Liam McNally
Followers of the Horti-Culturalists may have noticed a local gem appear in one of the team’s latest episodes, with the team taking viewers on a tour of the Melton Botanic Garden’s Eremophila collection.
The Horti-Culturalists is a YouTube series run by Macedon Ranges resident, horticulturist, Dicksonia Rare Plant Nursery owner and former ABC Gardening Australia presenter Stephen Ryan along with amateur enthusiast Matthew Lucas.
For about two years the duo’s channel has been dedicated to documenting rare and unusual plants, trees and shrubs in an outdoor setting, as well as teaching about various gardening techniques.
Mr Ryan said the team is very happy with how the channel is developing.
“We’re having a great time, part of the reason I leapt at the opportunity is because I know a lot of elderly horticulturists who passed away and took their knowledge with them – this is something to store that knowledge in perpetuity,” he said.
The episode filmed in the Melton Botanic Garden focuses on a lesser known group of Australian plants, the Eremophilas.
Eremophilas are dry climate flowering shrubs that show huge diversity of flower, foliage and form – from dense mat forming ground covers to very large shrubs, large silver foliage and tiny bronze leaves as well as flowers in an extraordinary array of colours.
The episode looks at 12 species of Eremophilas within the garden, and includes a guest appearance from Friends of the Melton Botanic Garden (FMBG) members Barb and David Pye for tips on propagation.
Mr Ryan said what the FMBG volunteers ahve created in such a short period at the Melton Botanic Garden is an amazing accomplishment.
“In only a couple of decades to make something so comprehensive – [FMBG president] John Bentley has an amazing group of like minded enthusiasts around him who’ve pushed this forward,” he said.
“Melton should be congratulated on having such an important botanic garden.”
At the next FMBG meeting Mr Ryan is giving a talk on Californian, Central and South American Plants on November 8 at 7.30pm.
