12-Jun-2019
Mist Lifting
This photo taken yesterday... today the fog is a lot thicker, quite a "pea souper" in fact.
View from back balcony showing plenty of green grass after the lovely rains we've had this month so far.
I wish I could send some rain to Laine - it is holding up the rose pruning! :)
12-Jun-2019
Morning Mist in June
A view from our side balcony this morning after some heavy rains through the night.
A day off rose pruning for me! :)
Meyer Lemon is centre, one of the only fruit trees we have left, after originally
trying to grow 23 various fruit trees, but the birds beat us every time! We
do have a mulberry that I grew from a cutting, and that survives at the bottom
of the vegetable garden. We've had no luck with the mulberry either, but this
time it was the grand-children who beat us to the fruit! :)
01-Jun-2019
Christmas or Easter Cactus
Schlumbergera is a small genus of cacti with 6-9 species found in the coastal mountains of south-eastern Brazil.
Plants grow on trees or rocks in habitats that are generally shady with high humidity, and
can be quite different in appearance from their desert-dwelling cousins. Wikipedia
I have 3 in hanging baskets and one in a tall pot where the plant cascades down from.
21-May-2019
Ancient tree
A difficult image to get of this old tree, as it is surrounded by other trees &
bushes. Very soon ducks will take residence along with various parrots, possums
and other birds and animals... they start early in our mild winter climate.
I am at present pruning roses and have spent the last 3 days pruning just one
rose shrub, called "Sadlers Wells" - the first time I've attacked this big one
it got to a huge size, at least double my height & width, and it had a well developed sucker alongside which I had
to attack first. If you look up the rose itself, it is a very pretty semi-single
a soft cherry pink with pale centre.. they look like sweet peas as they bloom
in small clusters.
The ancient eucalyptus tree could be somewhere between 300 and 400 years old and
many limbs have fallen over the years. A bee hive resides high up in the tree, and
they've been there as long as we have been living here - over 40 years!
01-Jun-2019
Viola "Honey Bee"
Hanging in the gazebo...replacing the summer flowering Portulaca. They'll survive
our winter and make a display through the spring and possibly the early summer.
01-Jun-2019
A pair of gum trees
Including a sideroxylon with the dark bark, a popular street tree in nearby
Blackwood (South Australia). I did feature the blossom from this tree if
you scroll down, it was featured about a week ago in this gallery. Known by the
proper name Eucalyptus, but commonly called Gum trees where we live.
This pair of trees are in our mini arboretum..
01-Jun-2019
Time for the Jonquils.
These are the earliest to bloom here... we have a few clumps growing in the rose garden.
Nice to have a splash of colour when there's not much else on show.
01-Jun-2019
"Banana Shake"
A new Osteospermum waiting to be added to the edges of my rose garden..supposed to flower
from early spring through to autumn.. good for pots, garden beds and borders and can be used as a cut flower.
Will be complimentary to a beautiful & well-known golden Austin rose
01-Jun-2019
Part of the mini arboretum
Also a pet cemetery where we have buried various pets over the years. We
originally planted trees and shrubs to attract the bird life..including various
koalas, possums and insects. The low scrubby shrubs being a good place for
the smaller birds to hide in. Apart from running the mower around it, we
have never irrigated or fertilised this area.
01-Jun-2019
Ivy Pelargonium
I grew this one from a cutting that friends had growing. So glad I did, it hasn't
stopped flowering! This one is in a hanging pot that is in a eucalyptus tree, and I
can see it from my computer room window.. no need to go outside in the drizzly rain.
01-Jun-2019
Winter flowers
The official first day of Winter and a handful of flowers that were in bloom.
We don't really count it as winter until after the winter solstice on the 21st.
I'm about to start the winter rose pruning... and expect it to take me 6 weeks
allowing for rain, wind and other activities.
27-May-2019
Another tree in bloom
Unfortunately I can't remember this one's name, but it is another eucalyptus. We
can't remember it ever having this many blooms.. we can see the tree from our
lounge room window. The colour is a buffy-gold, and the blooms are too high up
the tree for a close-up shot. the tree would have been
planted by us perhaps 40 years ago.