31-MAY-2018
Bottom of the garden view
Cornelia has a few flowers right now (seen on the left) and I am looking
through the gap in the windbreak fenceline to the northern view.
This will be the last for this gallery, tomorrow is officially the first day of winter.
25-MAY-2018
The southern view
Looking back from the horse paddock to the home paddock, or looking toward the southeast. Not a view that includes the rose garden, that is on the south-western side of our property.
23-MAY-2018
Black Violas in a pot
I have planted a variety of violas this autumn so they can settle in and
keep some colour in the garden through winter and into spring. This is
just one of the pots.
25-MAY-2018
Another angle
A view from another angle.
I have ordered a new battery for my Canon.
25-MAY-2018
Men's Business
On a weekly basis one of our grandsons comes and helps Dick with outside jobs
and here they are sitting watching a heap of fallen limbs, twigs, etc.. burn.
Its a job they both thoroughly enjoy.. when the grandson gets a few spare minutes
he helps me in the garden. A coffee, scones & jam is one of the rewards offered.
23-MAY-2018
Old tea rose called "Safrano"
A large shrub rose, or small tree, this rose flowers right through winter in
our climate. It is one of the very first rose where the parentage is known because it was the result of hand pollination, an innovative process at that time.
Note the colours of the fresh new leaves!
Bred in France back in 1839.
23-MAY-2018
A small cluster of pink
Here is Cornelia again... the large shrub bears small clusters of blooms, anything between 3 and 7 which dance in the slightest breeze. See next for a close up.
23-MAY-2018
"Cornelia"
A lovely old shrub rose looking pretty in May.. raised by the Reverend Pemberton of Essex and popular ever since its release in 1925.
The colours range in colour from pale apricot-copper to salmon pink, or strawberry flushed yellow.
Fragrance is musky, and the shrub is HUGE needing quite a space, and some support in the early years in the garden.
Can be trained on a pillar or used to cascade down a wall. No thorns.
Again the Lumix, the battery was flat AGAIN on the Canon even though I had
fully recharged the battery...
19-MAY-2018
Gradually Greener
We had more rain, a nice little drop of about 30 mms, the garden soaked it up
especially the trees...
19-MAY-2018
The pink pelargonium
Or geranium, as some people call them. This is a close up of one of the
blooms on the plant I wrapped up for a gift to a dear friend's wife for
her birthday, which is today; taken with the Lumix because the Canon's
battery was flat - again.
19-MAY-2018
Pink and Pretty
We were out and about last night celebrating a dear friend's 50th birth... but
his wife also has her birthday and I took a present along of a pretty pink
pelargonium (geranium)... and had to take photos of it before I made up the parcel.
Once again I discovered the canon's battery was flat... so lucky to have this
little Lumix on standby.
14-MAY-2018
The Gazebo in May
Not many roses in bloom, lack of rainfall holds them up, but we've had
a couple of nice rains recently which may be too late - I start the winter
prune in a couple of weeks time. Just a handful of roses are in
bloom e.g., the rose I featured yesterday. Thank you for the lovely
response to that rose, we did have a delightful Mother's Day here, and
my Mum is still hanging on even though she turned 97 a couple of weeks ago!
14-MAY-2018
Opened on Mother's Day
Great timing for this rose to open on Mother's Day, and for me to be able
to photograph it with good lighting - these dark reds are so hard to get
the colour right! A partly overcast day with the shadows going the right
way and the opportunity. This rose was chosen for me to add to my garden
by a rose friend (Roger Mann) who also writes books on roses and other gardening plants.
Although I love the flower, the bush is one that needs to be partly hidden
as it seems to be tall & leggy in my garden; that could be because of nearby native
Australian plants that grow in a wind-break.
08-MAY-2018
Autumn colours
Our replacement glory vine is turning colour right now... we lost our first vine
a few years ago, and the new vine is taking a long time to grow and take over
from our old vine, but it has more colour and I'm looking forward to how it will
look in the next few years. It is Mother's Day here today, and we have the mob
coming for a late lunch. A beautiful cool sunny day, so lucky!
08-MAY-2018
Two of koala's favourite trees
Koalas like an easy tree to climb and here are two favourites, especially
for the youngsters, they really like a leaning tree. This photo taken
from the same spot as yesterday's photo pointing in a different direction.
08-MAY-2018
Gradually Green
As we have more rain the countryside greens up.
08-MAY-2018
South African Daisy
Osteospermum or Veldt Daisies.. a low growing shrubby plant that is very easy
to strike from cuttings. They are so easy to grow needing not much attention
at all.
08-MAY-2018
Another Zygocactus
This one is an apricot shade of pink and has just started opening. I think this
one was given to me as a cutting quite recently and this could be the first
photo I've taken of this one. The blooms appear to be slightly smaller than the pink
one that I posted recently (see next).
29-APR-2018
Zygocactus
My baskets of zygocactus (schlumbergera) are budding up to bloom, and here's
the very first one off the blocks for the year.
25-APR-2018
Old Tea Rose
This one is called "Marie van Houtte" and is a quite large spreading shrub rose
bred in France back in 1871. One of the first to bloom though she doesn't like
the hot weather any more than the more modern rose bushes. She loves the sun and
hates the rain on her fragrant blooms. In our autumn she becomes more and more
pink as she ages.
27-APR-2018
The rose called "Honey Bouquet"
A handful of my roses have started blooming, and this is one of them.
Growing taller than I expected this bush to grow, I rather like the
deep golden honey colour of the rose.
23-APR-2018
Day Lily
Hemerocallis, the day lily in flower, and only lasting a day as the name
describes. This one is a miniature that dies down and reshoots when the
right time arrives. We have to irrigate our day lilies throughout the
summer months just to keep them alive; hence we only have one patch growing
along the edges of one of our rose beds and have to keep an eye on them
to make sure they aren't suffering during our heat waves.
BEST viewed in ORIGINAL format.
23-APR-2018
Wind Flower
Anemone 'Pamina' sharing a pot with a tall growing fuchsia and just coming
into flower late April.
24-APR-2018
The first signs of green
The days of the brown hills are numbered since we had a lovely drop of rain
about a week ago. Also up are the WEEDS in the garden and you should have
heard the moan from Dick when I pointed them out to him :) A cool change
has arrived and we're hoping that is the end of the heat waves we've been
having during April. All the dams are very low and in need of more rain to follow.
23-APR-2018
Salvia
This one has the name "Elite Azure Blue" and is new, I just had to call in
at the local nursery to see if anything took my eye, and this one did!
Hope you like it too..
18-APR-2018
Under the Linden Tree
This tree grows in a bed of small shrubs and perennials, and has started
turning colour since I took this photo. We need some cool nights to help
with the autumn colours... we are still having days in the low 30's here
and some more rain would be nice too.
18-APR-2018
Ginkgo biloba leaves
Again its the time for these to turn a lovely buttery yellow.
They'll probably drop early because we are having another heat-wave
here right now... in the low 30's, and it is mid-autumn!
18-APR-2018
Butterfly Bush
This one has the name "Royal Red" but to me it looks violet so far, perhaps the
wrong label was attached to the plant I bought. A colourful and fragrant addition to
cottage gardens, borders and shrubberies, will attract butterflies to the garden.
I have planted 2 of these this year - in different parts of the rose garden, they
are among my favourites so I hope they do well!
18-APR-2018
Pink Statice
A little plant that doesn't need too much water, should be an asset in the garden
this is the first time I've seen or grown a PINK statice... we have some blue
statice self seeding in some parts of our garden, this should make an interesting
addition! I'm adding it to the group of replacement perennials.
18-APR-2018
Bidens "Firelight"
I have recently re done a patch of perennials (pulled out what was there and replanted new ones), and one that I have never grown
before is this Bidens ferulifolia 'Firelight' - I wonder does anyone know this
plant? I'd be glad of any information if anyone has grown it.
14-APR-2018
Five Trees
Near our front gate we have a bush garden and behind that a mini arboretum
with many trees.. this acts as a windbreak and buffer for noise from the road.
The birds love these trees, and we have some low shrubs for the birds who prefer
to built their nests in a shrub rather than a tree. Here I am featuring a group
of trees that can easily be seen from our driveway. The leafy tree on the left is
a self-sown acacia.
15-APR-2018
Kooky is back
He returned about 3 days ago looking for a feed. He arrived on the
back balcony with a quiet throaty warble looking in to see if we were
there. Dick put out some dog meat and as soon as the coast was clear
he ate it all.
A sedentary bird inhabiting most kinds of wooded country. Usually
occurring in small groups which jointly maintain a territory and
which co-operate in raising the young.
Its extraordinary laughing notes are usually heard at their strongest in
the early morning and at sunset. They feed on small reptiles(including
snakes up to almost a metre in length), insects, crabs and fish, including
ornamental fish kept in garden ponds; it also robs the nests of other birds and
occasionally preys on chickens.
Notes from "What Bird Is That? by Neville W. Cayley; revised edition.
04-APR-2018
Under the Trees in our backyard
3 massive eucalyptus and many smaller trees dot our backyard area... here is
a closer view of life below the trees.
04-APR-2018
Over the Hills and Far away
A view of the distant hills from our place.
Overnight we had RAIN - 15 mm of it, this view will quickly turn green soon!
04-APR-2018
Young plant - pelargonium
I usually take cuttings and grow them in pots before transplanting them into the
garden, and here's one recently planted in an extension of my big pelargonium
patch. Our autumn is the time I usually add new plants to the garden, they settle
in and grow during the winter and spring and become large and tough enough to
endure our very hot and dry summers. This one is planted under some rather
large eucalyptus trees that drop limbs, twigs and leaves 12 months of the year
which acts as a mulch during the summer months keeping the ground cooler and
conserving moisture, but I still need to irrigate all parts of the garden during
our summer.
04-APR-2018
Pot Collection
These reside down the western side of our house partly shaded by trees and can
be seen from our side balcony or the walking path to the gazebo & rose garden.
The variegated flax you can see was a present for my 70th birthday, now 10
years of age.. I have now acquired a palm in a pot for my 80th, no doubt that
will feature on pbase some time in the future! :)
04-APR-2018
Firewheel Tree in flower
The Stenocarpus sinuatus, grows alongside the top part of my rose garden
and a clematis has woven its way through the top of this tree, it doesn't
seem to mind, being a slow grower in our climate. So nice to have a tree
in flower at this time of year - my roses haven't started blooming after
the long hot summer when the rose bushes hibernate.
04-APR-2018
A pair of lorikeets
There is a special peck order of who eats first in the lorikeet family. Mum & Dad
always head the queue, the others have to wait their turn somewhere in the tree and
woe betide if they try and jump the queue - a noisy riot takes place and the
youngsters are sent on their way. The local sparrows cheekily try and sneak a
seed here and there and annoy mum and dad lorikeet continuously. Always fun to
watch all their daily antics! The only birds who can push mum and dad off the dish
are the sulphur crested cockatoos, especially if there are a pair!
04-APR-2018
Colourful Zonal Pelargoniums
These red single pelargoniums (geraniums) are making quite a show in
the patch right now. They started from cuttings given to me during one of
our stints in the Clare Valley; the accommodation we always stayed at had
a magnificent garden run by a keen gardener who always took me for a tour
around his garden during our stay. Each year as they come into flower we
think of him... he no longer runs the accommodation and his health is no longer good.
04-APR-2018
Rainbow Lorikeet
Half way down to the dish. Earlier in the day I had seen 2 sulphur crested
cockatoos at the dish with ideal lighting, so I headed indoors and set up the
long lens in the Canon and headed out, but they'd gone. Instead a family of
lorikeets had arrived so I made use of the long lens and took a few shots, and
here is one of them
01-APR-2018
Easter Egg Scramble
Actually because it was also "April Fool's Day" Trudy had wrapped Brussels Sprouts and small potatoes in tin foil, as you can see if you look carefully,
the wrappers are all silver here! About an hour later (and after lunch) she spread out the colourful chocolate Easter Eggs
and the children picked up as many as they could then sat in a circle eating quite a
few... and lucky for us we only had to drive home to our little dog, the parents had no other option but to drive their sugar-high children back to their home!
01-APR-2018
Family Picnic Under the Trees.
Each year we gather together at the local oval and have an Easter
Egg Scramble for the youngest members of the family. Here you
see the adults - we have a good clear image of the entire
oval and can keep a watch over the children from here.
