Designed by
April 2011 Village Outing to the PARADISE GARDEN at Kulnura
What a good beginning! The rain stopped before the bus arrived
and only came again when we were on the bus home. We travelled to
Kulnura through the Somersby area and enjoyed the journey with lovely
vegetation along the lanes, even though the Gymea Lilies were not yet
flowering. We drove through Kulnura, noting the surviving “corner shop”
and other buildings from the past.
Paradise Plants is a wholesale nursery about an hour’s drive north of Davistown, in the wooded hills behind Gosford. The owner, Bob Cherry, became interested in sasanqua camellias in the mid 1960’s. His plant breeding has extended to camellia japonica, magnolias and cherry blossom. Waterlilies are in abundance.
On arrival, we were escorted to the Summer Tea House and then had an
interesting talk on the ups and downs of the dogs on the estate. We
strolled through rose gardens, passed lily ponds and saw many exotic
plants, all growing well. We were then escorted through the Camellia
Wood where the camellias had grown as tall and as wide as they wanted to
….no pruning tool here!! On coming out onto the lawn by the lake and
then looking back, there was a wall of sasanqua camellias in full bloom,
as tall and as wide as the front of a house. What a lovely surprise to
finish our stroll through these beautiful and interesting gardens! We
were given a large bunch of flowers from Paradise, roses and dahlias… a
few for everyone.
We returned home down Bumble Hill and through Yarramalong Valley, another picturesque and interesting journey….all satisfied travellers, I think. Many thanks to our excellent and patient driver David.
Thanks Elizabeth for hosting this outing and for writing about it.