October 2011 - Three
Wetter Than Ever!

With all the water that's flowing through the garden, it's a wonder
these poor banksia blechnifolia have managed to keep their spectacular
cones high and dry - but they have.




Although the vine above our north facing pergola is only ornamental, it does flower,
and later in the season it produces tiny little purple grapes, which the satin bowerbirds love.

This plant was given to Mum years ago and I've kept it in a pot, where it has flowered every year.
Now little seedlings have sprung up in the pot, so I may transplant a few into Mum's garden,
with her cyclamen and hellebores




The tallest tree in this photo is the acacia boormanii, which I seem to have in spots
all through the garden. I love the way I can prune them quite heavily after flowering
and they bounce back well, without getting spindly.
Often they shoot out from the base, and this makes them ideal to create some shade
over Mum's plants that don't cope well with the fierce summer sun which can reach
the south side of the house at this time of year.



Mum had some lovely Iceland poppies in her garden and I did collect a few seeds in the hope
they would spring up here. Huge poppy plants sprung up, but the flowers were very small
and all orange petalled. They are in danger of going feral, so I took a photo of the rain drops
on their leaves and removed them before they could drop another batch of seeds!

Everything around the front door (at the back of the house!) is in pots, as some have to be moved
away from the summer sun, but taken out again for sun in the winter.
It's a difficult spot to have any definable system, but it's rather fun changing it around every season.

The wonderful tribes of swamp rats (which you can read about here) moved further down the garden,
and out onto the nature strip, probably as I had to remove quite a lot of large grasses due to
the fire danger. When I cut back this remaining one, I found one of their incredible mounds
which they used to create when they were constructing their various runs.
I think I'll leave it there and let this clump of grass grow back over it. Perhaps they will return one day.

next - Keeping an Eye on the Tree Fern

The Duckpond Home Page | The Garden | The Vegie Garden | The Frogpond