Spring gone, winter back!

Well we had a few lovely spring days & then winter came back in full force, day after day of high wind & sleety rain, we have had our wettest September in 42 years.  Some farmers are saying they haven't seen a season like this since they were kids.  The crops are looking amazing & we have had 3 planes working, which is wonderful, following 4 years of drought & semi drought.

below my youngest skybax with his faithful hound, not at all impressed with the invader!

A fearless feline has come to stay at our hangar.  this male moggy turned up about a month ago, he greets the pilots every morning & actually strolls onto the tarmac to greet them again on their return in the evening, while the planes are still roaring! not even the slightest bit afraid of Bella!

Im loving my new little Genista yellow imp, its flowering happily away, despite the miserable weather.

Conospermum triplinervium, smoke bush. I have been wanting one of these ever since I saw them flowering in the bush, they are outstanding on mass & a little bigger.

gorgeous little margerite daisy I struck from somewhere.

This margerite, I actually bought, which goes against my grain as they are super easy to strike.

wisteria just starting to break out, I moved this from the verandah a while back & thought Id have a go at a standard (sort of)

freesia's & snow in summer



not sure what this is, some sort of native hop tree maybe, but I love the new golden growth.

Spring is here!

This amazing little plant was only just transplanted a couple of months ago, but its decided to soldier on & is blooming away.  My iphone doesn't do the flowers justice at all.

Melalueca

This gorgeous flower belongs to a native annual wildflower that have come up in various spots, I will have to remember where when we do our weed spraying, they are so pretty.



sunny side up Australian paper daisy, just planted in Jack's garden, hopefully I can gather some seeds to fill in around it as well.

Corondium elatum

A little dwarf iris that was already here, I shifted it to the front garden & thought it would be too shady to flower, but obviously not!

One of my inherited fruit trees has begun to flower & is looking quite happy, here's hoping!  

The mulberry tree is going mad, in the space of a couple of weeks it has come from having no leaves at all, to being almost fully leafed up & with fruit as well.

First few flowers of the season

Aloe mountain gem

Only a few days of winter left & my garden is starting to show a bit of movement.

For such a little guy, this aloe is such a show off.

Grevillea Goldfever

Grevillea goldfever is a low spreading shrub that is supposed to flower all year round, it will grow approx. 30cm high & spread about 1.5m.  He's very small at the moment, but hopefully he will spread out nicely near the rocks in the garden that Jack built! 

 

Anigozanthos Bush Tenacity

 Great colours in this little kangaroo paw, which is part of the bush gems range, he wont get very big, only about 60cm high.

 

 

Anigozanthos viridis

This green kangaroo paw has thinner, more grass like leaves, its a little bit fussy so we will see how we go.

Blooming

Pretty much the only thing blooming in my late winter garden at the moment                    

Euryops vergineus from South Africa

This hardy little shrub has been planted in my Aloe garden & has gone crazy compared to everything else. It is also is very easy to propagate.

tank shifting

Sunday was the big day to shift the fourth tank to be inline with the other three.

New spot, all cleared & level, my potting shed behind.

It was in a different spot & the Chief wanted it shifted, to make everything more symmetrical & neater.

Our little tractor was a back saver, not much physical digging was required & looks like I might get some good dirt for my terrace garden.



shade house, looking towards olive grove

 weeds need mowing, that's radish that has gone yellow, from roundup.

looking back towards shed.

 You can see the three tanks through the shade house, green house & house house on the side with terrace garden in front.

Three of the four tanks.

& finally after much pulling, pushing & lots of grunting the fourth tank is in place, just in time for our next lot of rain.

Gosh these photo's highlight how much work I still have in front of me.

We have been here 7 months now & I feel as though we have not stopped for a second, but when you look around its hard to see where I've been.

Everything all looks so brown, not because of lack of rain, but because we have embarked on an intensive spraying program to try & eradicate the dreaded oxalis (sour sob), its everywhere & has the potential to make me very sad if Im not careful.

Fesh Beginnings

My favourite plant in my garden ATM.

Artriplex nummularia or old man saltbush.

Its native to the arid regions of Australia & is used by farmers as fodder.

I just love it for its pink tinged new growth, grey leaves & drought hardiness.

This plant was already here when we moved in, but I have taken some cuttings & they seem to have taken really easy, so will take a heap more & use as a quick filler in the rest of the garden.

Danger Gardens favourite plant in the garden this week

BLOODY BUNNIES!

When we first moved in back in January I noticed, right down the back of the olive grove some scratchings in the dirt & some little brown marbles here & there.

I thought well if they stay down here, I can put up with them.

Unfortunately due to the lack of rain the horrible little critters decided it was time to come closer & have a nibble.  The weeds down their neck of the woods had all been eaten or started to shrivel up.

Last Tuesday night we were away camping for the night & took Bella dog with us, one night & the wabbits moved it!

Im hoping they decided they didn't like Aloe juice enough to  come back, but they did sample each one.  Since then we have had some lovely longed for rain, so here's hoping the weeds down yonder will keep them happy.  Otherwise I will become murderous, there's nothing surer.

 

 On another note I think I may have discovered the name of my mystery shrub.  This one was for sale at the local garden centre, so one could assume that my shrub came from there.

Any way grows to 5m & is quite drought hardy, so hopefully I will get a lovely flower display next year.  I pruned it very hard in Feb as it was struggling, but not knowing what it was I pruned it at the wrong time of the year & lost all the flowers :(

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Joining in with the GBBD meme over at May Dreams Gardens

Eucalyptus Rodantha

Gum Tree's

A few of my the gum trees on my property, some I have planted, some already here.

 

Eucalyptus tetragona - a beautiful straggly mallee

I planted this little guy on the 1st of April, 3 months later he is starting to push through some new growth.

Eucalyptus tetragona

 

 Eucalyptus tetragona or white marlock is a hybrid, I cant seem to find anywhere that will tell me its ultimate height, but I gather its quite small.

 I love the silvery leaves & the gorgeous new growth, by all accounts it should have cream to yellow flowers, we shall see!

 

Oops someone got in the way


Eucalyptus rhodantha

 This is a well established Euc & Im not 100% sure, but going on the time of flowering I think its rodantha, which is indigenous to the Avon area, the leaves & gum nuts are just devine.

rodantha gumnut babies.

 A beautiful big lemon scented gum at the front gate

Eucalyptus citriodora

 Illyarrie, another spectacular West Aussie gum well established next to the lemon scented gum.

Eucalyptus erythrocorys gumnuts

 My new baby illyarrie, their new growth is so pretty & they grow so fast!

Eucalyptus erythrocorys

 the previous photo & next photo are of the same eucalypt, growing on the eastern fence.

there are quite a few of them, Im not sure which one they are, a guess Eucalypt torquata.

Maybe I will be able to tell when they flower.

guessing Eucalypt torquate - coral gum



another on the eastern fence I am unsure of

 My new baby mottlecah - Eucalyptus macrocarpa

this was another gum given to me by my parents for my birthday

cant wait for it to flower, as they have the largest flowers of the genus & are so spectacular.

This little beauty is also a mallee & should grow to approx. 3m

Eucalyptus macrocarpa

 Southern cross mallee was planted on the 25th May & this will grow into a pretty little tree with yellow flowers in summer.

 

Eucalyptus crucis

There are heaps more which I will catalogue as well.

What shrub is that?

This shrub is in the front garden & was almost dead when we arrived, back in January.

I pruned it severely, composted & mulched it, then watered it well.  It has come back beautifully, I didn't expect it to flower, but it has managed to push through a few, although I do wonder if it should be covered in blooms.  Any way I don't know what it is so will need to do some research to discover its requirements.

Gorgeous little lantern flowers, but unfortunately they hang down so are hard to view. 

.

The shrub is about 1.5m high at the moment, but was about 2m when I cut it back, could be a tree for all I know!

 

This picture shows how the flowers hang down

My blood lily leaves a getting ginormous!  I did photograph the flower, but with my other phone, that phone is mine no longer, so will have to wait til next year for their weird blooms again.

Haemanthus coccineus - blood lilly

Aloe garden

Brand new & looking fairly miserable with its tiny little plants, but what I hope will eventually bebursting at the seams!

Aloe striata favoured me with a flower this season, after being dug out of my old garden in the heat of summer, left to scorch in a pot for the rest of summer, I thought I would be lucky if it survived at all!

Behind the coral aloe is Eucalyptus woodwardii, given to me by mum & dad for my birthday & the ground cover is trailing lotus - Lotus berthelotii, just about to come into flower.

Euryops pectinatus

Aloe plicatilis with a flower head peeping out

View looking north east, aloe always red with statice in the background.

Aloe always red

Aloe mountain gem, he also has a bloom forming

Aloe Gemini

Here I have planted senecio chalk sticks, a small kunzea baxteri , euryops virgineus, kalanchoe baharensis, aloe Gemini & you can see the bottom of my Norfolk Island Pine - Araucaria heterophylla.