Saturday Afternoon in the Garden

December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 Joanne15 Comments

After a dull weather morning, the light in the garden this afternoon had a magical quality that I couldn’t resist. Everywhere I looked, the birds, trees, flowers, valley, sky, just everything begged to have its photo taken. In all, I took eighty photos. Here are just a few …

A different view of the mountain, framed by surrounding trees.

I may have mentioned before that I have rather a lot of potted plants now, brought home from my inlaw’s garden after they both went into aged care last year. Some of the potted frangipani trees are so young that they didn’t flower last summer, so I have been waiting with bated breath to find out what colours I have. When I watered the pots this morning there were no flowers, but by this afternoon, one red flower had appeared!

My mature frangipani tree, which has been growing near the pool for several years, is now well covered in bunches of gorgeous blooms. Here is just half of the tree –

A well established frangipani tree is a beautiful addition to a subtropical garden, which is why I am looking forward to planting some of the small potted frangipani next winter. Hopefully by then I will know what colour the flowers will be on all of the trees which will help me to decide where to plant them in my garden.

Forrest took complete advantage of my lack of attention to her, taking the opportunity to chew up one of her toys while Bronte watched … look at that innocent face – butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth – right? 😉

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

Rain!

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 Joanne12 Comments

After quite a while – three weeks? four maybe? I awoke this morning to signs of rain.

Exhibit A – One drenched kookaburra atop a wet glass balustrade –

Exhibit B – Little Hoppy, my butcher bird with one gammy leg, waiting in the dryness of my back veranda for breakfast –

Exhibit C – My yellow and white frangipani, growing close enough to the house to allow me to take a photo without going out into the rain, with tiny beads of moisture captured on the leaves –

Later, baby magpie visited. The rain was light but consistent, and by the looks of the baby’s dry feathers, I think he may have hidden himself away amid tree foliage to escape the unfamiliar (to him) sight of rain –

And finally, Mount Warning. Just kidding. 😉 Actually, there was no sight of the mountain today, it was hidden behind the rainclouds. 🙂

Australia · colours · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · spring · subtropical weather · sunset · Tweed Valley

A Week of Flowers ~ Day 5

November 26, 2020November 26, 2020 Joanne21 Comments

This week, Cathy at Words and Herbs has asked bloggers to share flower photos to brighten up the grey days as winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere. Here in Australia we are just a few days off summer, but every day is a good day to share flowers, as far as I’m concerned.

One of the greatest attractions of Cathy’s suggestion, for me, is seeing so many gorgeous gardens, and flowers that I don’t recognise. Some flowers are familiar, but others I can only dream of growing. Our harsh, subtropical climate prevents me from growing some of the more delicate varieties.

My favourite flower colours to have in the garden are shades of purple, pink and blue. Most people would recognise the first photo of a Hydrangea which is one of my favourite flowers, but I wonder, are Tibbouchinas, shown in the second photo, grown in the Northern Hemisphere?

We have enjoyed a fine weather here today. As the last photo shows, there are no clouds tonight and Mount Warning is clearly outlined against the orange sun-setting sky.

I’ve had an extremely tiring day, washing curtains, cleaning windows, vacuuming and mopping floors, in the hope that I would have our living area back in order now the new floor has been laid. No such luck! I think I set my target too high, so I will have to continue getting the room back together tomorrow.

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments this week. For now, I’m off to bed, but I will catch up with everyone tomorrow. I don’t think I will be able to keep my eyes open much longer tonight, so goodnight. ❤

Australia · Changes · garden flowers · in my garden · In My World · Mount Warning · renovations · spring · sugar cane · sunrise · Tweed Valley

A Week of Flowers

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020 Joanne20 Comments

I spent most of the day in my office at the computer today, keeping out of the way of the lovely man who arrived first thing this morning to replace the floor coverings in my main living area. It’s been a massive job dismantling the room, emptying cupboards, removing old skirting boards, taking down the curtains, moving most of the furniture into another room, but we finally got there at around midnight last night.

I planned to spend the day reading through blog posts, which I mostly did, aside from the times when I was needed for something else. I had so much catching up to do! And now I have ideas whirling around in my mind about blog posts I must write. But where to begin?

Cathy, at Words and Herbs has invited us to join her in posting A Week of Flowers, which I thought would be a great place to start. I have spent way too much time indoors this past week, so any excuse to go outdoors is a good excuse. Plus, who doesn’t love flowers? I know I certainly do, and as Cathy said, flowers are sure to brighten the days of people in lockdown.

I missed Day 1 of Cathy’s week, so today is Day 2, for those who would like to join Cathy in sharing some floral happiness around the blogging world. 🙂

First thing this morning, the valley looked sparkly and clear, with just a touch of overnight mist lingering at around 6:15am. Sunrise is at around 5:45am these days as we approach summer, and so far I haven’t managed to get up early enough to see the first rays of morning sunlight touch the top of Mount Warning. Too many late nights, I think!

The sugar cane harvesting season is nearing the end, but the mill was still pumping out steam in the early daylight hours of this morning.

So now, as the day draws to an end, my family room has half a floor. We waved goodbye to our faithful twenty-six-year-old carpet this afternoon as the floor man drove up the hill with a neatly bundled stack of carpet in his trailer, which has served us well, but has definitely seen one too many teenagers’ party! Our floor man will return tomorrow morning to finish the job, which is very exciting. I’m looking forward to arranging all of our uptuned and askew furniture into its correct position again. 🙂