October in the Garden

October in the Garden at Eden, Macquarie Park

Not many of us can step outside their office and stumble out into a fantastic garden, but here at Macquarie Park, the workers at Eden Gardens have a magnificent 2.5 acre wonderland in which to wander.

It is lovely all year, with its established trees, meandering creek and trimmed hedges and lawns, but each spring in October, it is particularly gorgeous. 

The bright red arbour tunnels come alive with wisteria.  There are a few varieties planted here, most notably the Japanese cultivar ‘Caroline’, which is an early bloomer and actually starts a few weeks earlier, and another called silky wisteria or W. brachybotrys ‘ShiroKapitan’, which has plump white flowers.  Alongside these are our perennial gardens, which at the moment are a sea of blue.  Pride of Madeira (Echiumcandicans) spires of dark blue blooms are rocketing up to the sky, and a frothy mass of Chinese plumbago and blue flag irisgrow alongside the wall beside it. 

Under the Chinese poplars (Populussimonii‘Fastigiata’) which form a small forest is an extraordinary bank of purple mist flowers (Eupatorium megalphyllum) and a swathe of divine large trunpeted butter-coloured clivias.

As you wander down to the bottom of the garden, along the creek, Louisiana Iris are plum with promise.  Wattle trees in delicate shades of cream and sunshine light the way down to the Australian natives growing under the scribbly gums and bloodwood.  Here, grevilleas, mint bush, gymea lilies and native fuchsias jostle for prime position with the Payne’s thryptomene, banksias and grass trees.

The aerial walkway returns you to near to the café, and gives you a bird’s eye view over all the garden, but at Eden Gardens there are always lots of paths to follow, each with their own magic.  Whatever route you take, discover something in flower that will inspire you to create your own Eden.