Oh wow!

I'll conclude this garden visit with their view over the Yarra Valley:

Leading me to some general pictures of "what it's like to be in the area"

Typical tree ferns in older growth forested areas. It's kinda funny to be somewhere where they are almost weeds, and not seen as particularly notable.

typical view, this time towards the south, not the north:

Typical thing you see in gardens - a showy native Grevillea hybrid, and a Cedrus deodara:

General remarks about horticulture in the area:

As I drove from Melbourne Airport to the eastern suburbs where I was staying for the first 3 nights, I was at first somewhat disappointed with the state of horticulture here. Clearly, they don't plant as much a variety of things as they could. Particularly telling is palms...I suspect in the suburbs of Sydney I'm going to see a lot more variety on that front. You don't see many, and when you do see them they are plain old Phoenix. I think that, just as some people in Norcal don't like them and think they are too "Socal" looking, some people around here just think they don't belong in Melbourne. Callistemons are widely planted (=over planted) and seem to be the "crape myrtle" of the area. The standard gas station plant. Native Proteaceae like Banksia are used for landscaping, but much less often.

However, when you get into the mountains - low as they are - the climate changes even with a slight change in elevation (the higher adiabatic lapse rate I've talked about) and the slightly moister, cooler climate really 'opens the throttle' on what you see. It also seems to attract more people who are into gardening. There are HUGE rhododendrons, and not just the ironclads you see near sea level, but showier English hybrids. There is just about any northern hemisphere tree or shrub you can think of, as well as many mysterious Australian ones, like the native Hibiscus which come in several different colors, the native plumeria, etc. etc. Some northern hemisphere trees are especially common, like what I suspect was Robinia × slavinii ‘Hillieri’. But it's still mild enough for zone 9b things, like Echiums. The native variegated Pittosporum is especially popular. Everywhere though, there's the lush backdrop of thick growth of ferns, calla lilies, and exotic vines like Tropaeolum. Overall it's quite stunning, and there aren't many places that create the same lush feel of horticultural abandon. The Italian Lakes region is probably the closest. Also, to some degree, parts of the Bay Area and Northern California.

A few plants are surprisingly absent. I haven't seen a single bougainvillea. Nor a single Ilex. Perhaps they are considered invasive, or I just missed them. Hardly any south African aloes...though they are in the botanical gardens, people just don't seem to plant many of them. Conifers are overall quite uncommon, other than Cedrus deodara...but for some reason, very few of those are spectacular in the way they are in California. It's actually a bit funny: though the landforms and overall scenery are broadly similar to northern California, the "standard" large tree here is a broad leaved Eucalypt. Just as Eucs look vaguely out of place in Norcal, conifers look vaguely out of place here. In the Dandenongs you sometimes see small patches of Pinus radiata I guess, little plantations for pulpwood maybe? Along the coast there are a few Monterrey Cypress. Strangely, the Norfolk Island pine has no trouble growing inland - I saw a few - but it only commonly planted at the seashore. I have not seen a single monkey puzzle and it genuinely shocking. Maybe Peter is correct and some local root rot organism kills them.

Ok...onto the Melbourne Botanic Garden. Which proves pretty conclusively what can be grown there, which is A LOT of plants.

Here's a overview of typical plantings:

I finally got to see a huge Grevillea robusta in bloom:

One mystery to me - again on the "why is the plant not common" front - was that I didn't see a single Cupressus cashmeriana in the salubrious climate of the mountains...where they should be perfectly happy. But there is a good one at Melbourne Botanic...so I'm guessing they were just never promoted by local nurseries and thus are not found elsewhere:

I could have just missed them...but I was keeping my eyes peeled for any noteworthy plants.

Of course there is are spectacular collection of dry land plants. Between this and the Australian Garden at Cranbourne, it easily rivals what you can see at the Huntington. Look at that Erythrina! Elsewhere in the garden was the tallest I'd ever seen...must have been close to 50' high.

Finally, onto that garden, which focuses solely on native plants. It's a newer garden but they've really put a lot of thought into it. I almost skipped it but I'm glad I didn't. The docents there were SUPER nice, especially when they'd found out I'd come 10000 miles to see them!

The variety of Australian Myrtaceae is really remarkable. It seems like many of the showy "Gum trees" are actually not genus Eucalyptus, but something else. This pink barked one is something else but I forget the specific genus:

They've cleverly put them on the south side of these huge rocks (yes, the SOUTH side LOL) to help keep them cool.

Concluding for now, a couple more pictures...

Grass trees at Cranbourne:

And a view of the Southern Ocean, about 3 hours west of Melbourne.

Ok more coming...eventually. Enjoy. I put up with 28 hours of flying and waiting in airports so you didn't have to!

EDIT - couple pics from my phone that I forget.

Typical row of Norfolk Island Pine aff. - seen in any coastal town in Victoria. Also notice the fire status board.

Banksia street tree:

Strange companions at the Melbourne Botanic Garden: Cedar of Lebanon and Cedar of Papua New Guinea LOL.

Wow! I can travel vicariously through your photos.

Excellent. Thanks for thinking of us (as I know you do anyway.)

Dax

Thanks for that, David. It's great to see such wonderful photos of a place I've longed to visit but will likely never manage to........unless I suddenly latch onto a winning lottery ticket!! I have always had a very strong affinity for southern hemisphere plants and it's great to see them flourishing in their native environment.

Those are Norfolk Island pines - they have the Star Pine habit, unlike the Cook Pines that are often grown in its place.

That Kashmir Cypress is denser and with smaller sprays than elsewhere, as though conditions are marginal for it in some way.

Here that tight growth on Cypress Family conifers appears to be associated with coolness. Likewise many of them grow tightly in much of Britain. Now familiar demonstration of this phenomenon is how same Leyland cypress clones can look like Italian cypress or like Monterey cypress depending on the district.

But cooler areas apparently aren't always those that cause growth behavior of this nature. For instance Nootka Cypress and other out of their area conifers growing in the hot climate of Sacramento behave in a similar fashion, growing densely - and in this instance also shrub-like.

Thanks, David. Envy a bit your traveling & nice to see the unusual things there. Getting to be summer down under!

It's nice to see pictures from there by somebody who knows plants. Excellent!

I enjoyed looking at each picture and spent some time doing it.

Thank you very much.

Embo...another very curious thing is that Cedrus deodara here do not have as much of a "scarecrow" shape when young, but more of a tight, conical appearance. May be related to what you were mentioning. In any case like I said both the big ones and small ones look better in California or the PNW. It's just one of those odd little things that indeed, only a plant lover would notice. (I myself love the scarecrow look). Thanks for the confirmation on the NIP.

Looks like a wonderland. My head would be spinning.

G'day, David, and welcome to Oz! That's a really nice travelogue you're putting together.

That pinkish "gum" looks to be one of my favourites, Angophora costata...

"The
genus Angophora is closely allied to Corymbia and Eucalyptus (family Myrtaceae) but differs in that it usually has opposite leaves and possesses
overlapping, pointed calyx lobes instead of the operculum or lid on the flower
buds found in those genera."

And the Banksia is a B. integrifolia.

Keen to see more pics as you head north...

The pictures are beautiful, and makes me sad that I will never be able to go there.

The first picture of the gazebo reminds me of a picture that I took in southern Indiana. USA I always found it interesting that we take vacations to see pretty scenery, but can not see the scenery around the place where we live

Good point^.

Great trip, davidrt. More travel envy right here! I enjoy looking at gardening shows etc. from that nation.

Wow! Gorgeous!

PART 2 - Interior Victoria, Snowy Mountains and Canberra

Shax...that named did ring a bell and you are of course you correct about which species they are, per an expert on native AU flora I was fortunate enough to meet up with.

I wanted to see plenty of the true countryside of Australia, so after seeing the Great Ocean Rd. I drove up to the north via an more interior route. One thing following up from the prior comments - as you went inland, the Cedrus deodara became more "normal" looking for us. As we see them in CA, the PNW and the Southeast. I started noticing this in the town of Ballarat. Interesting, the typical rural farms north of Port Campbell have hardly ANY exotic plants near the main house. Often you just see a small 1 story house with a couple native gums giving shade, and a few rose bushes. Not a single palm for miles and miles, even though the climate is still 10a or 9b at worst.

Another thing I wanted to comment on is that white barked birches are extremely popular in any town in Victoria, even fairly far inland, and they look perfectly happy. Probably one of the top 3 northern hemisphere trees there.

My first night stop was in the town of Wangaratta. Here's a view of the Victorian Alps, which are slightly in front of the Snowy Mountains from this POV.

On the way to the Snowy Mountains, I drove past Lake Hume. Although exotic plants are also uncommon here, there was a guy who had a bunch of huge Archontophoenix or similarly tropical looking palms in his yard. Proving the climate is still quite mild even this far inland.

One by one I started going through successively higher mountain passes. But the valley areas were still very mild, as is evidenced by this picture of the town of Corryong - elevation 1000 ft - with huge skydusters.

In the town of Khacoban you have to buy a $17 AUD pass to visit the Snowy Mountains. There are two routes through the mountains, one by AU's tallest mountain, and the other, less traveled, via the Kiandra Pass. Which also passes Australia's highest town, Cabramurra. I took that one. But I was still treated to some views of Mt. Kosciuszko on the drive.

As I kept climbing, I got to the areas where the valleys are so cold, no native trees can grow at all. You can see the snowplow guideposts.

We've read online of Australians disparaging the climate of Canberra as cold...but I don't see what the fuss is about. Many of the plants you can see at the Melbourne Botanic Garden, you can also see here. Their slightly cooler nights also let them showcase rare plants from drier parts of AU, like the famous desert pea.

cont...

And another odd rhododendron relative from cool coastal areas:

They have a Norfolk Island Pine, but it isn't very big. Maybe it gets somewhat frosted. Bigger was this Hoop Pine:

Their selection of rare natives was really stunning. Maybe better showcased here than at either Melbourne Garden. For example, this Callistemon polandi had very showy reddish new growth. It was about 15' tall...so obviously no major problem being frosted back, even though it comes from far northern Queensland! I took a lot of pictures of crazy rare Myrtaceae and Proteaceae and might put them in another thread.

Here's a classic Aussie scene: Doryanthes and a gigantic white barked gum:

There are various Waratahs here and some are huge 15' tall trees:

They are mild enough for the odd looking bottle trees:

Thanks david -- seems like you're having a good time. Wish I were there. Last 2 days here were 40 mph winds and blowing snow.

Some people have all the fun. :) Thanks for all the great pics David!

Another fine report. I can't however reconcile that birches comment. It just doesn't make sense-at all. At the risk of offending, these weren't per chance Malaleuca or some such, were they? I know the first time I saw those things in Florida, the first thought I had was birch. I hardly think you'd err that way, but I just can't account for that particular statement. Is it not much, much too hot? I know Victoria is a big place, but I never thought of any of it as birch country.

Oh, and "hoop pine"at least to my eyes, in this photo-looks more like a Casuarina. Could be wrong about that but it looks to be. Fairly blurry so could be off on that.

http://www.baag.com.au/silver-birch/

David, when you travel through the glorious Blue Mountains (you'll want to take heaps of pics of the incredible huge escarpments, and I recommend a diversion to the Mt Tomah Botanic Garden), if you find yourself near my beautiful home town of Mudgee, feel free to give me a call for a catch up. My local number 0401 *** 661.

I do work during the days but will find time to greet you and chew the fat. You may even find some things of interest on my own humble 100 acres of Oz bushland...

Sure doesn't look right for birch-any birch. Dry, scrubby land, not at all typical of a birch forest area. Weird. And if not for that link, unbelievable.

Tom...if you're referring to my 2 pics directly above your post, it IS dry scrubby land, and not a birch to be seen. I wouldn't waste the water on them. The only non Oz native trees on my place are in the fruit orchard...

Tom,

it is understandable to be skeptical but the strange combinations of things is what makes gardens in SE Australia so weird and wonderful. You can see a yard where the main landscaping consists of Betula pendula and Yucca elephantipes, the latter ALSO being one of the most popular northern hemisphere plants in the suburbs! Melbourne in degrees F is only about 6F warmer than England in the summer...on average. Hardly warm by our standards at all. Almost like Portland, Maine: 79F/60F. During heatwaves, however, it can get a lot hotter. And presumable the birches down there have defoliated in the worst summers.

And btw the She Oaks are incredibly wispy! The Canberra Australian National Garden has a huge collection of them, but I walked right past it w/o taking any pictures because they all look the same to me.

Shax,

I'm having to write "in arrears" - so the posts are a few days behind the trip. I might get caught up tonight. I got into Christchurch very late last night. Would love to have seen your place but really had limited time...I do have things to get back to and am having to pay a neighborhood kid to keep my 100+ potted plants taken care of. Thanks for the kind offer though...if supersonic flight ever becomes feasible and cheap, I plan to visit Australia frequently haha. Some Australians have gently ribbed me for complaining about the flight length. They are used to having to fly that long to get anywhere else in the world. It's interesting in speaking to them...so many people here have been to the US. While I doubt more than 5% of people in the US have been to AU or NZ, if that.

"Some people have all the fun." fun would be being able to afford taxis LOL. Last night my flight was late so I got to Christchurch after the last bus for downtown left. Had to drag my 80 lbs of baggage WAY back to the terminal and ask about other options. (they put the public bus stop in a very out of the way spot...clearly they favor the taxi companies in this regard) Luckily there is a kind of taxi/bus hybrid airport shuttle that is < 1/2 the cost of the taxis but I ended up waiting for 30 minutes. Didn't get settled in my room until past midnight. But, all kidding aside, I am having fun. But it's a different kind of fun that a lot of people's vacations, and more work, too. My legs are still sore from hiking up the Illawarra escarpment.

Anyhow only agenda in Christchurch is to see the Botanic Garden here which is a short walk away...so that's all for now.

Thanks for taking the time to post the narrative and all the pictures.

Indeed, a most strange set of possibilities. Wonder if bronze birch borer heard the siren call of those pendulas? That's a N. American native pest so maybe not in Aussie. But they sure find that tree with ease when it is brought to these shores!

They generally look so healthy, my impression is that that pathogen doesn't exist here.

Insect. I was partially in jest-but I suppose in this day of items being on one side of the earth in the morning and on the other side in the afternoon, all is possible. I shouldn't think BBB would actually show up there, but then again..........

What sort of conditions do the Waratahs thrive in?