It was an early, chilly start for club members as they boarded a bus in great anticipation of attending the Rydal Daffodil Festival. Our first stop was a couple of hours later at the “Helleborerus” Nursery in Bilpin. Here we were given a warm welcome with a reviving morning tea. We then did as all gardeners invariably do, as we wandered around the nursery we made those special purchases of plants that can only be bought at specialist nurseries. It is always nice to have a plant that reminds you of a special time. Then we were on our way to Rydal, just past Lithgow, each of us eagerly looking out the window as we drew closer to get our first glimpse of yellow daffodils that have made this event so popular. Rydal is a small, quaint town, with a small population that swells as 100’s of visitors come to wander and wonder at the masses of daffodils over the festival’s two consecutive weekends. In Spring 1,000’s of daffodils of all varieties are in bloom, in peoples gardens, along the side of the road and in paddocks with the main street a delight where daffodils are planted out with other spring flowers. Stalls, music and a bbq add to the festive atmosphere, as well as visiting the Open Gardens. The local pub proved very popular with club members, which was warm, friendly and welcoming, serving up some good food, as well as other beverages! It was a long day, with dinner at the Lithgow Club, but well worth the effort.
By the time you read this, our Open Gardens Weekend will be over; however it was a full house October meeting as members gathered to receive their final instructions to make our annual fundraiser a fun and successful weekend. The Open Gardens committee has worked tirelessly, liaising with garden owners, obtaining our wonderful sponsors and organising publicity to deliver a great weekend. Our guest speaker was Ross Rapmund who spoke on Hornsby Council’s Free Guided Bushwalk Programs as well as his other passion the Community Native Nursery in Britannia St Pennant Hills. Ross made us aware of the large number of walks that can be undertaken in the Hornsby shire, focussing on 5 of his favourite guided walks. The walks are graded and included those that can even be done in a wheelchair, and then there were the themed walks to suit the toddler to the senior. All are extremely popular and need to be booked. Ross is also well known as a great nurseryman and he had great delight in informing us that the nursery produces 50,000 plants per year and is quite proud of their native plant giveaway that occurs three times a year. He recommended Hornsby Councils fantastic resource their online herbarium where you can identify a huge variety of plants. It was an extremely interesting talk where we were made aware of Indigenous culture, European history, beautiful lookouts and wonderful flora and fauna that is found in the Hornsby/Ku ring-gai area.
Next month is our last meeting for the year, with our members Christmas party to be held in December. Our last guest speaker for the year will be Stuart from Sydney Frangipani who will speak on frangipanis and give a grafting demonstration.
Garden Club meets on the 2nd Weds of the month at the Galston Community Centre 37 Arcadia Rd., Galston 8.00pm, new members and visitors are warmly welcomed. For other information, visit our website: www.galstongardenclub.com.au
