Garden of Evening Delight

Come on!!  Get up off the couch, you bone lazy lot; now the weather has cooled after the heat of the day we are going to walk across the bridge to the other side of the river and spend some time in the University Gardens.

We will take a short cut through the intersection where it is closed off for the tram works and walk across the bridge over the river, past the workmen who are finishing off the work on the new tram tracks and in no time at all  turn left into the University Gardens.

The gardens are towards the back of this area and were established in the mid-19^th century with the idea of introducing new plants to the colony and to promote botanical science.  What a brilliant idea!  All these many, many years later we have a lovely garden with magnificent trees and throughout the year, a variety of flowering shrubs and plants. 

Feel how cool it is here, compared to the streets with bitumen surfaces, without grass or shade trees to provide relief from the heat. Let's walk across the lawn and by the small pond.

This pond recognises Charles Luffman, 
first principal at the Royal Horticultural School.  Noted for his rearrangement of the gardens layout from the original geometric design to a more informal setting, he was also responsible for the introduction of  women students at the school.



At this time of the evening the flowers on the lily pads have folded up for the evening.

There is still a little daylight left. Let's walk over to the garden beds.

 Here we have a lovely display of yellow and gold flowers

And sitting just a little further along, a bunch of sea holly in muted shades of blue/green.

We will not be walking down this path, it leads to the Australian native section of the gardens and the light is now starting to fade. 

There was a lot of muttering and not just a few exclamations about this sign when we looked at it on the way in and this native section of the gardens is a place where snakes would really feel at home.  Even more importantly I am wearing sandals and I'll get gravel under the soles of my feet.  Not interested in this happening.

Let's turn for home.

The buildings near where we are walking are part of the Horticultural School area and as you can see all the building are surrounded by shrubs similar to the above two toned green variety. 

It's time to leave now.  All the light has left the sky and up there you can see the moon which will be taking over for the next few hours while the earth turns .

Keep to the roadway now, it is easier to see where you are walking.

Last one home has to wash the dishes after tea.  Did I hear some-one say 'Let's get pizza.'?