March ing on

End of March already, beginning of April, my garden finally planted out, although it was planted out at the beginning of March, but the bore pump broke & then the retic, so the front was all dug up again looking for the elusive solenoid.  Not found, bypassed & we're away again!

the little garden by the pool had lomandra's planted in it a few years ago, but they were severely neglected & looked shabby, so cut them back hard & have planted some mulla mulla (Ptilotus exultus) a native to northern WA.

Back fence pool garden starting to perk up, purple fountain grass grew back extremely fast & will flower again before winter.

Newly planted out. lots of greys & purples with a few lime greens, hoping to create good contrast & interest.  It has now rained & they are all looking a lot happier.

Back pool garden starting to recover from the hot summer, rain forecast for next week so fingers crossed.Agave attentuata in front of a new red cordyline & a native peppermint behind.

New courtyard plantings

courtyard gardens are now planted out with succulents, in this photo there's two sedums, a kalanchoe & echeveria big red.

Echeveria pink frills about to flower, aeonium chocolate rose, kalanchoe, sedum variagated, and aeonium variagata up the back.A couple of aloes, echeveria black prince, echeveria mexican giant,  aeomium short black, sedeveria darley dale, some sedums & kalanchoesAloe striata coral, echeveria white rose, echeveria frosty, echeveria set oliver, unknown small echeveria, sedum gold mound & tall unknown kalanchoe.Echeveria perle von nuremburg, sedums & kalanchoe, most of which I dont know names as they were cuttings & babies I have accumulated, once they all grow & flower maybe I'll be able to figure out what they are.  I ended up reasonably full & now I just have to wait for them to fill in the spaces.

Burnt & Battered

End of Feb & my backyard is a little worse for wear, birds nest fern, cordyline & even the dianella are burnt. So today I have trimmed all the burnt bits off & spread some magic poo & mulch & hopefully they will all spark up.

My little agave attentuata fared better than most, but still has a few burnt spots, the heat has not bothered Lomandra tanika in the slightest.

My magnificent Dracaena Draco in command position, next to it is a ficus in a pot, which is also a little burnt.  Have cut down the purple fountain grass, should get another flowering before winter, ponytail palms both from Dad when they shifted, doing well.

And just as Im finishing up S4 comes in after walking his dog saying that its just started sprinkling with rain, he also said "Mum as I walked up the street into our yard it smells like a pig pen"  Hahahaha, I think he means sheep yards!!

Couldnt possibly be the 20 bags of poo I have distributed around the garden, poor neighbours!

Poos Aint Poos!

I have been working my butt off the last couple of weeks in the garden in an endeavour to fertilise & mulch before we get some autumn rain (hopefully)The front driveway garden has been tidied up & a few things ripped out - two dwarf date palms, which had become very un dwarf like, shata daisies (too much shade) and heaps of self sown seaside daisy (erigeron). One new plant in this view - crassula ovata (Jade), we will see how this goes there!

There are two remaining of the nasty dwarf dates & a better view of the jade, which was a cutting from a garden round the block.  The date palms actually have a lovely tropical look & are extremely robust, but they can kill in a single stabbing with the deadly skewers that grow on the leaf branches.

A lovely cordyline electric pink doing very well & a cordyline peko up against the fence, this one is in full shade all year round.  Ajuga varieagata, gerbera & lots of seaside daisy. Oh & up the back in the shade are my clivea.

 This looks a little sad atm, but its very early days, Cordyline at front & in amonst the broken pot (I had to break it to get it out) against the pole is clematis montana, dont know much about this plant, purchased at an open garden last year, so will live in hope of success.

My first succulent planted in front driveway garden - Aeonium short black. love the look of this one, hope he grows strongly.  Being a lover of Australian natives, I find myself in a bit of a quandary, I need to add poo & compost to the soil to save & store some moisture in order for my plants to grow, but a lot of the natives dont like the added stuff & keel over, but they also struggle in the sands total lack of ability to retain moisture.  I have killed mainly grevilleas & banksias, so may have to stear clear of them, anyway I added sheep manure from poos aint poos & also their own special soil conditioner with a topping of sugar cane mulch, will mulch with a darker mulch once Ive finished planting.

backyard Feb.

The purple fountain grass is going crazy & blocking out all other plants near it, think I will have to chop it back before its due.  Usually do it in August ready for spring growth, but maybe it could cope with two chops a year. I will try the one plant hiding my native hibiscus & see how it goes.  Am exhausted after laying sugar can mulch on the office garden & cleaning up after S2 - he has been digging & pulling out all the unwanted plants, mainly hundreds of agapanthus.  Im very pleased with him, he has done a good job & earnt some brownie points.

"Reeking havoc"

aaargh...............................scream, a few sobs, lots of back patting & then the brave smiles.
Unfortunately our sale fell through & we are now staying put for the time being.  After being very dissapointed, I have now reconciled myself to it & am getting on with things.
CP has been offered a job flying the water bombers for next summers fire season which will mean he can come home every night, so at least thats one thing.

Today the tree surgeon boys are creating havoc & chaos in the front garden, there are 5 of them & about 3 chain saws & a massive mulcher all going at once, Ive come inside before something drops on my head.  Going is the large date palm, 2 dwarf date palms, rubber trees (I think), travellers palms, bamboo & a sysigium hedge.  I wanted them gone as they had become too large for the area, the rats were breeding there & the bamboo & hedge was riddled with scale.  So thats my project for now to recreate my front garden into something I like & not something Ive inherited.
I am going to try and improve the soil as much as I can first, while its still summer, so I can get into the planting come autumn, my soil is basically beach sand so needs huge amounts of compost, humus etc.










This is my courtyard where I had the scale infested hedges, now I just need S2 to dig out the roots & I can get it ready for planting, I think I will create my little succulent garden here.

Theres the date palm stump in the centre, what a shocker of a plant to put on a small suburban block, those brutes need room to move!

Echeveria flowering

Not much happening at the moment, just waiting for finance approval for the people buying our house, It is extremely hot in the west & thunderstorms are making it uncomfortable. A few succulents flowering, this little sempervivum, I thinks this one will die once it finishes, so I hope there will be a few babies to make new plants when this happens.

This is Echeveria frosty flower

and Echeveria set oliver flower, I purchased this little fellow from Fickle Prickles over the internet.

Not sure what this is, but various people seem to think its an aeomium, Im not convinced as I thought Aeomiums went into domancy over the summer.

Only 10 days left until S4 heads off to boarding school, am a little apprehensive, but we will just wait and see how he goes and how his dog goes without him!