October
2012
Spring in Full Swing
When I walk through the north door
into the garden, it's difficult to remember
that not so many years ago this whole area was just lawn.
When I feel a little despondent that I never seem to be able to
keep ahead of the fierce Spring weed growth,
I look around and remind myself that everything I see around me I have planted.
I think the birds and the thousands of bees thank me for this,
which was the purpose of the exercise.
Ferns which popped up voluntarily
on the shady sides of the rocks
and under other shrubs, are growing well, but I don't know how they'll
survive once the fierce hot days kick in.
They don't seem to need water - but they definitely need shade.
From the layers of clothing I'm
wearing here, it's obviously not a warm day.
but I try to get out for an hour or two on any day where everything isn't
soggy and wet.
My trusty hat isn't really a sun hat - it's a bug and leaf catching hat, whose
turned up brim
catches an amazing array of bugs and leaves which otherwise end up down
the back of my neck as I grovel around under bushes and trees.
This incredibly huge shrub is a
thomasia macrocarpa, now several metres in both directions.
It's been in at least five years now, and I expect to lose it each winter
if we have
a run of frosts. Somehow it always seems to survive.
Planting it high up on the raised
bed was quite brilliant (although totally unintentional)
as its beautiful bell shaped flowers hang down and are seen better from below.
This is another plant which has given so much pleasure I have planted several
more.
This callistemon citrinus is a vital
part of our 'shady lunch spot'. However right from the start
it grew with about six trunks. As the tree has grown, one by one the trunks
have just
fallen out of the ground, to the point where there are only three left.
I'm hoping these can hang in there a few years more.
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