Silent Sunday
Category: Australia
Australian and New Zealand Native Plants
In previous posts, I have mentioned that during the past year, I have focused on revamping my garden, by removing plants that I wasn’t happy with and trying new plants in their place.
A new plant to me was ‘Metrosideros Little Ewan’, otherwise known as a dwarf New Zealand Christmas bush. I thought I’d give it a go, so bought three tube stock plants. Much to my delight, I noticed this week that I have my first Little Ewan flower.
The clusters of red spires look to be growing from a yellow base; also, there is the tiniest hint of yellow at the end of the soft spires. The plant is still tiny but grows to one metre in both width and height. It will be lovely to see the plant in flower when it reaches its full maturity.
Finger limes are native to Australia. Referred to as “bush tucker” by aboriginal people, the fruit, when cut open, has the appearance of caviar! My tree is young, and this is the first summer it has fruited. I have been lucky enough to try finger limes previously when my neighbour brought some off their tree for us to try. When I cut open my first lime, I will take photos to share here. 🙂
I am still learning the intricacies of finger lime tree growth, but I predict we may have a few more limes appearing before summer is over.
Also in bud is my native Australian Lilly Pilly shrub. This shrub is growing in a pot currently, but I have plans for it to become a feature plant in one of my newly renovated gardens.
A post of Australian natives wouldn’t be complete without a photo of kookaburras. As you can see, we have summer rain here which I am thankful for – it is keeping the temperatures lower each day, even if the humidity is a tad high! During the mid-month of summer, I am grateful for any reprieve I can get from the heat. 🙂
In A Vase on Monday ~ 2024!
Happy New Year!
It may sound odd to people living in the northern climes of the world when I say that as we enter the middle month of summer here in Australia, there are slim pickings in my garden. The heat causes flowers to wilt faster than usual. And on Christmas night we had a mini cyclone through the area. We lost power for five hours, but we were lucky: some poor people lost power for several days.
My roses, hardly species that they are, seem to cope well with Mother Nature’s tantrums. So again, I have chosen roses for my Monday vase, this time deep pink Gertrude Jekyll, which I have paired with pale lemon-coloured Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ daisies.
The Susanna Mitchell daisies are a spring flowering plant. I thought I had seen the last of the blooms for this season when they began to wilt and die, only to discover that after a spot of rain, they had a second flush of flowers. I am very impressed by these plants, they have been in flower since September and if the plant invades its neighbour and needs cutting back, it doesn’t look as if it has been trimmed. I even stuck a couple of wayward runners into a bare patch of soil and they are growing very nicely, without any special treatment.
Gertrude Jekyll is a David Austin rose. Its namesake, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was an influential garden designer and author in England, who, according to the David Austin website, advocated for “incorporating roses in mixed borders” ~~ a woman after my own heart! Most of my rose bushes are planted in a long garden running the length of my side front fence, sharing the garden bed with various other plants such as camellias, buddleia, petunias, impatiens, gerberas, and even a couple of Australian native plants.
There are insects galore making homes in my garden during summer, and inevitably I find a hitchhiker or two when I bring the flowers indoors. This week’s interloper can be seen on the lower Susanna Mitchell daisy.
My slightly scorched vase this week is my contribution to Cathy’s In A Vase on Monday challenge at Rambling in the Garden. Thank you, Cathy, for encouraging me to go outdoors and find the beauty in my garden during the hottest part of the year. 🙂
Christmas 2023 ~ and that’s a wrap!
Christmas at my house is choc-full of fun, food and festivities. The main instigator of preparations, which begin in early December, is my daughter, child number three, a December girl who waits a whole year to celebrate both her birthday and Christmas. My Sagittarius is a whirlwind, the one in the family with the loudest voice, sparkling eyes and the biggest heart; you know when she enters a room without looking, her presence is so strong. For the past month, I have been “organised” by my daughter to go shopping for the ingredients we need to prepare a Christmas feast … and more!
A few days before Christmas, my five grand-babies came to my house for the annual Kid’s Cooking Day. Not a lot of actual cooking is done, it is pre-prepared for the little ones to have some fun. Chocolate Crackles require no baking, they are set in the fridge after the children help Aunt Em count out the cups and spoons full of ingredients, mix, and place them into patty pans. Emma and I baked cookies for them to decorate a few days before, and I also had a Christmas craft kit for the children to make decorations with.
This year, I made matching aprons for the children to wear while cooking, which Master Seven and his little brother, Master Two, modelled for me to take a photo.
I have lost count of the number of years Emma has baked and decorated a gingerbread house for Christmas. She gave up on perfection after her nephew, Master Seven, first decided he wanted to help with the decorating. As more children have come along, Emma has been happy to sacrifice her ideals of perfection for the little ones.
By the time the big day arrived, I was exhausted. This year, we had twenty guests here on Christmas Day consisting of my four grown-up “children”, their spouses, my five grandchildren, my ninety-year-old mother-in-law, my son-in-law’s sister and her daughter, and my daughter-in-law’s parents. It was a relief to finally relax, sit around the pool, and enjoy the garden where I spend so much of my time working!
As soon as the deck chairs were empty though, this cheeky pair grabbed them!
Being a hot day, this year we spent most of the day outdoors. The children loved playing in the pool and had fun setting up a picnic area on the grass, in the shade, where they ate their Christmas dinner.
The three older generations enjoyed our Christmas meal at the table!
December has been quite a busy month. It’s fun, but I have to admit that I am pleased there is only one Christmas in a year. The preparations are worth the effort though when I see my family together, relaxing, enjoying the day … and acting like total clowns!
And everyone celebrating, having fun, making memories, and feeling comfortable in the home my four children grew up in. 🙂
Wordless Wednesday
In My World 