"It takes courage to grow up & become who you really are"

EE Cummings

I cant believe it was the spring  2013 I last posted!
I suppose what happened was that the internet in Northam was so appallingly slow I just couldn't be bothered anymore, also work got really busy & then we decided to shift (again!).
but anyhow Im back, along with another new garden, & heres hoping this is where I will stay.

I love my Northam garden, it was just starting to look good & we put sooooo much work into it, but shit happens & we decided to move once again.  I am more than happy in my new little house & the garden is going to be awesome!! These photos are from 2014 Northam garden, just to remind me of it.

Aloe garden in Northam

By the way the caption at the top is because I had a significant birthday this year & its a reminder to just be me!

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.

"One kind word can warm three winter months"

(Japanese Proverb)

Hakea francisiana 

"Joining in with favourite plant in my garden this week" from Danger Garden , although mine won't be weekly as just like with garden bloggers bloom day I am incredibly unreliable.

But any way this hakea is a little beauty, although I do wish it wasn't so shy with its flowers as they are outstanding.  It's about 3m high by 1.5m wide, extremely drought tolerant & indigenous to 

Western Australia.

The flowers are produced on old wood & so are well hidden in the branches, which of course is a winner with the birds.  I just love it as the flower suddenly appears in all its glory from avery unassuming little tree.

Pruning

Another stinker of a day, I have been pruning my grevillea petrophiloides over a couple of days as its such a monster, & still not finished, might have to call the chief in with chainsaw to finish off.

This grevillea is indigenous to our area, which is why it was one of the few healthy plants in the garden when we first arrived, oh & it's also planted right next to the septic!
I let the chooks out that evening & they went wild scratching around looking for insects.

Kings Park

A spring visit to the Kings Park botanical garden festival on a perfect day.  I couldnt have asked for anything else, except perhaps a few less people!  The Friends of Kings Park have four plant sales a year, where they sell the plants they grow from seed or propagation, I havent been for quite some years now, but it seemed to me a lot more people have caught on to the idea, it was so crowded.  The plants are quite cheap & a lot are rare and cant be found in nurseries. I bought two Eucalypts - E brandiana, this one is extremely rare, it was only discovered in the late 90's in the fitzgerald area south of Perth & has no lignotuber, so does not regenerate after a fire, hence the rareness.  It has been named after a curator at the park. The other is also quite rare, E crucis or silver mallee, this is a beautiful little tree, that is found in the wheatbelt, so should grow well for me.  I also bought two lechenaultia's, a banksia & a thryptomene, so look forwar to posting photo's of these ones in flower.

 This is the Giant Boab 'Gija Jumulu' that was transported to Kings Parkin July 2008, it journeyed over 3200 kilometres, from Warmun in WA's Kimberley region, to Kings Park in Perth.This iconic tree, estimated to be 750 years old, weighs 36 tonnes and stretches 14 metres high and eight metres wide (branch span). Its trunk measures 2.5 metres in diameter. The boab had to be moved as it was in the way of a highway, this was a first in Australia, transplanting such an old tree over an enormous distance. I remember the journey was followed every evening on the news, the nation held its breath & hoped that this incredible endeavour would be successful, when the first tiny shoots pushed through in spring you could almost here the collective sigh of relief.  Boabs are deciduous and the kimberly in WA is the only place in the world they are found, they are related to South Africa's baoabab's.  Now this proud giant enters its third spring in his new home & we await the first signs of life with baited breath once again.  Nature is so exciting!

Desert flowers

everlastings

silver princess

                                                        black kangaroo paw with hibbertia

                                                      lechenaultia, my fav!

                                                         Qualup bells

                                                           smoke bush

                                                       swan river daisy

                                                         feather flowers

                            kangaroo paws and wax plants

These plants are all indigenous to Western Australia