The Blazey family used to flee the grim overcast southern gloom of winter by travelling north, often to the warmer gardening climes of the Cook Islands, New Caledonia or Hawaii. But this March, just days before the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, we were driving home to Northcote past the only Melbourne house I’ve ever seen with a mango tree. I was stunned to see my first ever ‘Melbourne mango’ with fruit actually ripening on the tree – eight fruits in all!
Penny and I knocked on the front door to meet the owners. They explained that the two-metre mango tree was less than 10 years old and that they already had cuttings and seeds ready for planting more trees.
Northcote is quite a bit warmer than gardens south of Melbourne and it’s a standout area for gardening innovation. It is the ideal suburb
for bicycle riding along the Yarra River to Burnley, Fitzroy Gardens or the Royal Botanic Gardens. Such trips are a great pleasure for me as I consider these some of the very best public gardens.
If growing mangoes in Melbourne is the holy grail for avid gardeners, isn’t that also ringing alarm bells about the urgency of mitigating climate warming for our children and grandchildren?