Welcome to the Winter Edition of your journal,
The season is bringing a mix of weather for gardeners round Australia. Some are facing severe frost, others are enjoying a respite from summer’s heatwaves, a few are experiencing winds and blustery storms, but the most common event is the ongoing drought. In Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra, severe water restrictions have returned.
Many country towns have been on level 2-5 restrictions since 2004 and Sydney’s revised Water Wise program has been in place, but not seriously enforced, since 2009. Everything changed when NSW water storage plummeted below 25 percent and Sydney metropolitan storage went below 56 percent, triggering the operation of the desalination plant.Perth, Melbourne and Sydney now have operational desal plants.
Gardeners must reintroduce all the proven techniques and practices that conserve water, while keeping their gardens alive. We’re up to the challenge. This issue we continue our focus on plants and people who love them. You’ll meet one of the world’s leading plant breeders;a volunteer who looks after the old roses at Sydney's historic Rookwood Necropolis; and a gardener who modernised a 150-year-old garden, while treasuring its historic plants. There are design tips from professional garden designers Paul Bangay and Marcia Hosking, and David Musker lets us into the secrets - and the hard work! - that make his Garden at Broughton Hall so extraordinary.
Meanwhile take a break - we do have to slow down for one season - andenjoy a read and a cuppa indoors if it’s too cold out.
Good gardening, go safely,