A Visit to the Gardens

Some photos from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, on the Queens Domain in Hobart. I used to like going here in winter because less visitors but all the interesting stuff is still there. I’ll show you some of the interesting stuff below but I only got to part of it. The photo above is a new platform adjoining the duck pond.

This is the duck pond. What I like about this, is no matter how much the surrounding area changes–and the visitor information/cage/shop is nearby–so the area changes a lot, this bridge is always there.

Now, this is the Gatetakers Cottage, which now has information about the Gardens features, history etc.

But the real interesting bit is the doors open off the little entrance hall at an angle, which makes rooms that aren’t rectangular.

So this is the bit of the garden I mostly took photos of. The building on the left is the conservatory.

The sandstone it’s built from was originally part of the Hobart hospital.

This little building up in the far corner is cool. I mean literally cool.

7.5oC (45oF)

The Sub Antarctic Plant House recreates the environ of a sub-antarctic island, specifically Macquarie Island.

Up behind there is a herb garden, which is, well it’s a herb garden, but that wall alongside it has things in it.

It’s one of two old walls within the Gardens. I’ll copy a bit from the website:

In 1829, Governor George Arthur ordered the construction of a heated wall to protect frost tender plants and extend growing periods of fruit trees on the boundary of the Colonial Gardens. Similar to the style to the then popular heated walls in English Kitchen gardens with internal channels built into the thick brickwork. In theory coal fired furnaces sent hot air through the channels, radiating heat through the wall’s thick brick and stone surfaces. However the convict-built wall was only heated on a few occasions over the years as it was soon realised that this functionality was no longer needed.

I hadn’t noticed these before, but they are heritage apple varieties Lord Nelson, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Renette du Canada, Ribston Pippin).

I think this entrance is new, to the “Resilient Garden: gardening in an increasingly drier climate”

Cacti!

If you visit outside of summer, the trees are more interesting, even in mid-March.

The Tasmanian Community Food Garden. From the website:

This Garden is a working organic production and display garden, with a multitude of veggie production practices displayed including an example of the original six-bed crop rotation system made famous in the original patch … it emphasises sustainability, highlights food security and produces local fruit and vegetables for the wider community. This garden provides inspiration and practical ideas for both the home gardener and other community gardens.

Guess who is 200 years old this year?

This is the second wall.

Sir John Eardley-Wilmot became Governor in 1843 and with the appointment came the responsibility for the Gardens, which were suffering badly after ten tears of neglect following Davidson’s departure. Complaining of a lack of funds he called several meetings of the Tasmanian Society which at the time loosely oversaw the running of the Gardens. He seemed to have had a gift for antagonising the more influential members of the community, many
of whom withdrew from the Society, to the Gardens’ detriment.

The monument to his tenure is seen in the 4 metre/12-feet high convict-built brick wall, which stretches 280 metre/400 feet north–south across the Gardens, supported by numerous buttresses. It also extends in an east–west axis and finishes to the rear of the Administration building. The use of convict labour for this project, when unemployed free men were available, caused social unrest, and his reason for construction—“to keep grasshoppers out” — was derided. The wall did however, remain as the eastern marker for the Gardens’ border for many years and for most of this time contained only one opening towards its southern end.

And that’s as far as I got this time.