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Winesap apples

Apples for pie

 Most of these shiny red beauties are winesaps. They are one of the 170 different heritage varieties of apple grown by Borrie Gartrell at Borrodell on the slopes of Mount Canobolas, just outside Orange. The winesaps are some of the…

Weaving with flowers

 I’ve been gathering up my fallen frangipani – and maybe a few of the not-quite fallen! – to decorate my table. Clearly I haven’t set the bar nearly high enough with this simple display. Check out what a million or…
Domain de Saint-John de Beauregard

French vegetables

 Who could deny the visual appeal of a well-grown row of lettuces!  The French are the masters of ornamental edible garden design. One of France’s potager treasures, conjured from 17th century plans, is just outside Paris. Tour leader Colin Barlow…
Supertrees Gardens by the Bay

Cooling down in Singapore

 It’s hot!  What are you doing to cool down? Perversely I’m wishing I was in Singapore, where they do delicious icy treats. The whole country is mad for good food so feeling hot is just one more excuse to tuck in. Feeling hot mid-morning? Time for an iced coffee.…
Amazonica lily

Plant envy: Amazon lily

 How’s this for a showstopper –  when Victoria amazonica bloomed in the South Australian Botanic Gardens in 1868, newspapers ran hour-by-hour updates. More than 30,000 people – a sizable chunk of the entire state’s population – turned up to see it…
High Line, New York

Take the High Line

 A few weeks ago I read about workers removing the last remaining bits of track of Sydney’s monorail. After 25 years the unpopular transport project has been relegated to memory – and a few remaining privately owned stations.  How different…
Jacaranda Cruise

Jacaranda cruise

 It was my good luck last Wednesday to take to the harbour with my camera for the last of the year’s Jacaranda Cruises. It was a sparkling day, tucked in between weather that was nastily hot and smoke-choked, and the…