5 September, 2012 12:37PM AEDT

Two different Bendigo springs

Spring is a welcome change, but it means different things in different places.

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Baby's breath spireaWinter daphneSilverbushPerennial staticeUnfurling fernUnfurling fernUnfurling fernFishbone fern unfurlingMoss sporangiaGrey headed flying fox colonyGrey headed flying floxWe can't stop here, it's bat country

The Botanic Gardens in White Hills offer wide vistas and new plantings in spring: there is lots of space and sunshine, and paths through the cottage gardens planting. By contrast, Rosalind Park's fernery is shaded: paths lead between banks of ferns, with no flowering plants.

The White Hills Botanic Gardens space was first gazetted in in January, 1857. The gardens have changed significantly over the 155 years of their existence. The lagoon used to be a part of Bendigo Creek, until the creek was straightened in the 1870s. It's much smaller than it used to be, but it is still the only original part of the creek in existence. Work continues on reshaping the garden to an older format, with new paths and beds based on the layout visible in a 1934 aerial photo.

The Rosalind Park fernery isn't quite as old: the idea was first put forward in 1879. Although only small in overall space, the fernery is well-shaded and contains a range of ferns and water features, making it an oasis of shade on a sunny day. Since early 2010, the fernery has been home to a colony of grey headed flying foxes. Initially, the colony was spread beyond the fernery into Rosalind Park at large, and caused some concern with the noise and smell (flying fox poo is pungent, to say the least), but bat numbers have dropped, and now only a few trees in the fernery host the bats. They still squabble and make a racket, especially at dawn and dusk, and it's still not a good idea to stand underneath trees with bats in them (when I was in the park yesterday, one of the council's parks workers copped a shoulderful of bat poo, which wasn't pleasant).