EVERY Tuesday morning, the growing friends meet in the Samuel Gadd Centre at the Botanic Gardens to propagate plants for their nursery.<\/p>\n
The group is made up of volunteers of all ages who participate to share their love of gardening and to make friends.<\/p>\n
Judy Milner has been with the Friends of Bendigo Botanic Gardens almost since their beginning two decades ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a good mob,\u201d she said \u201cand you\u2019re always learning something as you go along, you\u2019re learning about the plants and which ones are native and which ones aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cuttings used for propagation usually come from the gardens themselves to avoid introducing threatening pathogens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are pathogens that get into the Botanic gardens, there\u2019s one particularly bad one a fungal one that we haven\u2019t got in these gardens but it\u2019s spread in some botanic gardens and it\u2019s been rather lethal, so we try and keep it discreet,\u201d Ms Milner said.<\/p>\n
The cuttings are treated gently throughout the propagation process, which involves trimming and planting, a period of seclusion from the elements in a hot box, and once roots have sprouted, time outside to harden to the weather.<\/p>\n
Once established, the Friends\u2019 sell the seedlings at their nursery every Saturday morning, with most proceeds going towards plants and projects for the gardens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put $10,000 towards the garden for the future, another $10,000 went to the design for the central hub, so the money goes towards the gardens,\u201d said Milner said.<\/p>\n
Not all seedlings are sold in the nursery as some are propagated specifically to be planted in the gardens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work in cooperation with the staff,\u201d Ms Milner said. \u201cThe staff tell us what they want and they bring in the cuttings for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteer and group-nominated caretaker of the greenhouse, Lorraine Castles, said she joined the group because she has always loved gardens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love plants, doing community things, like socialising, like raising money in a painless way where people are getting something for it, so it sort of met all of those things that I like doing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Friends\u2019 of Bendigo Gardens also have bi-weekly botanic drawing classes and guided walking tours where visitors can learn about the heritage and plants of the gardens.<\/p>\n
More information can be found on the Bendigo Botanic Gardens website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EVERY Tuesday morning, the growing friends meet in the Samuel Gadd Centre at the Botanic Gardens to propagate plants for their nursery. The group is made up of volunteers of all ages who participate to share their love of gardening and to make friends. Judy Milner has been with the Friends of Bendigo Botanic Gardens […]<\/p>\n