Have you been to Sale Botanic Gardens

Actionpactpix had a project this week and it involved taking photos of Sale Botanic Gardens. Have you walked around the Lake in Sale? Have you ever taken much notice of the surrounds, I mean REALLY noticed? The gardens have had a major revamp in recent years culminating last year when they celebrated their 150th birthday and there are some fascinating trees and sculptures there.

Aside from the fact that the Botanic Gardens in Sale are the only Botanic Gardens east of Melbourne, there really is some interesting stuff there.

Like the Sensory Garden where you can touch and smell the plants and see things that you eat like corn and strawberries. It is a lovely area and great for the kids. There is an adventure playground, an elm grove where the Jolly Swagman carving sits, made by chainsaw and there are some fantastic garden beds made up of sustainable plants along the Lake. Don't forget the fauna park, where you can easily spot a wallaby or a peacock (in fact there are some young chicks there at the moment). Yesterday I watched a young girl giggling and excited to see the KANGOO!

Then there is the eco-adventure playground on the way over to Lake Guyatt, and just so many trees and shrubs, the new Sound Shell where Carols by Candlelight was performed.

A botanical garden sounds a bit boring, but a walk around these gardens is worth it and go a bit further and walk right around Lake Guthridge too and do the fitness stations along the way. It is a cheap and fun afternoon for the family.

Ann and Peter Synan have written a book about the gardens which was written for the 150th anniversary and it is a very interesting read, there are a lot of historical photographs and copies of documents and basically you travel through the development of the Lake Guthridge and parkland precinct from the ugly swampland it was, through the periods of indecision and bureaucracy to the absolutely "blooming" asset to the Sale community it is today. The book is called "Summer Walk" and is available from Collins bookshop in Sale or the Wellington Shire office in Foster Street Sale. I think the book is about $40-00 (I should have checked) and is easy to read and I read parts of it to gather information, but found the whole book quite fascinating.

When you go, take lunch, or dinner, eat in the Summer House, the big open building where you can find barbecues on entering the park. BUT don't forget the sunscreen and the Aeroguard, the elm grove is a haven for mozzies on these warm days.

A handful of pics:-
(note pics available at http://www.actionpactpix.com/galleries/sale-botanical-garden


One of the birds that likes to call the park his own - Very loud and high in the tree yesterday



Heaps of colorful plants like this one - I am not a botanist by the way




The view across one of the sustainable and colorful plant beds toward the park



Adventure playground for the kids



More color



The interesting fence and brick pillars. The Eucalypt sculpture was designed by Annemeike Mein a world reknown textile artist from Sale. You can see the Summer House in the background

Boardwalk across Lake Guyatt where you can spot native birds (they love to walk on the boardwalk)



Popular track for walkers,, joggers and cyclists - The Summer Walk (hence the title of the book, and some more of those great garden beds)