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| Magestic Mountain Ash - Eucualyptus regnans which reach a magnificent 25m or more! |
Last Thursday I took a day off work and spent some time with my cousin and his wife, for the first time in 30 odd years! We haven't really been ignoring each other, we just live on opposite sides of the Tasman! Anyway, we had a gorgeous day exploring the Dandenong ranges and checking out native plants and the Rhododendron Gardens and having a lovely lunch. Andrew is a landscape architect and an arborist, so has a great interest in all things horticulture, so we had a very green day.
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| A Kiwi ....deep in thought! |
Our first stop was Kuranga Nursery in Mt Evelyn who boast the largest collection of native plants in Victoria and I must say their selection is not to be sneezed at . I really could go crazy in that place, it's really well set up so that it's easy to find your way around. They also have a wonderful gift shop and restaurant where we had a delicious lunch and a glass of wine. Needless to say we spent some time there and didnt come home empty handed. My son is going to China on Sunday so here was the ideal place to buy something for him to take with him for his host family. The lunch we had was great and the company pretty good too. Afterwards we headed up through the magnificent Mountain Ash forest to Mt Dandendong and the Rhododendron gardens, which although not in full bloom was a nice walk and the gardens are very beautiful.
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| The Rhododendron Gardens Olinda, looking down the hill. |
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| Pretty in Pink, and sadly I didnt get the name! |
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| Gorgeous Magnolia sieboldii |
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| Gingko tree |
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| And this was a beautiful tree, A Tricolour Beech magestic and pretty pink edges on the leaves. |
The weather was ideal and we saw some gorgeous views and Janet got pressies for the folks at home and we all got a little exhausted and arrived back in Melbourne tired but happy, just missing the peak hour traffic. ..... A perfect Day!
If you come to Melbourne I guarantee a visit to the Dandenongs will not disappoint. Please leave comments I love to read them!
