Dawn's backyard is paradise found
I recently cruised down to Grant Street and said hello to Dawn Parry, a long-time Gero resident and keen gardener.
She is a member of Veronica’s garden group, and a finer bunch of dedicated gardeners you would be hard pressed to know.
It’s a constant surprise in windy old Geraldton to come across amazing gardens in people’s backyards, and Dawn’s is no exception.
She arrived at this house in Grant Street five-and-a-half years ago.
“When I came here there was a lot of garden,” she said.
“The previous people loved gardening. But I have pulled a lot out and replaced stuff, put artificial lawn down and gardens
around and in between.
“And I put plants every where. Buy them and find a spot to plant them. I like crotons and I never used to be able to grow geraniums but for some reason I can here. So I have lots of them.
“There are elkhorn’s under cover on the back fence.
“That poinciana tree is about 50 years old. I also like old knick knacks, putting things around.”
There were a lot of items from the past scattered about the garden,a set of old weighing scales from a railway station, various
tools and workshop items gracefully rusting away, hidden in among the plants.
Dawn said most of her garden beds are sheltered from the direct sun, mainly because of its foliage and partly from the poinciana
tree in the summer.
They are not reticulated, but hand watered about once a week, or even, once a fortnight.
She likes clivias and hers have an orange flower. They are kept in pots in dappled light.
Growing near those are several dracaenas along the back fence, one is variegated.
We discussed the appearance in Geraldton of tropical and semi-tropical plants like frangipanis and the poincianas.
Dawn has an evergreen frangipani out the front.
We spoke of what grew and what didn’t and she said “that is what I love about gardening.
Someone will say you can’t grow that here and a person will speak up and say I have”.
“Is there anything you want to say to the people of Geraldton?” I asked.
“Just get out there and garden,” Dawn replied.
After a tour of the pleasant garden it was time for us to leave and move onto the inviting round of Christmas wind-ups — including Bob’s.
Merry Christmas everyone, best wishes for tomorrow for those of us who celebrate Christmas, and if you’re not one of them we hope you enjoy the holiday season.
Me mate Bob sends his regards and looks forward to winding me up in the coming year.
We will have one or two quiet ones and reminisce about the year just gone.
That’ll come in our New Year column as we look forward to 2015.
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