November 2007
I
found it interesting to see just how 'wild and woolly' the garden has become
compared to...........................
................ this photo taken
exactly twelve months ago
I've planted ornamental grape vines
next to the pergola posts
so they can grow up and give shade underneath eventually
In the distant right hand side of the photo you may be able to see
garden chairs which are placed under the shade of....................
........... a Melia (white cedar)
The tree is deciduous and the leaves
drop in late winter,
just before the flowers appear, closely followed by the new leaves
Wahlenbergia stricta have multiplied
throughout the garden beds
This one seems to sleep in all morning and only ever opens its flowers
just before lunch time!
The deeper blue, double form, has its flowers permanently displayed
Thomasia macrocarpa
Soft velvety leaves and mauve flowers hanging down
I'm glad this lovely shrub is planted quite high up on a raised bed
This has a label which tells me
it is a Melaleuca nesophila,
but I'm not sure if this is correct
Brachychiton populneus
has flowers that could almost be described as insignificant
until you examine them closely and can then appreciate the subtle colour and
pretty bell shape (too early for flowers just yet)
But I think the bark is really stunning. There are two of these trees, next
to each other
and the bark of each is quite different
Callistemon brachyandrus
I think this may have preferred a dryer spot - not on the irrigated bed,
but, although it's becoming a bit straggly, the flowers are stunning
and I love the sparse greyish foliage
Not sure if this is Grevillea 'Ned
Kelly' or 'Superb'
A huge Grevillea 'White Wings' died suddenly, and when I pulled it out
there was a long branch of another grevillea growing horizontally along the
ground
obviously trying to crawl out from beneath the very vigorous White Wings
The long branch lying on the ground was an invitation for me to fall flat
on my face,
so I pruned it right back to the base - and this is the result after about
three months!
This is a standard Grevillea Ned
Kelly which had grown to enormous proportions
on its four/five foot high trunk (grafted)
Winter before last we had a severe storm. One branch broke,
a second branch twisted and drooped, with the branch severely mangled.
This left only one good branch, which reached to the back of the garage
and totally unbalanced the tree. Only one thing to do - take off all three
branches!
It took only a few weeks before the first leaves appeared,
closely followed by a neverending
crop of flowers.
What a stalwart specimen!
Melaleuca hypericifolia
next - January 2008