A trip to the Zoo and the citrus tree talk

It has suddenly got much colder and wetter and winter now feels like it has arrived.  I've even worn my heavy UK winter coat.... ok it was only once but!  Temperatures have dropped to single figures during the day, the wind is blowing a very lazy and freezing cold southerly wind fresh from Antarctica and it's raining. Plants are looking green and lush and a lot of the fauna are fluffed up and looking unimpressed!                  

 

Before I visited the zoo, I was caught in a very large rain dump, more rain threatened to fall before I could made it home from the food shop so I took refuge in a little french cafe.  Never has the smell of freshly ground coffee been so inviting. When I got to the counter I discovered they not only offered delicious beverages but also homemade gluten free cakes.  Resistance was futile and decisions were made a lot easier when the young lady told me all calories fell out once the cake was cut..... how could I refuse.

Its been a busy week, schools are out for the winter holidays and many activities laid on to keep the youngsters entertained.  The zoo, we discovered, was offering horticultural talk/walks, even better they were free.  So off I trotted, all rugged up like Nanook of the North! It was very interesting and the head gardener (one of 6) taking us around was very knowledgeable and obviously passionate about his plants.  There are three roof top gardens there, one with tents, one planted up with grasses and one with native plants.

These are hired out to schools for the kids to have sleep overs.  Can you imagine all the amazing noises of the nocturnal zoo animals?  It must be a fantastic experience and they are fully booked all the time.

 The soil on this roof top is 60cm deep, any more would make it too heavy.  The Mallee trees in the photo have a very shallow root system and are held in place with ties, which can't be seen. The roof insulates the building more efficiently than any other covering.

The last roof top has shallow root plants.  Three lots of grass, two of which are mowed just twice a year.  Native plants have been used and the zoo is benefiting from more visits of bugs, bees and butterflies.

Adelaide zoo is Australias second oldest, it was opened in 1883 and luckily the original owners had the forethought  to keep some of the original trees.  These include a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree which was planted in 1877.  

Hanging from the branches of this magnificent tree are balls of Stagshorn Ferns.  All of these ferns (which are very long lived) have been donated when they became to big for their gardens.  Our head gardener designed an anchor for the ferns to cling to it then took four men to hang them from the tree.

It was obvious a huge amount of on going care and work is being put into getting the environment right for the animals.  It is a beautiful conservation zoo and the creatures who live there look happy.  The collection of animals are based around the countries which originally made up the Gondwanaland.  

Our guide holding a macadamia nut which are native to Australia

Kluet the male Sumatran Orangutan, not impressed with the weather either!

On Sunday I spent two happy hours at the Diggers Club Talk on Citrus Trees.  Listening to Ian Tolley an expert whose love of all trees Citrus and knowledge is incredible, he's now 84 and grew his first tree when he was 6!  I'm hoping some of his knowledge has sunk in and our trees are going to benefit.  Funnily enough at the end of the zoo talk we were given a bag of goodies containing organic fertilisers, these were also the fertilisers Ian Tolley recommended!