Spring has arrived in Australia, and I'm spending more time than usual out in the garden. It's the perfect time of year weather wise, so I'm making the most of the warm temperatures after the cold of Winter, and before the oppressive heat of Summer arrives.
New leaves are emerging on the deciduous trees. I'd love to be able to tell you the name of this one, but I can't for the life of me remember. I'm sure one of my Northern Hemisphere readers will be able to help me out here.
Our many native gum trees (eucalypts) are evergreens. They remain pretty much the same throughout the year. The few deciduous trees we have are such a contrast, changing with the seasons.
The lavender bushes, covered with flowers, are attracting the bees. This is one of my all time favourite plants. It flowers for a long time, has a very pleasant scent and is extremely hardy. Today I picked two big bunches for the house.
Another super hardy plant, the kalanchoe have such bright flowers. Nothing subtle about these succulents.
Many of my plants have come from friends' gardens. I was especially pleased to see this iris flowering, as it was given to me by a dear friend who passed away only a few months ago. She and I shared a love for gardening and would often attend garden shows and visit nurseries together.
Violets are another favourite, with their delicate little flowers. These originally came from my Mum's garden, and have multiplied many times over. At 96 years of age, Mum is still an avid gardener. When I visit, I often return home with new plants she has propagated for me.
Years ago, Mr TMW built me a potting area. I get a lot of satisfaction from propagating my own plants. At the moment, the area is filled with pots of lavender, salvias, succulents, lomandras, geraniums and nandinas.
A large bromeliad given to my by another friend who passed away a few years ago now. As I am, he was fascinated by bromeliads. He bought this one for me, knowing it would eventually grow too large for his garden.
A rustic pond features in this otherwise rather dry section of the garden.
Our first wheelbarrow gave up the ghost many moons ago, and is now the perfect receptacle for dietes and ivy geranium. Located in the same spot for several years now, it won't last much longer. I'm expecting the whole thing will collapse soon, as it's badly rusted. In the meantime, I'll enjoy it while I can.
Our resident satin bower bird shares our garden with us. He and or his predecessor have been in the one spot for at least fifteen years. We feel very privileged that he is tame enough to lets us come within a metre of him. In recent days he's been showing off in and around his bower to his two lady friends.
At the beginning of this year, I showed you an experiment I was conducting in the garden - a large area covered with black plastic to hopefully kill the weeds. It worked quite well, killing all the weeds except the bulbs. There's still some onion weed I'll have to work on.
Thanks to Mr TMW, there is now a sandstone and pebble path meandering through the garden, which is now covered with sugar cane mulch. I'm keen to start planting, but I'll wait till the onion weed is gone first.
I am passionate about the garden, but not so Mr TMW. He enjoys looking at the garden, but he doesn't like the repetitive nature of working in it. Making things which last makes more sense to him. Consequently, he does get satisfaction from building paths and structures in the garden.
He finished the brick path seen in progress above, just on dark today. I'd love to have the skill and patience, but sadly, I don't. A long time ago I impatiently built a brick path. LOL... that was one rustic path and very uneven.
We've had a fair bit of rain, so everything is still lush and green - not always so in Australia. I was working just to the left of the succulent filled bike today, planting sunflower seeds next to the row of self seeded native lilly pillies.
Needless to say, sewing is taking a back seat to gardening at the moment. I am still sewing, but not at the rate I normally do, and much of it won't make it to the blog. One in particular I was really pleased with - adding a pocket to a faux zippered pocket.
I'll never understand why manufacturers add a zipper and don't bother to actually put in the pocket. I know it's cost cutting, but I'd rather pay another few dollars and have real pockets. The pants look best with long tops, so the zips don't even show.
My added pockets are nowhere near perfect, but no one is going to see them but me, as they're hidden behind the zips. As the pants are black, there was no point trying to take photos that would mean anything.
I hope you have enjoyed my little tour of the garden today. You may like to look back at old garden posts...
Do you enjoy gardening, or is it a chore?
... Pam
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I like gardening, but I am ready to be done for a bit. Autumn is coming and cannot get here fast enough for me! Lots of things are still flowering and need watering. Lovely pictures of your garden!
ReplyDeleteOh my it's a chore - I don't enjoy it at all, and neither does hubby. We only have small gardens, but with the heat and lack of rain this year, our vegetable garden didn't do well at all - we barely got any produce at all, and the plants fried in the sun, even though they were watered frequently, very early in the mornings. The flower gardens fared better, but overall it was really a poor summer for anything growing! Our grass is like straw!
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks beautiful Pam! Ours is very overgrown just now - we're hoping to find time this weekend to clear it a bit - again like you, get in there and work on it before the heat of summer comes!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of gardening, I just walked in the door from weeding and sat down to read your blog update :) Such beautiful plants Pam. I wish I knew more about gardening, but I guess it will come in time.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is growing great, Pam!! I need to sow the seeds this month. I did sow some vegetables 2 months back. While tomato and spinach are doing well, my capsicum and chilli plants are having leaf curl disease. I tried garlic spray etc, and it resulted in flower drop. Any suggestion, how to recover these plants?
ReplyDeleteUp here, in the Willamette valley area of Oregon, we are pretty mild, however, kalanchoe is not hardy enough for us. They are houseplants here. I am winding down my garden. I have at least another month before I'll need to bring the houseplants back inside for the winter.
ReplyDeleteI have no ideas what your deciduous tree is named - pretty tassels!
My hubs would be happier with less plants and more mulch -I mostly ignore him and plant for me. Thankfully, our guests always compliment our one acre landscape. I love knowing, like you, that this plant came from this friend, or from my great-aunt. Love the connections. Keep posting your plant photos please.
We are making preparations for the winter and you are preparing for the summer. :D Your garden looks very nice and tidy! And so much green!
ReplyDeleteIn our household I do a bit of this and that in the garden but it's more of a passion for my husband. He likes to try new plants, build new beds for the plants, try new ways to grow vegetables etc. He even built some kind of a box for garlics; branches on the bottom, then leaves and grass, almost ready compost and on top fully matured compost and dirt. The layers beneath will work as fertilizer for couple years! I like the garden too but mainly when it is time for harvest. :D
That tassel really caught my eye - now I want to make a necklace that looks like that! Love all the little nooks and crannies of your garden, Pam - that teeny pond is so cute!
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks amazing Pam and I bet your rustic path had a charm all of it's own!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Josie! Ha, ha... yeah, that path definitely had a rustic charm, even if it was a tripping hazard.
DeleteGardening to me is mostly a chore, although I love the results of those who put in the effort like you do. Lovely pictures! We just came back from two weeks in the BC interior where we saw wonderful rose gardens and fruit tree orchards. This past summer, hubby and I dug out the rocks along the sides of our driveway, put down brand new landscaping fabric (which does work to keep out weeds by the way, but after 20 years, it needed replacing) and then put back the rocks that we removed. Tedious and back-breaking work!
ReplyDeleteI love getting out in the garden. Although, since moving to Brisbane earlier this year, I am having to wrap my head around a whole pile of different plants. I don't know what the tree is at the top of the post either - but we had one in our garden in Sydney, and I miss it a whole bunch! Thanks for the look around your garden - it makes me miss my old one more + but it's so beautiful, that looking at it is a total pleasure.
ReplyDeleteSheree