Edna Walling's Autumn musings in Victoria
Born in England, Edna Walling was deeply influenced by the beauties of childhood walks through her adored Devonshire landscape, especially the diverse natural glories of Dartmoor. Such influences would inform her Australian garden designs ever after. Even so, Edna embraced Australia and the Australian natural landscape with all her heart and ingenuity, and the affect of that embrace is still with us today.
Here follows a snippet of Edna's musings on Autumn in Victoria from A Gardener's Log, first published in 1948.
'There is so much to tell that I hardly know where to start: with the Russian cranberry jam; with the fun I am having taking cuttings of everything in the garden (everything with a reasonable chance of striking); with the joy the medlars have been this autumn, and the Cornus kousa, a dogwood that has outdone the pink-flowering C. florida rubra in leaf coloration this year.
The mistress of Lynton Lee [Lorna Fielden ] said, 'Smell that,' handing me a jar containing some dull red berries.
'Glorious, how do you describe it?'
'Ambrosia,' she said dreamily.
She had gathered them from her Russian cranberry (Ugni molinae, a little evergreen shrub from Chile). In the evening when she came over to share my fireside she brought me a small pot of jam. It was certainly food for the gods; I can only describe the flavour, and the fragrance, as a cross between pineapple and sweet peas. Taking secateurs with me next morning I toured the garden to get cuttings from every specimen of the little Ugni I could find, and now hundreds of them are rowed out.
The medlars (Mespilus germanica) have really been staggering in their autumn coloration. Their bold foliage grouped with the more delicate leaves of the birches makes a very satisfying picture. I can't quite decide if they would grow from cuttings, but think we will have a smack at them. One gets such surprising results in propagation experiments, and all good gardeners should do some propagation each year so that the plants they love may be increased or replaced. How to grow trees and shrubs from cuttings seems to me to be an essential part of everyone's education.
Apart from the possibility of achieving more brilliant colouring by keeping the plants in pots, and the pleasure of being able to move them about where they may be most enjoyed, I'm of the opinion that a lot of horticultural breach-of-promise cases could be avoided if other treasures were kept in pots. Instead of planting something out, pot it on into a slightly larger container. It will be safer than out in the open garden where there are so many things abroad capable of violating its virgin beauty, and in this way you will soon find yourself in possession of a most enchanting family.'
Here ends this snippet, with more musings to follow. Happy Autumn!
The above photo is of Buckland Wood, by the River Dart, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK. (postcard, photographer unknown)
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