Irises - Bringing More Colour Into The Garden

After the Rain ....

We had a few cold and damp days last week which resulted in the ground being covered in fungi. These beauties I came across were the size of dinner plates. Not confident in picking poisonous from non-poisonous wild mushrooms, I only eat those that come from the supermarket!

Flowering in the Garden Today - A Million Bells

The sun peeked out for five minutes today. Long enough for a snap of this prolific bloomer, Calibrachoa Million Bells Apricot Eye. Its flowers resemble mini petunias; hence its common name of trailing petunia.

Marguerite Daisy - Another Plant for My Wish List

 

Visiting a neighbour's garden recently this plant caught my eye. I love the colour of this Marguerite Daisy. Its full name, according to the tag conveniently left for me to read, is Argyranthemum Bonmadmerlo Madeira Daisy, Double Red. Sounds like it should be in a bottle!!!

Wattles in Flower

You know winter is on the way when the wattles begin to flower. I don't know the name of this one, with its feathery leaves and little balls of wattle flower, but it is very pretty. If you're walking past it or the wind is from the right direction you get a lovely whiff of aniseed. It is the first of the wattles in our garden to bloom.

Today's Garden Visitor

This pluver or masked lapwing, together with its mate, was taking advantage of the early morning sun. The pair are regular visitors to the garden and often spend all day here. Magpies swoop them regularly, but the pluvers refuse to be intimidated.

Cucumber Calamity!

This small stunted cucumber is the only one harvested from four plants. There were lots of little yellow flowers, but unfortunately they didn't develop into big juicy cucumbers. I'm not sure what went wrong - not enough or too much water, too hot a position or a lack of the right insects to pollinate the flowers. Does this mean I've given up on cucumbers? No, I'll try again next season, but I'll grow them on a climbing frame instead of allowing them to meander across the raised garden bed. Regular feeding won't go amiss and perhaps a little more attention  to watering, especially when the plants are in flower.

Finally! Flowering Together!

I thought this was never going to happen. The  two dwarf patio geraniums at my back door are flowering at the same time.

A Welcome Find!

There are a few mysterious mounds dotted around our block, but we were pleasantly surprised by this one. Under a layer of dried grass was some top soil. At a minimum price of around $30.00 per cubic metre this was a very welcome find. Needless to say we have put it to good use.

Goodbye Summer! Hello Autumn!

Yesterday, the last day of summer was hot, hot and humid, with temperatures over 35&#176C. But summer did not leave quietly. Early evening saw a thunderstorm cell sweep through bringing with it a heavy downpour which eased to steady rain lasting for over an hour.

Overnight we had more rain. Checking the gauge this morning, I was very happy to see that we had a total of 10 mm. While not a huge amount, it was very welcome. The forecast for the coming week is for much cooler temperatures, low to middle 20s, with minimums of between 6 and 10 C. Hello autumn!

Bougainvillea - Another Plant Off My Wish List

Bougainvilleas are one of my favourite plants. I love the vibrancy of the colours available and how magnificent these shrubs look trailing over fences or pergolas.

For many years I've had bougainvillea on the list of plants I would like in my garden if ever I had the space and the right location. Well, yesterday I planted a hybrid called 'Vera Blakeman' and so have crossed bougainvillea off my wish list.

My aim is to have it cover the trellis behind. This spot is ideal as it has a northerly aspect, where it will catch the sun for most of the day. At the moment it has lots of magenta bracts with tiny pointed flowers in white.

At the Back Door

I have two Eclipse Patio geraniums (velvet red) in pots on either side of the back door. In shade, under the verandah, until lunchtime, they then get the western sun for the rest of the day.  The flowers are very pretty and do look like red velvet. My only complaint is that the two plants never seem to flower at the same time: when one is coming into flower, the other is just finishing. Perhaps they will synchronise eventually when better established.

Today's Garden Visitor

The weather has been very warm, so not much gardening has been done, save for watering every couple of days. In the cool of yesterday evening, I  added more sugar cane mulch to the garden beds before it got dark. My reward this morning was a crimson rosella "admiring" the African daisies.

Sunday Visitor

After crashing into our kitchen window, this Sacred Kingfisher took time to recover on a nearby branch.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

I was so excited when this large delicate flower appeared on this Hibiscus Aussie Pink. Sadly, it only lasted for a day. When fully opened the flower was approximately 100 mm (4 inches) in diameter. This is a very hardy, fast growing native, attaining height and spread of approximatley 2 metres at maturity. Once established, it will tolerate frosts and dry periods. Mine is in semi-shade for most of the morning and gets the western sun in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to the other buds opening. This time I will smell the flowers as Hibiscus Aussie Pink is a fragrant variety.

Agapanthus - Love Them or Hate Them

I love agapanthus, especially the blue ones, though many people don't considering them weeds. They are easy to grow, look good in mass plantings, drought hardy, can tolerate poor soils, love full sun or a partially shaded position, flower through summer and beyond. With some extra attention they can be spectacular. My drive way is bordered by agapanthus, but they look nothing like these. I live in hope!

Agapanthus, Alexandra Gardens, Ararat, Victoria

Agapanthus in a partially shaded position

Agapanthus bordering another path

Caught in the Act

This swamp wallaby, a regular visitor to our garden, was caught in the act munching on the hardenbergia. It has also nibbled at a geranium, a standard rose, a plumbago and various other shrubs.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Those high temperatures I mentioned in my last post, accompanied by blustery winds, caused a grass fire to come bearing down on our small community in south-western Victoria. Thanks to all the resources thrown at it a major disaster was averted although some homes, stock, fences etc. were lost.

Our first glimpse of the fire was a cloud of smoke over the gum trees.

This is one of the aircraft that flew overhead: an Erickson Air Crane from Canada. There are currently two of these in Australia for our bush fire season, "Malcolm" and "Delilah".

A thunderstorm cell late on Saturday afternoon helped firefighters in the area contain and eventually put out the fire. The Country Fire Authority were still patrolling the area a few days later to control spot fires and flare ups.

Heavy rain is falling now and more is expected over the week-end. Flood warnings are in place for some areas of Victoria. The garden is getting a good soaking and water is going into the dam. Last check of the rain gauge showed over 10 mm had fallen.

This time last week we were sweltering in over 40 C temperatures. Today it is 20 C cooler. What a difference a week makes!

A New Year, Scorching Temperatures and Chinese Lanterns

The new year has certainly made a grand entrance.  Temperatures of 40 C plus were experienced over the past few days. The dam level is getting lower and the landscape is dry, very dry. Gum leaves carpet the ground as trees shed them at an alarming rate. Into the second month of summer with more hot weather to come.

It's a battle to keep plants alive. Needless to say that work has not progressed on the garden. Plants bought in spring are still in pots. They will not be planted out until the worst of the hot weather passes, which could be around March/April. So much easier to water pots grouped in the same area than drag the hose around the garden. Most established plants are left to survive with no watering. It is only the ones planted in spring and some of the small trees showing heat stress that benefit from extra watering.

However, all is not gloom and doom. The morning was cool and I enjoyed breakfast out on the patio, accompanied by birdsong, while kangaroos fed on whatever they could find near the orchard.

A stroll around the garden before the sun broke cloud cover revealed that there are still discoveries to be made: like this flowering Chinese lantern or abutilon.

A compact hybrid abutilon, called Patio Lanterns Passion, it grows to approximately 60 cm x 60 cm. As you can see, it has lots of flowers and buds about to open. The colour is a vibrant red and, if the information on the tag is correct, this display should last until autumn or if I want to achieve all year flowering it can be planted in a pot and placed in a protected area on the patio.

I have two other Chinese lanterns growing in pots: abutilon flamenco and abutilon pink swirls. These shrubs are very hardy, enjoy full sun to part shade and can tolerate most frosts. They grow to a height of about 2 metres and a width of 1.8 metres. Lots of flower buds on both, but only abutilon pink swirls has one open.

Abutilon pink swirls

As I was writing this post (on Friday 2nd January) a bush fire emergency occurred and it was put on hold until today. Fortunately the bush fire did not impact on us, though we did have a very tense 48 hours.