Silent Sunday ~ Kookaburra
Fourteen Years Ago Today …
So, what happened fourteen years ago today? I posted my first entry on this blog. So today is my blogaversary.
Over the years I have added posts on several topics, but the posts I enjoy adding these days mostly involve my garden, be it what I am doing – or have been doing – in my garden, or the results of my time spent there. Over the years I had forgotten what subject I wrote about for my first post, but hey, it was about the mango tree in my garden – gardening again. 🙂 So it could be assumed that nothing in my world has changed much in fourteen years.
Actually, there have been many changes. My four children – none of whom are into gardening, I might add … (where did I go wrong?) – are now grown, married and have homes of their own, And my family has grown, I am now Nana to five gorgeous little people who have stolen my heart. The eldest has even shown interest in helping me in the garden, so perhaps the next generation is more suspectable to my (constant) training! 😉
We lost my father-in-law early last year, who I mentioned in my first post. 😦
Since I began blogging I have completed a degree, a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English. Along the way, I also completed a Diploma of Family History and a Diploma of Sustainable Living. University study is now officially out of my system – unless it involves learning about gardening, of course.
When I look back on the posts I added during the last fourteen years, there are gaps, some for long periods, when I have been otherwise occupied with “life” and haven’t added any posts. I always return though.
During my most recent absence from blogging, I have been devoting nearly every day to my garden and my family (along with a few hours each day working in our family business, but that’s too boring to blog about!).
And my love of photography has been constant. Yesterday afternoon I took closeup shots of three gorgeous roses in full bloom in my garden. I am rather excited about sharing these photos! They are three of my special favourites … hmm, maybe every rose I grow is my favourite! The Souvenir de la Malmaison and Gertrude Jekyll are more established than the Emily Brontë though, which is a new addition just a few months ago. It was a rose I just had to have, as Brontë is the name of one of my gardening companions. ❤
Thank you to all of my blogging friends for constantly returning to visit me here after my many absences. And thank you for inviting me into your worlds too! I find it quite incredible how invested I have become in the lives of other bloggers, people whom I have never met, yet it means so much to me to know you can be there with just a click of my computer mouse for a brief chat. ❤
A Week of Flowers ~~ Day 7
Seven days simply is not enough time to share all the flowers that are in my Southern Hemisphere garden now the summer is here. A Week of Flowers, hosted by Cathy at Words and Herbs is an annual event where bloggers are encouraged to share photos of their gardens in all their glory. Not only does it brighten the days of people in the Northern Hemisphere, where brightly coloured flowers dancing in the sunlight are a distant memory until spring returns, but it has also encouraged me to return to my own garden with a camera in hand. All through the cooler months of the year I have dug, removed, relocated, planted and mulched in my garden. Now hotter days have returned, it is time for me to stand at my windows, cool drink in hand and enjoy the landscape I have created during the cooler months.
Frangipani trees love the subtropical weather. I have four in my garden, the largest and most mature trees strategically placed near our pool and bar-be-que area. Being deciduous, during winter, when we want to allow the sun’s warm rays into the garden, the branches of the trees are bare. As the warmer weather arrives, so do the leaves, giving us beautiful dappled shade in the area of the garden where we spend most of our time during summer. And the added bonus is that frangipanis have the most beautiful flowers. Close up, the five-petaled flowers are a work of art. From a distance, the view of the two trees together is breathtaking. 🙂
Cathy, where has the week gone? I still have more photos to share! Thank you so much for the inspiration to share flowers with other bloggers every day for a week. I have met more like-minded bloggers through your challenge this week and I am learning more about plants, and how they grow in the Northern Hemisphere. ❤
I believe I will have to blog more regularly now summer is here. 🙂
Wordless Wednesday ~~ A Week of Flowers, Day 6 ~~ Alyssum
A Week of Flowers is hosted by Cathy at Words and Herbs.
A Week of Flowers ~~ Day 5
For Day 5 of A Week of Flowers, hosted by Cathy at Words and Herbs, I am sharing photos of some native Australian plants growing in my garden, along with two other plants which, although not natives, blend perfectly with their dainty features.
Most Australian natives are drought-tolerant plants, they have to be to survive our often harsh climate conditions. We are fortunate in our subtropical zone to have a high annual rainfall compared to other areas of the country; however, all plants suffer during drought. Low water requirements do not mean no water is required!
The Brachyscome Mauve Bliss, pictured above, is a pretty little native groundcover. I recently renovated a very large sloping garden at the front of my house, situated in full sun for most of the day. The five flowering plants featured today are all growing happily in that particular garden, even thriving in the plus-thirty degree temperature we had recently, for four days in a row. I will plant more Brachyscomes now I have discovered how easily they grow. Next time, I will buy some of the pink and white varieties.
I often order plants online from a nursery located a couple of hours north of here, which is also in a subtropical zone. The company specialises in tube stock plants, so usually, when first planted, I have tiny plants that can easily disappear into the background of mulch. When I first planted my tiny native Leptospermum Ballerina I could hardly see it until right up close. Yesterday afternoon, I took a few photos of the garden when the sun had almost set and the day had cooled. As I was heading to the seaside daisy, which is the next photo, I noticed my Leptospermum has a flower now! So this dainty little pink ballerina definitely had to be included today.
The description of Erigeron seaside daisy is that it spreads easily, has a weeping habit, and is a great groundcover for hot positions – perfect! The mass planting I did in October is already beginning to spread across the garden, which is now covered in tiny white native daisies.
This morning, I had my first sighting of one of this year’s baby magpies. When I took my camera out to grab a quick photo, I startled baby Maggs, who retreated into the seaside daisies. Two Australian natives together – it doesn’t get any better than that. 🙂
Although native to South America, the Cuphea is similar to the Australian Correa in both appearance and climate requirements. I found this beauty at a local plant nursery, and it hasn’t stopped flowering since it arrived in October. Apparently, frost can end the flowering season, but we rarely, if ever, have frosts. That will keep bees happy all year round. 🙂
The slope of the renovated garden, in some areas, has been formed into a rockery, where this ‘Flirtation Pink’ Diascia, a South African native plant, with its cute little pink flowers, seems to be happily growing. It hasn’t missed a beat with flowering since being planted in October. I have read that Diascias only need extra water during hot, dry spells, so the amount of rain we have had recently seems to agree with this new addition to my garden.
Thank you for hosting A Week of Flowers, Cathy. I took over a hundred photos around the garden yesterday afternoon, which is far less strenuous than gardening in hot, humid, summer conditions. 🙂
In My World 