertically and
traditionally with several edible plants and vegetables within eye catching water
efficient raised garden beds. The pansies and marigolds dancing among the
aubergine and tomato’s also demonstrated companion planting beautifully as I
noticed bee’s busy gathering pollen despite the cool overcast morning.
The National Arboretum is free to visit (although parking
costs do apply) and makes for a lovely day out for the whole family, with
plenty of picnic spots and the children’s acorn themed playground is
amazing! The ‘Sprout Café’ inside the
Village Centre has great coffee and fabulous cakes. The Arboretum also offers
the fine dining ‘Conservatory Restaurant’ with delicious and beautifully
presented culinary delights that will tickle any taste buds, the portion sizes
are generous and desserts are incredible; I highly recommend the chocolate sorbet
with sour cherries, mmm!
There are always public events and free guided forest walks
running and you can find out the latest happenings via their website www.nationalarboretum.act.gov.au
.
As always we welcome new members and please feel free to
check out our blog www.whispersfromwillowglen.blogspot.com or find us on Facebook!
Our next meeting is at John & Caroline’s place on
Tuesday 6th June at 10am for more information you can e-mail us at
willowglengardenclub@gmail.com
