Last December I took some pictures of the garden created by Max Solling adjacent to the Glebe Rowing Club. Max had carefully selected natives, particularly those which were drought resistant. His garden prospered through a tough period, until … well you can see for yourself.

We knew that the last section of the Foreshore Walk included landscaping the area in front of the Sydney University Women’s Rowing Club, but the extent of the proposed work obviously had not sunk in … with me anyway, and presumably Max and the City Council people who provided his plants.

The workers doing the current landscaping assure me that, along with the new paving which will lead to the deck outside the Glebe Rowing Club and thence to the Foreshore Walk, there will be a new garden planted. And they are sceptical as to whether Max’s garden would have survived as they had to dig out a lot of old concrete which was under Max’s plantings.

I guess everything will be OK in the long run, but it does remind me of the road gang digging a trench to lay new water pipes following hard on the heels of another gang laying a new road surface.

Garden created by Max Solling near Glebe Rowing Club, December 2013 (image: Bruce Davis)
Garden created by Max Solling near Glebe Rowing Club, December 2013 (image: Bruce Davis)

The current state of Max’s ‘garden’ (image: Bruce Davis)
The current state of Max’s ‘garden’ (image: Bruce Davis)