Spring at Markdale

Accommodation |

The garden | Ecology

Ecology diary | Availability/Enquiries

Activities | Press Reviews

Press/Guest reviews

| About the property

The property |

The history |

1930's Polo |

Directions | Tariffs

Tariffs |

Special events | Food

Food |

Spring at Markdale

In The Garden

Timing in the garden like most places depends heavily on the seasons. The weather is relatively unpredictable. Many of the plants are of English origin, but the landscaping is Australian with softer lines like the curving granite stone walls, reflecting the hills.

As in most gardens spring is the most spectacular time to be at Markdale: early spring sees the emergence of magnolia and the bright yellows of Australan wattle. And as the the season wears on this is followed by flowering crab apple, daffodils in profusion around the lake, spirea, ceonothus, japonica, forget-me-nots, clematis and the Australian native grevillea. The long pergola flowers with wisteria and then climbing roses.

Looking down through the side garden to the hills in spring

Spring at Markdale runs from September to November with average temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees celsius - increasing to 20-30c by the end of October.

On The Property

In the paddocks clover, trefoils, barley grass and other cold weather species recover from the winter. October/November rains are crucial to survive the approaching hot summer and come up out of the southwest from the great Australian bite (Markdale is too far inland to receive the rains which fall between the east coast and the Great Dividing Range). Unlike European rain it can be quite torrential with sunshine for most of the year aside from the 50 or so days where it rains.

Grass growth fights with introduced pests in spring such as English briar roses, blackberries, scotch and variagated thistles, and the pretty but prolific purple Patterson's Curse.

The lambs are growing fast provided that there is green feed and there mothers 'Ewes' have plenty of milk. The calves are also putting on weight rapidly, but problems can occur with the older cattle if there is an abundance of clover. Gases produced in the digestive process can cause 'Bloat which results in a distended stomach which can kill the cow. In this sort of year the cows are given 'Bloat Bombs' which remain in their stomach for three months, gradually releasing an oil which prevents the problem. One year old sheep, 'Hoggets', born the previous year are sexed and the ewes to be bred from next year are selected and separated from the 'culls' to be sold.

General shearing is carried out in November (once a year) where a team of professional shearers comes and lives on the place for the duration of the work. A very fast 'gun' shearer will shear up to 200 sheep a day but shearers get paid double for the more difficult rams and find the lambs the easiest to shear of all. Markdale produces superfine wool between 18 and 21 microns in diameter, used in woolen suits and other fine woolen materials.

Sheep compete for grass with rabbits and kangaroos primarily, although the main grasshopper hatching also occurs in November so a few bad frosts about this time will greatly cut down on the summer grasshopper plague. Rabbits until the early 1950s were Markdale's single biggest pest problem because of Australia's light sandy soils, comparatively mild conditions, lack of natural predators, plentiful grasslands, and plentiful water sources when farming introduced dams. However with the introduction of the Mxyimatosis virus by the CSIRO in the 50s they are now in more manageable numbers although still plentiful. The virus is carried by various natural 'vectors', inlcluding a specially imported flea from Spain and the musquito.