Sunday 13 October 2013

St Kilda Botanical Gardens

Last Thursday we caught the tram on Glenferrie Road and went all the way on it to St Kilda.
It was an overcast sort of a day and we had brought along some wet weather gear just in case it rained.
It started to drizzle a bit just as we got off the tram and crossed over to the Luna Park side of the road.
We wandered along all the quaint little shops there and saw all the lovely food stuff these shops display and smelt the coffee as it was being brewed.
We came to the end of the street and noticed a sign saying  "St Kilda Botanical Gardens".
So we crossed the road to go and see what these gardens might be. We walked along Blessington street till we came to what looked like a very modest entrance. The Garden gate was open so we walked in and were quite intrigued to see some historic glasshouses.Walking in a bit further there was a lake with some ducks on it and then the Conservatory with pigeons all around. The moment I took my camera out they all flew up to the Conservatory facade to pose.
We looked through there and then walked across to the giant chess board. There are also benches around here so you can bring your own chessmen and have a game of chess.

By this stage unfortunately the drizzle was getting heavier but we persevered and took photos of some very interesting plants one of which is pictured here and I can't recall its name!!
It was on the edge of the rose garden which is the largest rose garden which pays tribute to the rosarian Alister Clark.
It is a beautifully laid out rose garden but as it is too early in the season there were not many roses flowering.
We think there were some Apricot Nectar in flower but they were not marked so they could well have been some other name.
It may be worth mentioning here that the St Kilda Botanical Gardens were created back in 1859 when the Council set aside 16 acres for the purpose of creating these Botanical Gardens. Baron von Mueller who was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, contributed several hundred plants and

trees and quite a few of the larger trees including the huge Moreton Bay trees are still in place.

We walked around the rose garden admiring its lay out and the lush green grass surrounding all the beds. It has been a wet season here too, in Melbourne and this would contribute to the overall fresh look of the gardens. It will be a delight to see this with all the roses in full bloom in a week or twos time. I hope many people will visit it then.

Who ever is looking after this garden is doing a great job and there were several men doing maintenance while we were there. I hope the council makes a generous allowance for this garden as many people would use this place as a refuge from the hectic pace that Melbourne and St Kilda seem to have.
The gazebo is just so pretty with its deep pink climbing rose and little blue ground cover.
By this stage the rain was settling in quite steadily and so we had to forgo looking for the interesting front gates which was a shame.

We hurried past the artist Albert Tucker's house and back onto the street with the little restaurants. Unfortunately we picked one which left a lot to be desired , the food was pretentiously named and not very nice to eat and the wine was outrageously priced.
However, seeing the Botanic Gardens made up for our disappointment in food.
We caught the tram back to where we were staying and hope we have convinced our family there to go and visit St Kilda again in the near future.





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