Spring went straight to hell...

Only a matter of six weeks ago, spring had finally arrived after a long but mild winter.The soils were moist and warming, lush green shoots emerging, flowers opening in soft pretty colours. Daily I would wander about marvelling at the perfection of a pansy and watching the magic of wisteria unfold. We didn`t get any rain during winter, just one or two light showers to clean the dust off the leaves - not enough to deeply water. As spring progressed, the rain water tanks levels got lower - still no rain.

And now, a mere 6 weeks later, this is what my garden looks like....

Water is the life force and without it drought overcomes. What little water is left is used to keep the established trees and shrubs alive.

Very smokey from the Blue Mountains fires which have come within a few kms when the fires jumped the Nepean river last week.

We still have another 5 weeks left of spring before summer hits. Gale force winds with temps over  40 degrees has taken it`s toll. My rainwater tanks, all 40,000 litre,s are empty now. We must use tap water which is slow and painful as we are at the end of a very long driveway, past three other acreage properties, so water pressure is low, especially if the neighbours are using their water. 

This is the part of gardening that takes it's toll and unfortunately we cant control the weather, so we will just battle on and try and keep the bones of the garden alive.

Rose Championship woes

Seven days to go and we've had the hottest windiest spring just in time to ruin my prize roses!
Next weekend is the Australian Championship Rose Show - yes, that's right, the best of the best...but

Forty degree temps and gale force winds have taken their toll, burning foliage and scorching unfurling buds. I am sad and frustrated and cranky. All the love and care, pruning, feeding and spraying - just to end up with burnt flowers right when I need them looking their best.

I suppose a week can make a difference and I'll find a rose here and there that might make the grade, but I don't think I'll be winning any major prizes this year.

Looking out from the inside

As I sit here at the kitchen table, I can see my beautiful front garden and verandah through the large sliding windows. This garden is always full of colour and interest - cool and shady in summer, sunny in winter.

When we built this house, sixteen years ago, 'views' were paramount. The blokes surveying our building site thought I was crazy siting the house where we did on our 1.5 acre block - little did they know the future plans for garden beds, paths and vistas! From every window you can see a different garden view. This is from my kitchen window over the sink - helps when having to wash up!.

 

 

And this, through the kitchen door

 

 

We have French doors which frame views from the family room into the rear of the property -

 

 

and also in my bedroom. If I`m lucky enough to have a lazy morning, I open my French doors, make a cup of tea and hop back into bed. This is what I see from bed -

 

 

                                     And this lovely view is from one of my daughters room

 

With a bit of good planning and a lot of gardening over the years, we have created a life full of wonderful views through all the seasons.

 

 

 

Time to meet the Menagerie

Yes peeps, I thought it high time you met the rest of the family..be warned, you could mistake us for a zoo! Lets start at the top of the pecking order with the dogs, Sally (golden retriever) and Cleo (cavoodle). Sally is 8 yrs old and was born here. Her beautiful mother Lucy, died at 14 yrs old and so we got Cleo as her companion.

Next in line comes Baxter. He came to us a few hours old with umbilical cord still attached. He was hand fed every 2/3 hours for weeks, and of course bonded to my daughter, so he got to stay. Never being much of a cat lover, it has surprised us all how much we love him. He is basically an indoor cat and is only let outside under supervision.

Hunter, is without doubt the most popular pet, especially with visitors to the garden. I bought him when he was 6 weeks old - the cutest little foal I`d ever seen. He was delivered to us when he was weaned from his mother at 6 months old and was still smaller than my golden retriever. He is very furry now to keep him warm in our cold winter but soon he will shed all the fluff and be thin and sleek. He is very spoilt.

Now the 'girls' come next. They keep us in eggs and turn over my compost as they scratch for treats. We haven't named this lot cause we've been through a few chooks over the years, thanks to urban sprawl making it tough on the local foxes. The 'girls' get locked away at night to protect them, but foxes are wiley blighters, especially when hungry.

We also have a pet bunny called Rollo who needed a new home (I get roped into all sorts of animals when your daughter works at a veterinary clinic!) he lives in his own house in the chook enclosure - 

- it's all very friendly here

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Alrighty, next, and also a huge favourite with garden visitors, are the fan tailed doves who live in a pretty dovecote at the furthest reaches of the garden. It`s a lovely protected nook next to the pond. I had the dovecote made for my husbands 50th birthday, complete with a pair of white fantails. People are always amazed that they don't just up and fly away! Well, why would they, when they have such a lovely home and get fed regularly! Two pairs live there now - they are very friendly and often fly down and coo to me while I garden. The females are sitting on eggs at the moment.

We also have two aviaries. I tried to take a pic of the finches but the little twerps wont stay still. On the other hand, my sweet princess parrots were only too happy to oblige. We have had Nathan for about 10 years and Esmeralda for 8. There are a few budgies and some quails on the bottom too.

And last but not least, our two Blue Tongued lizards which we have had for 9 years. They live in a large fish tank and I feed them as many snails as I can find - don`t need snail bait here.

Now I know you think, whew, that`s a lot of animals, but I havn`t even mentioned the two fish tanks inside or the multitude of koi fish in the pond....

Wisteria woes and wows

Wisteria is one of those very memorable flowers that just about anyone can identify, but how many of you LIVE with a wisteria? If your lucky enough to have one in view but not at your house, then you get all the benefits without all the pesty bits. What pesty bits I hear you say.... Oh there's plenty.

I often laughingly refer to wisteria time as gas mask month. I know, makes it sound horrid, but if you suffer allergies it's either the gas mask or a lot of allergy tablets. And of course, although the fragrance is to die for, it can be soooo overpoweringly cloying at times, you may need that gas mask again!

Now, everyone loves a verandah covered in wisteria, BUT, all those pretty lavender petals drop continually for the flowering period (about 6 weeks). Oh yes, they carpet the ground and the pavers ever so prettily - THEN EVERYONE WALKS THEM INSIDE!

OK, I'm calm again, can you tell it drives me crazy?

So, after weeks of sweeping the verandah daily, the gorgeous display is over, only now, it's growing time! Wisteria grows before your very eyes and even more so if there's been rain. The long whippy growth reaches out and tangles together with rampant abandon. Pruning is required every three weeks or else no-one can get to the front door.

Now I know it sounds like I'm doing a fair bit of whinging here, but the penalty is high if you love to grow wisteria. Twice a year we have to get out the big ladder and get up and under the roof, cause this vigorous climber loves to invade gutters and roofs. Have I put you off yet? Well here's one more reason to give this plant serious thought before planting - it suckers up through the garden bed too!

This pretty flowering climber IS NOT FOR THE FEINT HEARTED. It will give you a lifetime of joy and a lifetime of work. 

This 20 year old shrub is by my front gate. It now owns the fence as well.

Worst weed EVER

Weeds are like taxes...they're a fact of life. We all have them, but some of us have worse ones than others. My particular ongoing nightmare is called Onion Weed.

I know - they don't look too scary, UNTIL you try to remove them! These nasty little blighters grow from a bulb that sets a multitude of baby bulbs off the main one. If you try to dig it up, or weed spray it, the trigger mechanism unlatches all the babies which are often too small to see. You think you got it all, but sure as eggs, up come the next round. Now as if that's not bad enough, this invasive weed also spreads far and wide when it grows its long stemmed flower heads (very similar to an onion flower). When the flower is dead it goes to seed rapidly and spreads a multitude of seeds - the beginning of the next generation.

See how the bulbettes fall off when under threat.

These garden nasties come up and through some of my cherished plants, making weed spraying a tricky business - especially the glyphosate sensitive roses.

When I first started gardening here, over 16 years ago, we had virtually no onion weed. My biggest mistake was letting my chooks free range. Always sounds good doesn't it, chooks skutting about? Wrong! Apart from forever exposing the roots of my veggies and every other tree and shrub, they happily spread the onion weed far and wide. The have their own yard now, and I have a garden full of  onion weeds!

What is your worst garden weed? Here in Australia we have lots - Salvation Jane, Soursobs not to mention flick weed. Tell us your Worst Weed EVER....

Up the garden path

It all started with sixteen buckets of flat polished pebbles.      
     
After dismantling a display at work, I was asked if I wanted the polished pebbles for my garden. 'Sure, I can always use more pebbles', thinking to spread them around a mondo grass garden. When I bought them home from work, little did I know it would turn into a major garden project.

One evening after a glass or two of wine I found myself fossicking through the buckets and sorting colours, admiring the pattern in this one, the gloss of another, the incredible flat and smooth surface of them all. O oh. Isn't it amazing how many incredibly great ideas people have after a glass or two !! But as it turns out, I had a brilliant one of course. Yep, a pathway.

Later that night I started doodling patterns for a pebble and concrete pathway through a new garden bed I had recently added. After sorting through all sixteen buckets (with the occasional help of my daughters) that's right, a bucket each night before dinner, ha ha, we finally got all the colours sorted out. It's at this point your probably realising I am a bit obsessive compulsive.

I laid out all the pebbles in the exact colour and pattern beside the newly dug out path on sheets of cardboard, and then ordered the mini concrete truck to deliver my redi mix. When it arrived we threw in some colour pigment. THEN it was battle stations. I enlisted friends, neighbours and family to quickly but neatly transfer the pattern of pebbles into the freshly troweled concrete, pressing each into the concrete slightly. And voila! Everyone that helped then wrote their name in the concrete circle in the middle. Great job team.

                                                    The pathway has weathered nicely

The occasional pebble has popped off - 

Just glued them back on with liquid nails.

It's a bit bare in winter, but when spring arrives so does the colour.

It's only a little path, but it adds interest to my garden, beckoning the visitor to investigate an area they may not otherwise. If you squint a bit you might notice a golden shape lounging in the background behind the statue. You guessed it, another one of those projects under way. A garden 

sculpture of a mermaid who has her own story for another time...perhaps when I have finally gotten around to mosaic-ing her!