Melbourne Flower and Garden Show

 Jenny and I visited the garden show on Friday, together with Judy, who has been trying to join us for this particular event for the last few years but she was always so busy.  This year, she made the time to come along.

It seems to be bigger each year and we visited half of the outside exhibits, then half of the inside exhibits and then sat down with a drink before embarking on the other half.  I think we walked from around 12:30 until 5:30, when we left the exhibition site and returned to Melbourne Central to get the train home, with just that one break - and can I feel it today!

The view across the lake of the Exhibition Building is just lovely.

Rusted metal sculptures are all the go this year.  Birds like this crested cockatoo are very popular

Inside the hall were many exhibits of flower arrangements.

This whole row was of exhibits from an educational institute - can't remember which.

After our break we continued on again and stopped to look at the art work . Judy particularly liked this
one of stylised Banksias. Some of the exhibits were easier to understand than others.

We all liked these rusty elephants, part of the rusty animal feature - see the kangaroos in the background?

Jen and I wanted to see the Digger Club exhibit - not that much different from last year. The mountain of pumpkins was replaced by this car, against which the remnants of the pumpkins were placed. 

We checked out the stand of prizewinning hanging baskets and there were many of them, some really lovely.

Not sure I would want this one hanging around.

Baskets of succulents were very popular and this is a prize winning one. It must have taken
some time to get to the size it is. Hanging Baskets are a long term commitment.
They were very popular at the time of the macrame craze.

On our way out of the site we took in the garden ideas - some entirely over the top and some with small kernels of ideas.

I quite liked this one. It had shade and seating and looked very nice.

This one is a jungle - not sure how to get to the seating or how to get the advantage in the
winter of the Chimera in the back corner. 

This one had be completely flummoxed.  The tea chest was set for tea, and there are inviting cushions
on the seating but I cannot see how to get to sit on the seat without trampling on the plants. 

A bit over planted I think.  Looks nice though from with a house maybe, just don't expect to sit in it.