DIARY

DIARY

The Veg-Garden, more flowers & colour than veg.

So…the Grey Fantails are training their youngest to swim…the Berberis is alive with Silver-Eyes…Scrub Wrens have chosen a Bromeliad that’s for sale for their new nest…the young ones are doing well…a bit noisy really! The Eastern Spinebills are already showing the first of this season’s offspring the door, (in no uncertain terms), while madly collecting blowflies for the next lot. Every twiggy bush has a coconut sized bundle of weed in the middle of it arumble with loudly vocalising finch babies…..every flower is fizzy with bees.
Two species of Whistler & the Tree Creeper are competing for the highest trill! On today’s list of chores is using the Leaf-Blower to blow the Wallaby poos off the paths…& the Superb (doesn’t he know it!) Blue Wren has found his way into the Visitors Toilet again &, so delighted with himself in all the mirrors, has danced on the toilet roll causing it to unfurl into a grotty pile of folds on the floor. He, or is it they, have merrily poo-ed (or “whoopsied” as an old friend used to say) on the cistern, on the seat, on the door handle, on the wall, on the mirrors, on the stained glass & of course the floor. So there is that to sort out.
But apart from that everything is peaceful.

Golden Abelia & Ceanothus thyrsiflorus (left). Moraea bellendenii. (top right)..unusual member of this nice family of bulbs etc...nothing foliage but lovely flowers.   "Scented Mountan" (bottom right)  ...Jasmine & Banksia Rose...Why did we do it!? ..too young to know better.

Kniphofia (left)...one of the myriad of these generous Sth African plants in our garden. We have many varieties, species & hybrids, dwarf & enormous in ivory, yellow, red etc. We have them flowering from October to August, delighting the honeyeating birds. The bigger birds tackle them to the ground in order to have their evil ways with them. We are constantly pulling out seedlings which come up in the wrong place or are the wrong colour for the scheme. This particular one will not last past this year's flowering...not yellow enough.  Alyogyne (right). The Native Hibiscus...this is the pink form. We also have them in white and a apricot. and purple.  Don't like severe frost.

Eupatorium megalophyllum(left) or blue Mist Flower...(now apparently Bartlettina sordida if you're a smartypants)... a big sub tropical beauty which needs a bit of shelter but pays off in Sprinter (Spring)...Being a denizen of the Mist Forests of Mexico it does not delight in our climate...but it only looks crap in Summer & Winter... nice leaves.  The first of the Clematis (Right)...many more to follow. Despite their reputation for being tender and snail-prone we find them  easy when snuck in between & scrambing up other plants. We tend to like the simple flowered ones in Lilac & Purple but there are plenty that are white, vomitous pink and ridiculously double.  Pholomis italica (bottom right)...loves the sun & a gravel mulch - Balearic Islands, Mediterranean.

Spiloxene (left)...an exquisite little bulb for the rockery, although it tends to get a bit lost in our gigaronomous rompant garden. Much better for us is this Asphodel (right) - Asphodelus species ...hailing from the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East, it is steeped in mythology. In ancient times it was planted on graves...the fleshy roots being thought to be the food of the dead..they were also eaten by hungry Greeks in times of extremes. It dies down in the Summer & can't be killed except in really boggy conditions. Nectar plant.

Aesculus carnea Briotti in the Red Bed.