Australia · Changes · clouds · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · spring · Tweed Valley

A day of this and that

It feels strange not having a committment to do something specific every day since semester 2 ended two days ago. I still feel as if I am reintroducing myself to my “other life” – the uni free life!

Today I spent the day tidying, and cleaning, and sorting, and throwing things out, and cleaning the fridge …

I also looked outside a lot, to see if the weather had improved – it didn’t – so this is tonight’s sunset. The clouds are very different today, streaky rather than balls of cotton wool, which is nice for a change.

The birds were quieter today than they have been lately. I can always count on a visit from a noisy miner though, and my old faithful magpie mother. 🙂

Australia · butterflies · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · photography · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

Another Garden Wander

Just this one strip of mist lay in the valley this morning. The mountain sits to the south-west of the back of my house, and directly to the south the valley looked completely clear and sparkling green. We had rain overnight, hence the vivid greenery. I didn’t take any more photos today, because the clouds rolled in and we have rain again. It’s just as well I took some photos around my front garden yesterday.

I think I first saw Queen Anne’s Lace on my blogging friend Robin’s old blog, Bogs of Ohio. Robin started a new blog when she moved from Ohio in 2013. Gosh was it that long ago? Well, after all these years I’ve finally planted some Queen Anne’s Lace, which I’m sure Robin told me can get out of hand if I don’t keep an eye on it. It’s looking very pretty and well contained right now.

This white Buddleia is less than a year old and already it is about a meter tall and covered in flowers. The flowers are supposed to attract bees and butterflies, and as you can see, it is doing well in the butterfly department. At first I thought this could be a cabbage moth, but it’s actually a Female Brimstone.

A little Noisy Miner dropped by to say hello during my wandering around the garden. I’m sure it had something in its beak, but it didn’t sit long enough for me to see what it was. We’ve hung the little bird dishes on the chain wire fence for some Eastern Rosellas that we often see on the fence where the Miner is sitting, with some seed and water in. I think they may have a nest nearby.

I still don’t know what this plant is called, but it’s covered in pretty white flowers. It’s been in flower for a few weeks now and the flowers are growing bigger and more prolific every week.

The daisies are growing well too! I love this lilac colour in the garden.

The flowers on the Callistemon tree, or Bottle Brush as we like to call it, are maturing well, much to the delight of the birds. We planted this tree as a tiny plant about twenty-five years ago and now we have to trim the top back every year to keep it from growing too tall and hitting the gutters of the house.

My Spanish Moss is very special to me. My mum gave me this, and she’s been gone for twenty-seven years now. Over the years I have started up new collections of the plant by draping it over tree branches, but this one is the original. It’s crowed by some of my mother-in-law’s orchid plants at the moment! To the right, one of my Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, or Brunfelsia, shrubs is covered in flowers too. That’s another plant I have to prune to keep control of, as it grows so vigorously in our subtropical climate.

I’m so proud of my potted Fuchsia! It is thriving just now on my front veranda and the flowers look incredibly healthy. I think it enjoys the drink of seaweed solution I feed it every fortnight.

And finally, this is the lavender that I didn’t think would survive. It’s planted under a tree near the front boundary of my garden and was over-run with weeds up until two weekends ago when I tidied the area. Since then, it has burst into flower again! I think it could be Italian Lavender, but I’m not one-hundred percent sure.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I plan on spending the day in the garden. There’s a bit more weeding to do, some pruning to finish before summer arrives, a vegetable garden to organise, and a few new plants that arrived by mail order that I need to get planted. 🙂

Australia · birds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · Tweed Valley · winter

Visitors to the garden

Today the weather was fine and sunny as far as I could tell. I spent most of the day indoors, at my desk, working on a uni assignment again. There were a few different birds in the garden when I went outside for a break, so I will let the photos do the talking today as I need to rest my tired eyes and mind. xx

Australasian Figbird (Female)

 

Topknot Pigeon

 

Noisy Miner

 

A Friendly Kookaburra