The variety of plants around North Melbourne is vast and interesting, though it has a noticeable lack of natives. A few streets are lined with Eucalyptus and Callistemons but thats about it.
The above Callistemons are growing out o circular grates in the concrete, its a pretty bizarre sight, from a distance they look as though they have just sprung up.
Eucalyptus provide a lot of shade for the cars, and look great with the trains whizzing past coming from...BENDIGO!
As part of this blog I wanted to look at natives, but noted the lack in the area to comment on. I am, however, from Eppalock, just outside of Bendigo, where there are plenty of natives. At the moment I don't have any photos from Mum and Dads but I wanted to put down what I've been thinking about today in regards to the bush they live in. On the weekend I spoke to a friend of a friend, a Burnley graduate who now works in landscaping.We got onto the topic of the Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne and they native plantings there. He made a really interesting comment, that he sees Eucalypts and Callistemons as mainstays, things that are reliable to plant, keep alive and will provide a good aesthetic, but the real beauty of Australian landscapes and habitats is what you don't usually see. He pointed out that the rain of the previous year has awoken seeds that have been dormant for years, at the right times wild flowers are springing up where they previously have not and shrubs have grown so quickly they look like they were always there. It seems like an obvious point but I think it is a great image, seeds laying dormant in the harsh Australian soils for decades, then springing back up to surprise people who had forgotten they existed, or who had never before seen them. This type of changing and self regulating environment would be like the holy grail of garden design, and it happens constantly.
The reason I mention Mum and Dads place is because when I think about it I have seen this many times. We moved to their 20 acre bush block in 2003. A beautiful and reliable landscape of Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa), Sticky Everlasting Daisies (Xerochrysum viscosum) and Chinese Scrub (Cassinia arcutata). These along with a few others appeared every year during the drought or persisted wonderfully throughout. Then we had a wet winter, and the change was amazing. The first thing I noticed going back at first was the amazing amount of green, it was so bright and almost didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, asif the air itself had an emerald colour, even mums roses were looking good (she's English, shes lost the accent but can't shake the roses). In the bush there was an amazing shrub that had popped up and was dotted around the place in huge numbers, I later found out it was Egg and Bacon Plant (Eutaxia myrtifolia) that was awesome and everywhere, but I had never seen it in 8 years of living there.
That whole time this great plant had been there, but I either never knew, never noticed, or it was laying under the surface waiting to pop and and freak everyone out with it's sudden appearance. This spontaneity of natural landscpapes is something I miss now that Im in Melbourne, the surprises the flora and fauna provide completely independant of human influence is something you so rarely see in planted and thought out gardens. This independence also makes saying 'this land belongs to mum and dad' seem arbitrary, they live on it and no-one else is allowed on it, but the activity and life on it are so far removed and will carry on regardless of ownership or land titles (The back half of the bushland is legally protected).
Unfortunately this post feels incomplete without photos, so I will be sure to post some ASAP, i just wanted to get my thoughts down while they were fresh.
Note: While the plants listed are all natives, I have yet to check which are indigenous to the area.
North Melbourne from Google Earth
Mother and Father dearests place, the small patch up the top is theirs, the huge patch across the road is part of the Kimbolton State Forrest that goes around Lake Eppalock (via Google Earth)
...just wanted to note how great Lake Eppalock looked while it was low...
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