Hardenbergia

Winter colour in the garden with Hardenbergia violacea and Hardenbergia winter whilte

Native to Australia, this fast growing, evergreen climber features long, delicate sprays of pea-shaped flowers. Flowers are borne in profusion from mid winter through to mid spring above attractive lime green foliage and stems.This plant is easy to grow and will thrive in most conditions if the soil is well draining. Plants perform best in open full sun positions but can tolerate semi shade.

Cloudehill Gardens & Seasons Restaurant - Olinda

Gardens in the Dandenong's

This time of the year is a good time to check some of the garden in the Dandenong's, one we visited recently was Cloudehill. Cloudehill gardens can be found at 89 Olinda-Monbulk Road, Olinda (WWW.cloudehill.com.au) As well as the beautiful gardens there is also the Seasons Restaurant and Nursery, so plenty to see and do over several hours.
Although the day we went was not perfect we did have a good day and did manage to get some nice photos of the gardens and nursery. Come and take a walk through the gardens with me...

After walking around the gardens and exploring them from one end to the other, it was time to wonder around the nursery and see what that had to offer... And there were many lovely things to see.

Mt Cannibal

Mt Cannibal is a 53 hectare Flora and Fauna Reserve and is located on the Garfield North Road in the shire of Cardinia. The self-guided nature walk takes approximately 50 minutes to walk 2.2 kilometre loop track. It should be noted the the walk is very steep in some sections and may be difficult for some who visit the reserve. The views from the two lookout points are worth the walk around the reserve. Unfortunately the day yesterday when we did the walk was a very calm day and there was a lot of smoke in the air from recent burning off in the surrounding area. This did not make for good photo opportunity of the views from the lookouts but will include a couple.

While on a bush-walking visit to Mt Cannibal in West Gippsland today, we happened upon David and Paul Piko who were there gathering photos of Australian Greenhood Orchids which grow on the 53 hectare Nature Reserve. There most recent find is the Red Lipped Greenhood Orchid, which they were photographing when we met them.

David is a professional Photographer and both he and Paul are members of the Australian Orchid Society and are constantly in the field looking for specimens to take photos of. We had a browse as we walked but didn't see any other orchids until we met up again with David and Paul and were shown some of the resident Parson's Band Orchids (Eriochilus cucullatus).

Why not take a look at some of David's work with the orchids on Mt Cannibal and visit his web page.
http://www.mountcannibal.com