Great Expectations

I started my blog with great expectations of writing something every night, but with work and home commitments I am not always finding the time.

Finding time to do the things we love!
With my other loves, my grand children, my garden and a love for taking and working on photos with a collage and photo editing program, spare time is hard to come by. I have been working on some collages for my grand children, choosing photos of each with my husband and myself. We are very close to our grand children and one day when we are no longer around they will have some beautiful photos to hopefully remember us and remember just how special to us they were.

Winter Colour with Correas

©2008 nansgarden.blogspot.com
Winter colour at the Junction with correas, as Australian plant lovers we have quite a few of these beautiful plants in our garden. Left is a collage of photos that I took this past winter.
Known as Australia's Native Fuchsia, the Correa is an amazing and versatile garden shrub of various sizes and flower colours. Once established, it can actually tolerate periods of dryness and does not require regular watering. It is a plant that is not as widely used in today's gardens as one would hope - which is a pity.

Photo - collage Correa Australia's Native Fuchsia

Cymbidium Orchid Collage Collection

Cymbidium orchids in bloom make the most elegant and eye catching displays. They are also an excellent proposition because flowers of most types last for many weeks. I love my garden, the pleasure that it gives me to walk outside and see the beautiful display in my very own garden. I also love taking photos of the these stunning flowers, what better way to display them than in a photo collage.


Photo - Cymbidium orchids

Cymbidiums Orchids In Flower

It's orchid time and they are in flower and looking stunning. Unlike most people who grow their orchids in pots, I grow mine are in the ground. The soil at the Junction is sandy loam and it drains water very well, which is good for the orchids as they don't like wet feet. Here are is a cymbidium photo from my garden.

Photo - Cymbidium orchids

Side Garden Makeover

The start of a garden for little miss grand daughter, who from the age of six months spent a lot of time and had regular sleep overs at Nan's and Pops house. Her love for the out doors and for Nan and Pops garden started when she was just a toddler. So with this in mind I started a garden where little miss could go exploring, hiding, playing, digging, getting dirty and just having lots of fun.

At the side of the house there was a garden of sorts, two large orchids planted into the ground but very little else. Before we could make a start on the garden bed itself we had a couple of other projects that had to be completed first.

The side garden bed had very little to offer apart from two orchids, there was a pergola that was quite was in good condition. But there was no path, no garden edging and the side fence was falling down and needed to be replace before we could make a start on the garden.

So the fence was replaced (we paid someone to have this done), then we laid a gravel path and next we made a start on putting in a garden. We used concrete sleepers that were made by our local garden supply, once in they will never need to be replaced. They won't rot, warp, they will with stand the elements and the grand children too. The finished projects made quite a difference to the side of the house, the garden bed was now ready for some plants to go in.

Then came the idea for my well, I had bought the cherub some months earlier and it had been sitting in the shed waiting for the fence and the garden bed to be done. I think that the cherub looks quite good inside the well. I am very pleased with the end result, with red gum chips as a mulch to finish it off.

Changes To The Garden

One of the first things to be done was to make changes the front garden. With no theme or design and a mixed array of plants (no natives) planted without much thought to where they went, something just had to be done.


With the help of son Mat who did all the hard work of neuking the garden of all plants that were of no value at all. Mat re-designed the shape and lay out of the garden beds and with some good local gravel we re-laid the paths.


With some of the home grown native plants in pots that we had bought with us on our move, we set about planting out the garden. After planting it out we mulched with a good load of red gum chips.


After a lot of hard work the plants grew and the end result was worth the effort. Little miss grand daughter was out in Nan's garden every chance she got and enjoyed every minute.

Move To The Junction

31 August 2001 We moved into our house in Junction Village a quiet and peaceful place to live.

Junction Village is on the door step of the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. Home of the new Australia Gardens, Melbourne's newest Botanic Garden to open in over 100 years .

Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne is one of Victoria’s most precious areas of native bushland and offers nature-lovers the chance to explore 363 hectares of untouched heathland, wetlands and woodlands. The Australian Garden is a place where visitors can immerse themselves in Australian flora, landscapes, art and architecture. This amazing new garden features a gallery of exhibition gardens, sculpture and displays - all highlighting the beauty and diversity of our Australian landscape.

The Australian Garden features approximately 100,000 plants, including 1000 trees, in 15 different landscape displays and exhibition gardens. Visitors can enjoy learn about how to use Australian plants at home, by talking to one of our Volunteer Master Gardeners, or by joining a tour with one of our knowledgeable guides.

The first 11 hectares of the Australian Garden opened in May 2006 with landscape features such as the Red Sand Garden, Rockpool Waterway, Escarpment Wall sculpture and Eucalypt Walk. A Visitor Centre incorporates information and educational facilities, a cafe and shop.

The second and final stage of the Australian Garden, covering about 15 hectares, was planned to start later in 2006 and take about three years to design and construct. Additional major landscape features such as a lake, more display gardens, artworks, an events space, and extended educational and visitor facilities are planned for this section.