Growing Gardens

with Julia Hancock

The gift of gardens

Gardens enrich our lives in so many ways, and its good to take a few quiet moments to ponder on their benefits at this time of the year when we are swamped by so many activities that sap our physical and financial health.

A garden feeds us with an abundance of fruits and vegetables that taste so much better because we have grown them ourselves. We are able to control the environment in which they are cultivated, enabling us to eat foods that are free of herbicides and pesticides. We can pick and cook immediately, thereby preserving all the goodness and vitality. We can give excess produce to family and friends or sell it at local markets and raise money to buy seeds for the next season.

A garden provides us with beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs which we can enjoy every day of the year. We can propagate our own plants for free and swap them with other keen gardeners. We can express ourselves artistically, experiment with colour schemes and patterns of textures and shapes.

A garden nurtures our souls, giving us somewhere to escape from everyday stresses and strains. We can play here, or read a good book, or simply snooze in the shade of a large tree.

Most importantly, a garden is a place in which we can enjoy the company of our friends and family, never more so than at Christmas time (when we might even find ourselves pitching a tent out there to accommodate extra guests).

Writing my weekly column on plants and gardens over the last seven years has connected me with some wonderful Echo readers. So many of you have shared with me your ideas, inspiration, knowledge and love of gardening - gifts that I treasure.

Next year, I will be pursuing other interests so this will be my last article. I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and great gardening in 2005.

Lismore Garden Club News

Just a reminder for Club members that our January social outing is a lovely morning tea & garden ramble at the home of Mary and Emily Betteridge.

Mosquitoes can make gardening & outdoor living miserable. Be sure to take the usual precautions such as repellent and long sleeves etc. Change the birdbath water & put goldfish in garden ponds & water gardens. There's also a native tea-tree called "Mozzie Blocker" that's a natural mosquito repellent. A few common sense steps you can eliminate potential breeding places for mozzies & reduce the risk from those nasty mosquito-borne diseases.

There is a couple of different, striking, trees flowering, around now. The royal Poinciana (Delonix Regia) is a large, spreading, fern-leaf magestic tree that has very large heads of red/orange flowers. It needs a sunny, frost-free location and can be readily propagated from seed. Another tree worthy of mention is the beautiful yellow "Golden Shower" (Cassia Fistula), a small tree suitable for the average-sized garden. It has long cascading racemes of golden flowers and also can be easily propagated from seed.

This Christmas let us pause for just a moment to remember that it's not meant to be the "Silly Season", but a season of celebration, with thanksgiving, of the birth of the saviour of man, around 2000 years ago. A happy and safe Christmas and a healthy & prosperous New Year to all, on behalf of the members of the Lismore Garden Club.

Happy Gardening
Ron Burns