A day in the mountains

Stopped off at the 5th Collectors' Plant Fair at Bilpin, on Bells Line of Road, for a very quick walk through the 40 or so stalls. Quick because it was raining and because we had an engagement in Mount Wilson half an hour later.

It was my first visit to the Fair, but not my last! Next year I'll plan to spend a leisurely few hours, in the sun. Even on this quick visit I left with a Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) and a Venus Fly Trap (a cultivar of Dionaea muscipula), both native to eastern North America, plus one of the smaller-pitchered pitcher plant (Nepenthes).

At Mount Wilson I had my first visit to 'Hawthorn' (above), Michael and Gillian Pembrooke's 20-year old garden and home. Even in the rain (or perhaps because of the rain) looking across the lake up to the house was stunning. The memorable vistas, and the conifers and autumnal deciduous trees just hitting the prime of their lives, make this a garden worthy of the Mount Wilson tradition.