Louise Down Under: The Wild, The Crazy, and The Familiar. . .

I've decided to go with a very straightforward format to show you the various plant forms from the Botanical Gardens. Many folks here regret the abundance of flora from other parts of the world here. . and indeed, as with most cultures with international beginnings, the native is often left behind in favor of the more familiar. The plants from home. There is a vibrant respect for the native plants, here, though, particularly as water is increasingly becoming a limited resource. So. From the original to the invaders!

Bronze leafed Dahlias. I have a soft spot in my heart for dahlias, but these were so lovely, with a sea of bronze leaves. A North American (Mexican) native, as opposed to

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This plant, a South African native, is the Bush Lily. We saw it in bloom everywhere when we first got here, but I missed photographing it myself. . . the Google gave me the above image. The spherical inflorescence of flowers is on a tall stalk, like an ornamental Alium. No scent that I noticed. . . .

Ficus obliqua, the small leafed fig is also a local. It is multi-trunked and obtaining a huge size and presence. Both it and the Moreton Bay fig are members of the family Moracea, which is well-represented in Oceania.

The Moreton Bay Fig, or the Australian Banyan, latin name Ficus macrophylla is an abundantly planted local, well adapted to Oceania. Ficus and other Moracea genera, as well as Eucalypts (family Myrtacea) are Everywhere!

This is not my image, but we have seen these incredible root structures on the Moreton Bay Figs. Also, note that most of these don't have human-edible fruit, though there are many of the fruiting types cultivated in gardens all over Melbourne.

Some other scenes from the botanical garden. This long expanse of lawn leads down to a series of man-made lakes. Our cheerful docent told us that the gardens have been directed by both plantsmen, who were most interested in making the gardens approachable and enjoyable; to botanical scientists, who focused on making these gardens world class scientific institutions. You can feel that as you walk through. There is also an herbarium which houses plants and seeds for the international germplasm project.