A Change of Focus

Well, I promised myself that I would complete this blog for a year so that I could record the changes in the garden over the year. I am reasonably happy that I have achieved what I set out to do - sometimes better than others. A few people have joined me on my journey and I thank them for sticking with me.

Now it is time to change my focus slightly and so I have decided to share with my readers not only my garden, but the visitors who come to my garden and surrounding areas. I hope that some of you will continue to visit and read my blog.

A couple of years ago we were lucky enough to be able to watch the progress of two little fantails as they reared their young. Again this year we have been so privileged as a pair of grey fantails built their nest in a camellia bush and proceeded to raise their little family. I like to think it may be the some of the young that we watched 2 years ago.

The Grey Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) is small, very active flycatcher. The form we have is the southern grey fantail which is distinguished by its mid-grey tail. They are rarely still, catching insects on the wing. They are cheerful cheeky little birds and seem quite unafraid to be around humans. The nsting pair this year was more wary than the previous pair and I think perhaps this year's were younger and less accustomed to nosey humans.

They build a neat cup shaped nest, made from grasses, bark and cobwebs on horizontal twigs. Usually 2-4 spotted pale-buff eggs. We spend a lot of time on the veranda watching them collect cobwebs for their nests. The plentiful supply of cobwebs under the eaves of the veranda could be one of the reasons they nest so close to the house.

My photos this year were not as good as the previous ones as it was harder to get close to the nest without distressing the parents.

TThree evenings ago I noticed that the parents were getting very excited by something on the ground. I went to investigate and found that one of the babies had fallen from the nest and was fluttering around. i picked it up and put it back in the nest, whereupon it promptly came out again. I spent the next hour putting the little one back in the nest as he was obviously not ready to take off. He did eventually settle as next morning he was snuggled down again.

 

However, yesterday evening the babies were obviously ready to get going as one hopped onto the branch shortly after this photo was taken. This morning the nest was empty.

This year has been a wonderful one for roses around here. Long wet, mild winter and some lovely sunny, but not too hot Spring days. My roses are looking brilliant.

 

Can't remember the name of this one, but it is really stunning this year.

Some of the David Austin collection

Fritz Nobis

Mary Rose with iris.

Liz Needle

Weekend Flowers

 
I have been enjoying my new camera so thought I would share this one with you.
























Normally I would link this with Weekend Flowers, but that doesn't appear to be happening this weekend, so instead I'll add afew more flower shots I took this week.

 This flowering crab apple makes a beautiful show at this time of the year. I love all the flowering apples, but this one is my favourite, I think

A pretty little lavender. They don't do particularly well here - soil too heavy, too wet and too cold. Pity because I love the perfume.

And this apple is just a stunner at this time of the year.

Liz Needle

Spring

Such a long time since I have posted and a lot of water under the bridge. We've all had colds - my DH close to pneumonia, my computer crashed, weather has been good and I have been busy in the garden tidying up after winter and everything seems to take so much of my time, so the blog has been neglected.

 

It is nearly a year since I started this blog and so much has happened in the garden in that time. Mark has chopped down all the willow trees  and the front garden is so much lighter. Most of the plants seem to be thriving with the extra sunlight. We are gradually replanting areas which have been affected by the willows and Mark is planning to move the front fence out and extend the front garden -  more space for extra trees. At this stage I haven't thought about how we will water everything. That's an issue I have been putting off, but I will have to address it soon. Meanwhile I am enjoying Spring in the garden.

 

Stars in the garden at the moment are the bluebells and the Ajuga - such glorious blues. I am hoping that the yellow iris will be flowering before the blues finish.

 



The humble soursob(oxalis) makes a pretty contrast.
 

 

One of our neighbours - an expatriate Englishman - says this view reminds him of England.

 

 Honesty makes a pretty show every year and I love that it self seeds and pops up everywhere.

This little daisy is an Australian native - Olearia - this particular one is a very tough shrub. In summer I pruned it back to a stump and it has defied my efforts and is a good metre plus high again.

 This is the first of the Viburnums to flower and one of my favourites - such a tough plant that seems to thrive anywhere.

 Another self seeder. This poppy began as a single seedling last Spring and is now popping up and adding its cheerfulness to my front garden. It looks stunning with the bluebells.

 

And another daisy. What useful little flowers they are in all their variety.

 

Probably the most spectacular plants at the moment are the camellias - just finishing - and the flowering apples, but they can wait until next time.

 

Liz Needle

 

PS.  I had planned to make these pictures larger, but for some reason, halfway through, Blogger decided that they were to remain this size!!

 

 

Weekend Flowers and A Foggy Garden

Weekend flowers this week is one of my favourites since I was very tiny. We used to be able to buy big posies of sweet smelling violets from roadside stalls in the city. Not now unfortunately - too labout intensive.

 

After weeks of rain, we have had a couple of beautiful Spring days - great to get back into the garden, though it is still too muddy underfoot to do a lot.

But, on Thursday morning we awoke to a heavy fog, so I grabbed the camera and got these shots as the fog started lifting.

The daffodils are out, but have really suffered from the winds and rain.

Add caption

Down by the dam.

The old house - now almost a ruin.

Liz Needle -  Linking with Weekend Flowers

Weekend Flowers

Still raining here - so much water. The lawn is under water and everywhere is mud. There is no way I can get into the garden to finish pruning the hydrangeas - they will just have to wait.  On a cheerier note the daffodils are out, though the rain has not treated them kindly. Hopefully tomorrow will be finer and I will be able to get around and take some photos.

Meanwhile a couple of my favourites for Weekend Flowers.

This lovely magnolia is called "Vulcan".

The unusual and quite beautiful flowers of the Tulip Tree  -  Liriodendron tulipifera

Liz Needle

Weekend Flowers

This week some of our lovely Australian flowers which some of you may not have seen.

Flowers from the flowering gum - Eucalyptus ficifolia.

 And the tiny, exquisite flowers of the Blueberry Ash - Elaeocarpus reticulatus. They look like ballerinas in their tutus.

Liz Needle - linking with Weekend Flowers

Goodbye willows

I can't believe it was June when I last posted to this blog - so much for my good intentions. Still nothing much different happened in July  except that it has rained and rained - the wettest July for 18 years. We had 207 points - over 8 inches.

On the few sunny days we had, mark found the time to cut down the last of the willows. Amazing what a difference it has made to the amount of light  and sun we get on the house now.

 As you can see, now that the leaves have fallen, the last willow was badly broken and I always worried that it might fall om someone when it was heavy with leaves.

 In the end it was very stubborn and had to be cut down in sections. The last trunk just would not fall and Mark had to drop it on part of the garden eventually. Luckily it missed the camellias and did minimal damage. Now comes the huge task of cutting the branches, piling them up and burning them.

You can see from the picture above how et this winter has been. This paddock usually has cattle in it, but not right now.

I have been using every second of the few dry days to prune the roses and hydrangeas - running alittle late this year.  The other shrubs worry me less, but I need roses and hydrangeas to provide me with summer colour. At the moment my colour is coming from jonquils and camellias, though the daffodils are almost in flower.

I do love camellias - no nonsense, no problems, no pruning, little watering and yet they regularly produce these glorious blossoms just when you are really feeling the winter blues.

Liz Needle