Friends of the McKay Gardens
Report on Working Bee 12 April.
In perfect gardening weather, the Friends’ first working bee got off to a great start. Eight people attended and were able to remove a considerable amount of dead plant material and weed species from the top of the ‘straight six’. We also scraped back and dug over the dry mulch in this section and in the process discovered many Iris bulbs coming up. Three bags of rubbish were also removed from the vicinity. We were also very pleased by the positive reaction from members of the public to our work. A surprising number of people still remember the glory days of the Gardens. All in all a great deal was achieved in just two hours (although many thanks must go to Helen and Bill who started work before every one else and were still pottering when others had left). Of course this is just the beginning and the Friends of the Gardens look forward to our next working bee in May.
Other news: After considerable delay the Council has finally received exemptions from watering restrictions from City West Water, and will now water the Gardens twice a week via the in-ground sprinkler system. Unfortunately this has been too late for a number of the mature trees that have died but with luck we should lose no more.
Sunshine and District Historical Society has contacted us and is very keen to become involved in some joint projects with us. We look forward to working with them. They will soon be conducting an historical walk (possibly June) that will take in the McKay Gardens.
Web site: http://www.sunshinehistoricalsociety.org.au/index.html
Finally, the Djerriwarrh Employment and Education Services has offered to produce a newsletter for us. If anyone is interested in writing a short article on any matter related to the Gardens, including anecdotes, historical information, horticultural information etc, please contact us.
Postscript. We have now organized to conduct a working bee on the last Saturday of each month (except September, which will be the third Saturday). See our calendar for details.