Category: garden flowers

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · native Australian plants · rain · summer · Tweed Valley

More rain …

Joanne4 Comments

When the rain bucketed down at 7am this morning, there was no sign of Mount Warning. Ignoring the inclement weather, two little Magpie Larks, or Pee Wees as they are affectionately called in Australia, arrived first for breakfast at my back door.

The first photo is a little lady pee wee, with verticle lines of black feathers through both eyes, and white around her beak.

Nearby, another pee wee waited, a male, with a horizontal black “mask” across his eyes, and more black feathers around his beak than his little lady friend. My photos would have been clearer if it wasn’t for the dreary weather, but with such shy flitting birds, I take what I can get.

Later in the afternoon, the mountain appeared from behind the veil of clouds which had hidden it all day.

For days now, I have been trying to take a photo of the new Lilly pilly flowers appearing on some of my potted plants. They will eventually form a hedge in the garden, but for now, I am keeping them near to the house where they can be watered every day – manually, with a hose, (was the plan) although I have rarely used the hose this summer due to our excessive rainfall! Lilly pillys are usually very hotogenic flowers, except on dull days, apparently. I will persevere though. They are very pretty Australian natives and I would like to document their growth more extensively, besides showing off their beauty. 🙂

 

Australia · Changes · clouds · colours · flowers · garden flowers · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · quotes · rain · summer · sunrise · Tweed Valley

Something Beautiful

Joanne16 Comments

When you do something beautiful and nobody notices, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle, and yet most of the audience still sleeps. ~~ John Lennon

When the early morning sun put on a beautiful specticle today, someone noticed. Luckily for me, I was awake to see the gentle, muted colours caught in interesting cloud patterns across the sky over Mount Warning.

Once, rising at 6:00 am seemed horrendous, yet now I look forward to seeing the changes in the sky, clouds and light as the earth awakens.

Lately, with all the rain and blustery weather we have had, there have been several mornings when the mountain hasn’t been visible at all, so I really appreciate the fine-weather mornings. The current La Niña weather pattern has sent parts of my garden into a tizz, with all the small green mango fruit blowing off the tree before it had a chance to mature, and we hardly have any frangipani flowers left. Only those flowers hidden among the leaves on the safer, northern side of the tree have survived.

Surprisingly, our hibiscus hedge is doing very well this year. We only bought one plant back in the days when we were establishing our new garden, and from that one plant, a creamy-peach colour, we grew more from cuttings. When a neighbour pruned their pink hibiscus, they were happy for us to take a few cuttings to strike for our garden, so our colour scheme was decided upon.

Some years, the excessive humidity and lack of rain bothers the hibiscus and we see few flowers. This year, the plants seem to be flourishing with the extra rain and we have a beautiful array of flowers.

Seeing the changes in the weather, which affects everything – the sky, the view, and especially the plants in the garden is what I enjoy most about spending time outdoors. In the garden, from season to season, you just never know which flowers and plants will be the star performers. And during summer, in the early morning, while much of the world still sleeps, it is the best time of day to spend time with nature. 🙂

Australia · garden flowers · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · summer · Tweed Valley

Around the Garden

Joanne8 Comments

Little Hoppy – of one gammy leg fame – stood nice and still on his healthy leg this morning while I took a photo of him. I had run out of fresh meat and had to thaw a batch from the freezer in the microwave, and he was very patient indeed.

Baby Magpie simply looked bewildered. If he could speak, I’m sure he would stamp his claw and demand his breakfast. 😉

The weather appeared to be threatening rain all day, but when no rain had fallen by this afternoon, I ventured outdoors to pull out a few weeds. All the rain we have been having has encouraged a new crop of weeds in several patches through my garden beds, so I’ve made a start on getting rid of a few. I also dead-headed my flowering plants. This rose bush still has several fresh roses on it, so nothing needed to be removed from this plant. 🙂

I had my iPhone in the garden, so took a photo of the valley from the top of the garden with my phone camera. There’s really nothing going on down in the valley today except heat haze or mist, but as always, I can’t complain when it is not an overly hot day.

We are having rather a mild summer this year! 🙂

Australia · challenges · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · new beginnings · new year · rain · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

The first challenge for 2021 …

Joanne13 Comments

Happy New Year!

That much I know I have right – it’s New Year’s Day, 2021. But what day of the week is it again?

Never mind, it’s holiday time, so I won’t concern myself too much with remembering what day it is right now. When the usual rhythm of everyday life begins again, I’m sure the days of the week will all fall back into place as well. 😉

We have had more rain today, along with long spells of, well, not sunshine, but it hasn’t rained all day either. The valley cleared to some extent, although Mount Warning decided to hide for the day. I’m sure there are plenty of people, regardless of Covid rstrictions, who may have over-indulged last night and wanted to hide away for the day, just as Mount Warning did.

Little Hoppy, my Butcher Bird friend with the gammy leg, visited today with one of the babies. I’m never sure who the actual parents of these baby birds are, but this little one seemed to follow Hoppy everywhere.

Later, I had a baby Butcher Bird perched on the top of the trampolene, singing at the top of its voice. They sing such a pretty song, filled with an extensive range of vocal notes, once they get into their song.

Not to be outdone, later in the day I had Baby Magpie in the front garden, extending his vocal chords to full extent as well. 🙂

While I was in the front garden with my camera, I had a look at a few plants. Some of them have taken a battering this summer, what with all the rain and gusty wind. These lovely white Mandevilla flowers broke into bloom only a few days ago though, and so far haven’t succumbed to the blustering wind. It’s a fairly new plant, I only planted it last summer, but it seems happy in the place I chose for it.

The only place I can grow Fuchsias is in a large pot on my front veranda, where the plant is protected from the harsh sun and wind. This plant is three years old now, and this flowering season it has already been in bloom for several months. I have to water the plant every day as it is quite a thirsty plant, and stresses quickly in the heat if the soil is left to dry out.

How did everyone celebrate New Year? I imagine quietly, like I did. Husband and I stayed up to watch the televised fireworks display on Sydney Harbour, welcomed the New Year in with a glass of sparkling wine, then off to bed (which is where I’m heading now!) 🙂