Garden Group - October & November 2021

 

Our Garden Group travelled to Mt Compass in October. We were fortunate to be welcomed by Ben from Yarrabee Iris and Water Garden Nursery, which is a wholesale nursery that nurtures Iris and water plants for online sales.

Ben’s talk and demonstration about Iris growing was an eye opener for many of us. We learned many surprising things about Iris plants and how to care for them, as well as having much of our accepted beliefs thrown out the window. It was a very interesting and useful visit. Many thanks to Sue Saunders for arranging this outing.

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November’s garden was closer to home. We re-visited a lovely home garden in McCracken that had changed hands between two of our members a couple of years ago. It was great to wander around Barb’s garden and see her re-imagining of the space. At the same time, previous owner Maureen could see how trees she had planted years previous had grown so well.  Thank you to Barb for hosting us and we look forward to our last meet of the year in December where we will plan next year’s calendar of visits. 

Garden Group - August 2021

 

Garden Group is back after winter break. Braving some phenomenal windy weather, we took ourselves off to visit the Victor Harbor Community Garden, based on Waggon Rd in the Openlight complex. We also had a tour of the beautiful remnant scrub high on the hill overlooking a magnificent stretch of coastline. We were made so very welcome by the garden volunteers and spent much time admiring the work they have done to create this great community asset.

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Thank you all!

                                                    Garden Group

                                                         May 2021

 

This May saw our intrepid garden groupers take themselves off to the town of Strathalbyn and the delightful hilltop garden ‘Sgorra Breac’. Set on the outskirts of town on a few acres, this lovely property has been lovingly developed by its owners over some years.

After building themselves a grand stone home, they set about showcasing it with mass plantings and winding paths that lead to many nooks, crannies and themed areas.

Despite the cold and windy weather, fortified by hot cuppas, we had a great morning exploring and listening to the story of the garden and how, as with all gardens, it is still

a ‘work in progress.

Thank you to our hosts Cynthia and Graeme Nicholson!

Garden Group

 September 2020

 

The Garden Group celebrated the start of Spring by visiting Crabtree Farm at Goolwa. Although the weather wasn't warm, the welcome was and we made the rain stay away long enough to enjoy our tour of this truly interesting venue. Vicki & Mick have worked hard to re-imagine a derelict dairy farm into a delightfully quirky wedding and event venue. It boasts beautiful gardens and fun spaces to explore with something surprising around each corner.

 

Thank you to them both!

Garden Group

August 2020

 

The Garden Group has been carefully meeting again since July, keeping themselves safe and luckily outdoors to still enjoy the company and the gardens.Our first get back together was a distanced 'Plant Swap' held at the extensive property of Nan Mann, where we had plenty of space to spread out. It also gave us an opportunity to road test  the new U3A SC sign in sheets, and the 'sanitise then sign' requirements. It was super to see our garden buddies again after the break and to go away with bundles of exchanged plants to keep us busy in our own gardens.

 

The meet in August took us to 'Nimbella' the beautiful native planted property of Brian Freeman at Back Valley. Planted on a hilly acreage, we could wander among an amazing collection of both familiar and unfamiliar native trees and shrubs, many in full flower. Despite the threatened heavy rain, the gardeners once again delivered fine weather long enough for us to get around and then retreat to under the verandah for a cuppa without shared utensils but safe from the arrival of heavy rain. Thank you to Anita Willis for making the arrangements.

Next month we are looking forward to visiting Crabtree Farm at Goolwa.

Garden Group 

February 2020

 

U3A Garden Group opened their 2020 program with a visit to Rosemary Hebbard's delightfully full and flourishing Encounter Waters garden overlooking the inlet.  After marvelling at the range and lushness of plantings, we enjoyed a yummy (unexpected) morning tea put on by Rosemary to welcome the start of our annual program. 

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We then all trooped off to have a look at Encounter Centre's nursery where Rosemary is a volunteer.  Quite a few plants were purchased, making the Centre vollies very happy.  Thanks Rosemary !

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Next month we are off to re-visit Raywood Nursery so will no doubt come home with more lovely things for our gardens as there's always something unusual to see there.  Time to organise our car sharing folks !!

U3A Garden Group

November 2019

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Although we expect a November Garden Group to be warm, this month's meet was not the case.  However, all rugged up and happy those who bravely attended set off to explore the pathways and wetlands of the interesting Beyond development.  We were also able to enjoy sticky beaking at the clever gardens and houses that were on show throughout our travels.

After much wnding of ways we ended up at the delightful architectural garden of member Lorraine, across the road in Hayborough, where a welcome sit down and a cuppa awaited.  Many thanks to Lorraine for orgainising our November meet, December's gather is our last before enrolment rolls arounds, and we will be at Margaret's Goolwa garden for a shared lunch to think and plan for next year's program.

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Thanks to everyone for being part of this great group !