With brilliant sunshine and blue skies, what could be better than a trip into the countryside. Friend Dolly and I set off for Willunga to visit a garden in South Australia's Open Garden scheme. It sounded very promising - just what we wanted to see - a garden on clay soil with lots of drought-resistant plants set off by pieces of slate - a homage to Willunga's heritage. I wasn't really aware of the extent of the slate history here but soon learnt that it was discovered in the nearby hills in 1840 and by the 1870s was a huge industry, with the slate reckoned to be far superior to that from England.
The garden was located on one of the original half-acre blocks surveyed in 1839 when Willunga was first settled. Unfortunately, we found it a little disappointing: the plants weren't labelled, the clay had been covered with tons of topsoil and compost so we didn't learn anything about gardening on clay soils, and the majority of plants were easily recognised (I love finding unusual plants in Open House gardens). I guess we hadn't read the information sheet that closely and found the garden itself was just a smallish suburban garden and not the rambling country estate we had envisaged. Here, Dolly reads the background information more closely - by the lovely edging slate wall.
Perhaps I am being over-critical because of our pre-conceived ideas. There was lots of lavender and native plants, good choices for the hot summers here. It was all about sustainability and knowing your environment. And of course, lots of bees.
And succulents.
I loved this glimpse of colour in a tiny shaded area.
It didn't take us long to explore the entire garden. While it was colourful and jam-packed with plants, it just didn't seem to have that something 'special' we were hoping for. To be fair, the admission price also got us a free visit to the Slate Museum, but as it was an hour or so until the next visit time, we reluctantly moved on.
So it was off into the town...
... and the markets ...
... and a yummy stop for a cranberry and pistachio scone with honey butter at the Redwood Oven ...
... with a hot chocolate of course.
A lovely end to a lovely outing.
The next day Steve and I went into Victor for the annual Rock 'n Roll Festival. The highlight of this festival is always the huge display of classic cars (from the 1950s -1970s) brought to Victor by enthusiasts from all over the state and beyond. The cars spill over the grassed area and down the streets: Dodges, Cadillacs, Mustangs, Thunderbirds, Chevrolets ... and hot rods. While I know nothing about such cars (apart from seeing them in American movies) it was great to see them all 'spit and polished' with such loving care.
How on earth did they park these cars? I think I prefer my nippy 1994 Mazda jelly bean.
There was a bit of dancing and lots of rockin' music! Everyone having fun on this sunny afternoon.
The fins on some of the cars were amazing.
And I loved the homage to the space era in this whatever it is.
And lastly ... a 1956 Chevy Corvette, the type of car that featured in the 1960s' television show
Route 66. Hmmm ... perhaps that's Tod and Buz reminiscing.
And to end our sunshiny weekend - sunshine in a bottle, thanks to generous friends and their lemons.
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