John Bentley has been the President of the Friends of Melton Botanic Garden since 2004. With his tenacious drive and ability to harness the skills of various community groups, he was the driving force behind the garden's formation 20 years ago.
Melton Botanic Garden (MBG) is a testament to John Bentley's leadership and proudly showcases Australian plants and those from other dry climates. It is a stunning and sustainable example of how drought-tolerant plants can create beautiful public spaces.
The IrisBG team is deeply grateful for John's advocacy for IrisBG. His generous willingness to share his knowledge with other regional gardens has been invaluable.
What initially led you to Horticulture?
When I was a young lad (quite a few decades ago now) growing up in northern England, my grandfather grew vegetables, various roses, and other flowers. He proudly showed me the tomatoes and passion flowers growing in his small greenhouse.
| My first venture in pruning may have been cutting down all his Red Hot Poker flowers with my wooden sword, though he was not too pleased about it! |
|
What's the best thing about your involvement with Melton Botanic Garden?
It's a wonderful place on 27 hectares (60 acres) that a dedicated array of volunteers have been developing, maintaining, and enhancing for over two decades. We have a great team that brings a wealth of abilities and experiences, and they certainly all give their best. It is fantastic to experience the garden's growth and see what we have achieved together, especially when the plants are flowering, and trees are maturing (though there is a long way to go as it is a young garden).
|
This statement is especially true for oaks like the Algerian Oak, which, after 7 years, has finally reached a height of 2.5 meters. |
|
[Melton Botanic Garden's tours focus on plants that tolerate a dry climate and low water conditions. Other highlights include the dryland eucalyptus arboretum, Indigenous peoples' plantings, Bushfoods Garden, the Koori Student Garden, Sensory Garden, and the Victorian Volcanic Plains Garden.]
John Bentley in his natural habitat. Image courtesy of John Bentley.
What is one horticultural lesson you've learned?
If you plant a tree and it dies, try another spot. If it dies there, try another tree. Melton Botanic Garden has challenging planting situations; we constantly learn where the best plants grow.
A variety of climate appropriate plants at MBG. Photo courtesy of John Bentley.
Can you expand a little more on the planting challenges at Melton?
Melton Botanic Garden receives, on average, around 450 mm per year. So far this year, we have had 310 mm of rainfall. The texture of the soils is mostly basalt-derived cracking clay with a poor drainage rate. The area is part of the Victorian Volcanic Plains (the third-largest lava plain in the world). The soil becomes waterlogged in wet weather and dries and cracks in warm weather. The soils are predominantly Chromosols and Sodosols.
[Chromosol soils have a strong texture contrast between the surface (A) horizons and the clay (B) subsoil horizons. The subsoil is also not strongly acidic. Sodosols are not as structured and are more dense than Sodosols. Sodosol soils are not highly acidic with a pH > 5.5 and display a strong texture contrast between the sodic A and B horizons.] The average soil pH at MBG is seven or slightly above.
Parts of the garden are now like concrete, so digging a hole is a challenge. The plants have to decide if they can live in our conditions eventually. If they die, we find another spot to try. If the plant does not make it there, we try another plant! We have had a few years of really dry conditions, a year or so of heavy rainfall, and then back to quite a few years of drought conditions. This weather is certainly challenging for plants and volunteers. Australia is sometimes known as the land of droughts and flooding rains.
A bird's eye view of Melton Botanic Garden. Photo courtesy of John Bentley.
Which garden tool/aid could you not live without?
What have you found the most handy IrisBG function to use? The ability to add images to our database enhances Garden Explorer for the public view and offers a history of the plants.
The best component we have experienced with IrisBG is the Garden Explorer module. Garden Explorer has allowed volunteers to access information in the botanic garden or at home and look up information when we receive plant inquiries. In addition to general garden visitors, students have also been accessing the information.
|
Can you share a favorite film? The Life of Brian by Monty Python. My favorite motto from the film is "Always look on the bright side of life.". |
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.