Our Sustainable Gardens

Garden News – December 2007

It isn’t much more than a year since the grade 5/6 students planted our
Waterwise gardens, and look at the size of the plants now! It’s a great
time to have another walk around them.

The Italian Garden, between the Italian room and Electra Street, has four
Herb beds planted with Italian parsley (of course!), sage, green and
golden oregano, thyme, perennial basil, lemon balm, lemon grass, garden
cress and garlic chives. Along the edge of the driveway is a Rosemary
hedge, and along the fence is our Olive Grove, underplanted with Italian
Lavender. We have a mosaic bird-bath to install in the centre of this
garden, which was decorated by children at the school.

Leave the Italian Garden along the Stepping Stone Path. The plants in
this part of the garden haven’t grown as fast as some of the others
because they are competing for water and light, with the beautiful large
Eucalypts which you are walking beneath. Eventually, however, these
plants will form a hedge along the path, which will make the path feel as
though it is in a green tunnel.

You are now in the Indigenous Grassland Garden, which is planted with
local grasses and wildflowers. If you look closely at the seedheads of
the grasses, it is easy to tell them apart. The long, soft, cream
coloured plumes are the flowers of the Plume Grass; the fluffy, shorter
cream ones are Wallaby Grass. The brown, slightly spiky seeds are those
of the Kangaroo Grass. The annual Bulbine lilies, which flowered this
spring, are dying down now. However, they have left behind lots of small
seedlings. The Native Geraniums have also flowered well and are
self-seeding freely. We have used similar plants in the planting of the
Octopus Garden in the Prep area.

Walking between the Hall and the Library, you are in the Reflective Shade
Garden. If these trees keep growing at the same rate, we will be sitting
under them by next summer, reflecting!

Across the breezeway, are the two garden beds which make up the Bird
Sanctuary. We have had Honeyeaters feeding from the Grevilleas already,
and also other birds and butterflies. These garden beds have suffered
from foot-traffic (particularly the one near the Canteen!), and some of
the students and I recently re-planted the edges of these two gardens.
Please try not to walk on the plants.

We have one remaining 3/4 Forest, located next to the 3/4 playground. The
young trees are starting to look established now, and should soon start to
grow quickly.

Finally, a very big Thank you to the Water Warriors, who have been saving
water for most of this year. I have often been able to water a plant
which looked thirsty, only because of their efforts. Without the extra
water they have put on the plants, many would have died. Thank you!

Alison

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