Returning Cook Park to full bloom
It’s been a beautifully wet start to spring, the La Nina is officially here, and the drought of the past few years is (hopefully) behind us.
Drive around the city streets and you’ll see some amazing spring floral displays as eager gardeners make the most of the favourable conditions.
For our city’s parks and gardens, the drought has also taken a toll, but with the wet forecast and a little more certainty around water, expect to see them return to full bloom.
“The team at Cook Park, like all of us, have been through a tough time during the drought,” said Orange Mayor Reg Kidd.
“Now that we’re beginning to have some flexibility with water, they’re looking forward to being able to give the park the attention it deserves.”
Cook Park is already a sight to behold, with newly plants flower beds adding brilliant colour in contrast with the lush, green lawns and towering trees.
“Cook Park is one of the highlights for visitors who come to Orange to see our beautiful trees and local gardens,” said Cr Kidd.
“It’s a classic Victorian tradition design and the sheer age of the trees really is the icing on the cake. That’s why it’s worth having a team of staff who carefully plan what’s happening there and deliver fantastic displays.”
In a good year, garden staff plant over 3000 seedlings, twice a year in the existing annual beds. Plantings have been limited over the past year due lack of water, and no new spring bulbs were planted this year, but already work has begun on increasing the floral displays for late spring and summer.
And not just at Cook Park. Council’s six-member Garden team look after over 60 garden areas around the city.
With more water available, expect to see the replanting of annual beds at the Civic Centre gardens and in some roundabout gardens too.
Built in 1934, each year the Blowes conservatory houses an outstanding display of flowering tuberous Begonias. The collection numbers over 500 tubers, which need to be propagated regularly as tubers decline with age.
The dormant tubers stored over winter in the park’s heated nursery area and are repotted in early October. Once growing, plants are staked, fertilised and have cuttings taken for replacement plants.
The Begonias are placed into the conservatory in February or March before flowering and are carefully maintained until the plants return to dormancy in the winter.
When flowering the Blowes Conservatory is open to the public 7 days a week. It currently houses a historical exhibition on the Dalton Family.
The Fernery
Built in 1938, the fernery has recently had a major renovation. The internal garden beds have been renovated and we will be replanting these now that water restrictions has eased. A new irrigation system has been put in place along with additional lighting and a security.
The hanging Boston ferns and Maiden Hair ferns area currently sill in the heated nursery area, where they are placed each winter, but are due to be reinstalled as the weather warms. Flowering Cyclamen have been installed in one of the bays and other annual potted plants will be returned to the fernery the coming weeks.
The structure contains the John Gale Memorial fountain, which dates back to the 1890s.