Bairnsdale is blooming beautiful

Bright and cheery pansies and violas adorn Main Street in Bairnsdale thanks to some well-planned plantings with seasonal varieties by East Gippsland Shire Council’s parks and gardens teams.

General Manager Assets and Environment Fiona Weigall said Council receives many positive comments about the signature gardens in Main Street.

“This season the new plantings include light pink pansies and dark tulips, orange and yellow contrasting pansies, cornflowers and jonquils, and English lavender with lemon and white-coloured violas.

“Our team is very committed to ensuring the gardens always look their best, and try to mix things up by planting a diversity of plants and flowers for the gardens, to insure against problem pest or disease that damages a particular plant type,” Ms Weigall said.

“By doing this we may avoid any major losses of flower displays. Selections are also based on those seasonally available and expected climatic conditions.

 “Recent plantings are progressing well with all plants now growing to a consistent height. The use of cow manure instead of mushroom compost looks like being a winner, a ‘trial’ we will continue with our next planting season.”

In recent years there has been some problems with sulphur crested cockatoos shredding plants and flowers during the winter and early spring periods. In response a lot of extra plants have been used to fill in, and fishing line has been criss-crossed over and around the displays until the birds move on.

“This year we will be also be trialling a product which can be applied to the plants every four weeks and makes them taste and smell unpleasant (but is not harmful) to birds and animals. Fingers crossed it will work,” Ms Weigall said.

 The prickly job of rose pruning continues across many townships. In some cases, there will be new plantings to replace older rose stocks past their prime.