Key points
- Melbourne’s floral clock was installed in 1966 after it was donated by the watchmakers of Switzerland.
- Around 5,500 plants are used to create the clock face while there are a further 3,000 flowers in each “wing bed” at either side.
- The Summer and Autumn planting which is on display at the moment features orange and yellow marigolds, red salvias, purple alternantheras and blue petunias.
Sam Davis is used to planning the destruction of his work just as the audience for it reaches its height.
Davis has designed Melbourne’s floral clock in Kings Domain for 24 years. Crowds are still admiring his summer creation of purple, orange and red blooms, but the master gardener has already moved on, seeking inspiration from unexpected sources including bathroom tiles and rugs.
Sam Davis is the designer of Melbourne’s floral clock in Kings Domain. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
The 49-year-old started as an apprentice gardener with the City of Melbourne when he was 15. While he no longer tends the plants himself, twice a year he creates a new design for the clock and chooses the flowers to feature.
“It’s about impact,” he says. “With the clock face itself, you have to be really careful because you’ve got to have a balance between plants that you can prune and others that are a little bit more blousy in their look.”
“The summer period is actually where you can produce a really good clock because you’ve got full sun, warm conditions, and you can plant species that grow really quickly. Whereas in the winter months, it’s a little bit of a different case.”
Davis says inspiration for the design comes from many places.
Time passes: The floral clock in an undated photo that appears to be from the 1970s.
“There’s a lot of symmetry in tiles and curves and swirls,” he says. “It’s a matter of having plants that are of a really low height so that they don’t impede the [clock] hands.”
Melbourne’s floral clock was installed in 1966 after it was donated by the watchmakers of Switzerland.
The clock has had a few iterations over the years. It was once surrounded by bollards and chains, and for several years it included a recorded voice.
“You’d press a button and it would say, ‘Welcome to Melbourne. You are now in the historic Queen Victoria Gardens,’ ” Davis says. “When you’d work on the clock it would drive you mad because everyone would come up and press the button, so you knew the script off by heart.”
Credit:Matt Golding
A team of two gardeners tends the floral clock, spending two weeks each year taking out the old flowers, preparing the soil and replanting.
About 5500 plants are used to create the clock face while there are a further 3000 flowers in each “wing bed” at either side.
The summer and autumn planting on display at the moment features orange and yellow marigolds, red salvias, purple alternantheras and blue petunias.
Davis says most of the feedback he receives about the clock is positive and there is generally only one complaint.
“You mightn’t think it, but most people do take notice when the hands are wrong, when the clock is out of time,” he says.
“That’s when the City of Melbourne might receive a complaint saying, ‘We’ve passed on the tram at 8.10 and it was 9.30 on the clock.’ We hear about that and the gardeners quickly come and reset it.”
Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp says the clock is one of the city’s most treasured and photographed spots.
“A fixture of Melbourne since 1966, many of us can remember visiting as children,” she says. “Melbourne is known for its world-class gardens, and the floral clock is one of those fixtures that helps us retain that enviable reputation.”
As beautiful as this season’s floral clock may be, Davis’ next task is to plan the winter and spring planting. New floral clock flowers are due to be installed in April.
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