Around The Garden.

After The Market Its Down To The Lake..

2007-10-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a local Sunday Market to buy a few plants and I took my camera with me as the Jacaranda trees are a mass of beautiful blue flowers at present and there is nothing prettier that one of those trees in full bloom.. Here is a close up pic of the flowers this one is hanging down near my letter box I adore those beautiful blue bell shaped they last for quite a while and when they fall off the ground below the trees is like a blue carpet.

I am very fortunate that there is a lake within walking distance from where I live, Hubby and I often used to go down of a morning and feed the ducks and the water hens but age has taken a toll and I find we don't go down at much as we used to so on our way back from the Sunday Market we stopped by the lake to see our feathered friends, there were quite a few birds there water hens or maybe they are called water fowls and of course the ducks they are always a delight to see they all seem so friendly and even though they don't fly off as you get near to them they are still all eyes and if you get to close then they go off into the lake.. They were very frisky when we were there and always seem to be chasing each other no double mating season is well and truly on . They are running over the water so fast it looks like they walking on it when in actual fact they are taking off for a flight.

Its amazing to see the birds like this as the water is not that shallow there for birds I certainly would not have liked to walk into that depth. The birds continue to have a disagreement about something then all of a sudden they are at it again chasing each
other around the lak e then others join in and the chase is on. It is a while before they settle down so I just sit on one of the seats near the edge of the Lake and just watch and listen its a great way to relax and enjoy a afternoon of peace, and when we get up to go to the car I think to my self what a lovely pleasant day we have spent together enjoying some of Natures beautiful gifts. Its so peaceful here sitting and enjoying the wild life but what we need now is a lot of rain so that the birds will stay for a lot longer..

A Stroll around the Garden..

2007-09-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

I do enjoy strolling around the garden on a beautiful spring morning.
I experience utter delight in finding a new rose opened, this morning and as I pass Seduction it is full of opened blooms,, then I turn around to see where the perfume is coming from I see Camp David a beautiful red and not far away is Pink Bassino which I missed yesterday as it is a ground cover rose and one branch is covered in pink flowers and I realise yesterday they would have been buds and with the climate so warm here some of the roses can be buds in the early morn a beautiful formed flower at mid-day and by late afternoon a fully blown flower to fall asleep in the evening never to open its beautiful petals again.. As I head over towards *Chooky Heaven * to see how my girls are and give them a few leaves of the silver beet Pixie and Dixie run over to see me as they know when hubby and I come the fence there is always lovely greens for them to eat. I bend down to see how Iceberg is going only a couple of little blooms
on it as I planted it on the chook yard fence as the tag said it was a climber but of course it was wrong And by time I realise it well the plant is up and away and there is no way I am going to dig it up and return it as its too late in the season to get a replacement, anyway the girls have had a few feeds of it. And as I walk towards the front of our block to fill up the bird bath there is a noisy miner who has just jumped out of the water then has a quick shake and its off to see what it can find over near the Lavender Dreams they are ramblers and there is usually good things to eat over there and as I walk around to the front of the house I see Olympic Gold so bright like the morning Sun a beacon that draws you over and as I get near I see that some poor little bee has been drawn to it also and a spider has managed to catch it in its web Nature is very beautiful but can be so very cruel at times and I looked in awe as that bee was four times the size of the spider and still met its end in such a cruel way.. On the other side of the front steps is Lovely Lady its a pink standard that should never have been grafted as such, a beautiful flower that throws canes as long as some of my Bougainvilleas but none the less it is a haven for our very tiny Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog this one seems to soak in the colour of the rose to try and camouflage itself though it is not doing a very good job and I hope is gets back between the leaves before one of our many resident kookaburra see it.
As I head over to another of the garden beds I look down to see what has popped up in the grass such perfect shaped toadstools and if you looked at them long enough you could almost imagine that fairies were sitting on them and resting after dancing around the garden, who knows they could be
hiding there amongst these pretty pink gerbera and as I continued on my way I see so many more flowers the day lilies welcome me and nod in the breeze as I go past and as I start to walk towards the back of the house there on the side fence laughing at me is one of our resident kookaburra’s so I quickly look over to the pink rose Lovely Lady but thankfully that tiny frog had gone out of sight and next thing that kookaburra swoops down and one little skink is caught, puts a dark cloud on the morning but once again that nature and there is plenty of that on this block. As I past the Calliandra and who is
that popping out of it one of those noisy Lorikeets they enjoy ripping those pretty flowers apart it takes no notice of me as I walk under the first arch where that little rose Crepuscule is starting to climb its way up the wire. That’s when I notice the air is full of the most beautiful perfume it could only be coming from my white Frangipani
and I go past the pink
then the red one although pretty they don’t have a perfume like the white does and as I head towards the bottom of the back steps and see that glorious lilac dwarf bougainvillea sitting in a big pot I go up those steps and realize I have to get back to the real world of getting breakfast then doing those never ending chores.

There is always plenty of time later for another walk around my Paradise

Lucky The Noisy Miner..

2007-08-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is sad but it is true
Its about a bird I once knew
I named it Lucky and you will see
What a beginning it had up in that tree
Three eggs were hatched one windy night
As I discovered in the morning light

O what a joy it was to see

These three little chicks up in the tree

Bald as a badger with great big eyes

Where one day they would hit the skies

Gale force winds the very next day

Bought tears of sadness in every way

To find one Chickie on the ground

And that little nest been turned around

My building skills were not the best

When trying to fix this little nest

All I could do was tie it down

Hoping they would be safe and sound

Another shock the next day bought

And a terrible lesson I was taught

With help the nest was wired to the tree

And thankfully did not come free

With one little chick left in the nest

We enjoyed watching it at rest

Then out of its nest one day to see

It sitting on the branch of the tree

Somewhere out there that little bird lives

Lucky its name and Lucky it is..

Goodbye Lucky

After The Rain ..

2007-08-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

Rain is so beautiful....

After four days of drizzle and light rain with the gauge collecting 88mm the grass is now starting to green up, after months of dead brown grass the green lifts your spirits even if they are weeds green is a lovely colour actually its my favourite colour and as I look around me there is green everywhere and so many different shades with the grass and leaves Nature's pallet is so beautiful.. When the sun finally comes out there will be fungi of all descriptions popping up out of the soil like these little toadstools you know I can just imagine the fairies sheltering from the rain under these umbrella's that Mother Nature grows.

One thing the rain brings and thats plenty of weeds and it good to get out in the garden and pull the weeds up as the soil is soft and its no effort, even if I am of a age where I have to bring a little wooden box with me to sit on as along the garden edge there it is very soft and soggy and there are heaps of weeds. Its a shame that the rain ruins the pretty flowers and all the petals fall off though a small price to pay so that more flowers can grow and the trees can get their new leaves which heralds the Spring..

And Spring is such a beautiful time when the entire garden comes alive in most places, I live in a subtropical climate and I have flowers of all descriptions year round even in the Winter the garden is alive with the red of the Poinsettia which flowers for months.
The Australia Natives start blooming and the red of the Callistemon is a sight to see I also have cream ones and Grevillea they are flowering also, the red and the orange are alive with bees they are feasting on the nectar same as the birds especially the Lorikeets.

And its not long before the bulbs and corms start flowering the Anemones with their Pink, White, Blue and Red flowers are so pretty buts its the bight yellows that I love best the Roses and the Freesia's with their delightful perfume. The climate is too warm here for tulips, daffodils but we have plenty of others to make for them, and if it wasn't for the rain we would not have these beautiful Plants. So I am hoping this is the end of our Drought.