Winter in the rows at Ravensbourne

Winter arrives properly at Ravensbourne. At 750 metres the frost settles into the valleys before dawn, the air stays thin and bright through the morning, and the rows stand quiet in a way they never quite do in summer.

It would be fair to ask why anyone would grow trees somewhere this demanding. The answer is that the cold is doing work for us. A tree that spends its youth meeting real winters grows dense wood, a compact habit and a root system that does not sulk when conditions turn. When that tree is lifted and planted out in Toowoomba, Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, it has already met weather worse than most gardens will ever show it.

This is the season the camellias repay attention. The sasanquas carry their flowers through the cold months, and a fifteen-year field-grown camellia in full winter flower is one of the best arguments we know for planting mature.

The bottle trees look their best now too. With the summer growth slowed, their shape reads clearly against the sky: the swollen trunk, the fine twiggy crown, the architecture that makes them such reliable feature trees.

Visits are by appointment through winter, as always. Bring a coat in July. The rows are worth it.