gardens

Don't miss out on the headlines from Property. Followed categories will be added to My News. Follow A PIECE of Queensland's history that sits on Ipswich's doorstep is up for sale. The historic Bellevue Homestead at Coominya has been put up on the market offering a rare opportunity to own one of the state's oldest homesteads. Bellevue was established in the early 1840s as part of the Wivenhoe run and by the early 1900s was the social center of the district. The property changed hands a couple of times before it was bought by William North Snr who established a 2,000-hectare section of the Wivenhoe run as the separate Bellevue Station. None of the original buildings have survived. In the early days, sheep grazing was the main industry but in the 1870s sheep gave way to cattle and the Taylor family took over Bellevue Homestead. During the Taylors' time, the Brisbane River flooded, in 1893, destroying parts of the timber-framed house which was later restored. In 1899 the owner George Taylor died but his widow remained at the station and in 1901 re-married a man named Charles Lumley Hill. The pair extended the homestead, adding a new dining room, a guest suite, and servants' quarters, as well as renovating the earlier sections of the home. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Bellevue was the social center of the district. Today the homestead has three separate buildings. The original slab hut was built in 1840 and still has the original kitchen landowners used. The second building is Victorian design and has six bedrooms. The third building, the Federation-style guest house, was built in 1903 and contains an enormous dining room, smoking room, and guest suite. The owners use the property as their private home and parts of the homestead have been set up for a business with an approved commercial kitchen to cater for weddings, private functions, bed and breakfast, wine tasting, home-style dining, and 'Devonshire Tea'. Source: www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ipswich/property/a...

A fernery is a specialized garden for the cultivation and display of ferns. In many countries, ferneries are indoors or at least sheltered or kept in a shadehouse to provide a moist environment, filtered light, and protection from frost and other extremes; on the other hand, some ferns native to arid regions require protection from rain and humid conditions and grow best in full sun. In mild climates, ferneries are often outside and have an array of different species that grow under similar conditions. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernery

In Australia, Staghorn Ferns (Platycerium superbum) are native to lowland forests in Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. They reproduce through single-cell spores and, although they grow well in Western Australia and South Australia and, with protection from the cold, can also be grown in temperate regions of Victoria, they will not readily propagate in these cooler climates. Staghorns in nurseries in these areas has generally been sourced from natural growth in Queensland or New South Wales. Staghorns are epiphytic and do not draw nourishment from the host on which they grow. Hosts can be trees, rocks, concrete water tanks, etc. Rather, staghorns feed on falling leaves and insects. Nourishment and moisture come from the air, not from roots in the ground or from the host tree Source www.stagosaurus.com/staghorn-ferns/