Category: in my garden

Australia · autumn · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Night Shadows

JoanneLeave a comment

Now the rain has passed and I can see the changing shadows each afternoon, I am reminded of the night shadows that creep across the valley just before sunset during autumn. It’s a beautiful time of year.

Late yesterday afternoon I took a few photos around the garden, and I love this deep red rose against the darkening backdrop of the garden. Red can be an “iffy” flower colour to photograph with the photo often looking over-exposed. The darkness of the day yesterday seems to have helped me achieve a true-to-colour photo this time.

I will keep an eye on this beautiful “Jude the Obscure” rose over the next couple of days as the petals unfold. It looks like the green grasshoppers I have seen on some of my plants this year may have enjoyed a tiny nibble of the pretty petals, but hopefully its just the outside petals that they munched on.

At the moment, I am having a run on university assignments. So far I have completed two recent tasks, with another due this Friday, and another due next week. My apologies (yet again!) for my tardiness in commenting. I’m at the half-way mark for this semester, then during semester 2 I will complete my final unit for the degree I am working on. 🙂

Australia · autumn · garden flowers · in my garden · rain

On a Rainy Day

Joanne5 Comments

When the rain returns, as it did today, and Mount Warning is hidden by the clouds again, as it was today, those are the days when I can share a random assortment of photos taken around my garden during finer weather.

Mandevilla

When I took this photo, I didn’t realise a tiny spider was also admiring the flower.

The first three photos are plants in my front garden. The last is the beginning of a flower that will open more fully over the next few days. I think, from memory, the plant is a bromeliad. It’s a shade-loving plant that my son-in-law planted about ten years ago. Back then, he stuck a shabby, dry plant in the ground, and a couple of days later he told me it was probably dead and he’d just take it out. I persuaded him to leave it, assuring him that I’d keep an eye on the plant, and if it didn’t show any signs of life, I’d get rid of it. As you can see, the plant thrived, and every year it produces these rather eye-catching flowers.

During the next week, I will have to take each day as it comes with the photos I can take, which will depend on the weather. Rain is predicted every day, but if I keep an eye on the mountain during the day, I might just catch it peeking out from behind the clouds, if I’m lucky. 🙂

Australia · autumn · in my garden · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Golden Rain Pods

Joanne5 Comments

The weather may have broken a record for this month – we have had two sunny days in a row!

Walking up the driveway to the letterbox yesterday was just a tad slippery after The Great Wet, but today it had dried out somewhat. I took the photo of Mount Warning late this afternoon from the top of the driveway, and just look at the sky – not a cloud in sight. 🙂

The leaves and pods on the golden rain tree that I photographed from afar during the rain on Tuesday looked much more flighty, blowing in the breeze now the tree is drier, so I picked a single pod off the tree to photograph in more detail.

Singular pods are three-sided, with each double-layered side encasing seeds. Close up, you can see detailed veins on the pod case. The pods are quite sturdy, and it didn’t break open easily.

When I did break the pod open, this is what I found inside. These raw green seeds will dry out over the next week or two, fall to the ground, and if the seeds find the right spot in the soil to start growing, a new tree will shoot up.

Considering I don’t want my front garden to be overrun by golden rain trees, I will be busy pulling tiny trees out over the next month or two as they appear.