kathies-garden.com

New delights in the garden

kathiemt — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:45:19 +0000

Now we’re settling at Selby we’re starting to see a range of birdlife and some animal life here. I’ve planted a lot of new roses and relocated two older ones from our old home.

In the first week we lived here I saw a bird I’d not seen before. The previous owners had left a couple of bird posters on the wall in the kitchen and I’ve found these invaluable for identifying birds. From that day I was on a mission to see this bird again – an Eastern Spinebill but it’s taken weeks before I was rewarded.

Late yesterday afternoon as I moved a potted azalea around to our front door I spied the bird in the grevillea by the front fence. I quickly went to get my camera and was thrilled to get several shots of the bird. Here are just a couple.

Perfume Delight

kathiemt — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:53:25 +0000

Since my last post we have shifted to the country and now live on a 2 acre property. It has gardens but we’ll be adding to them and changing them over time.

It already had a few roses and I’ve put in several more since. This particular one, the Perfume Delight, lives up to its name and is in its second flowering since we shifted in 9 weeks ago.

It’s it gorgeous? It smells just as beautiful too but I don’t have smellovision

Dandenong Gardens Festival

kathiemt — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:18:35 +0000

My husband and I are shifting to the foot of the Dandenongs at the end of October and it’s made me look at what’s happening in that area.

This past year my passion for photography has been renewed and I’m always looking for photo opportunities so imagine my delight to discovered an Open Gardens Festival in the Dandenongs throughout October.

Thought you might like to go too!

http://www.inspiringinspring.com.au/open-gardens/

Goodbye to the old…

kathiemt — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:51:41 +0000

My husband and I are selling our home and shifting to a 2 acre property in the hills. So these photos may well be the last from our current garden. This is our front yard.

Update

kathiemt — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:45:21 +0000

Our garden has had some clearing in the backyard – it was getting overgrown. Graham and I like it like that – natural looking but we’re planning on putting this house up for sale and moving to the country so others might not quite like it like that.

The front yard is getting a new injection of colour with Cyclamen, Pansies and other plants and I’ve taken a bit from here and put it there (ribbon plants, swedish ivy, and other ground covers) to fill a few bare patches.

Time away

kathiemt — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:17:41 +0000

My posts here have been lacking. Last year was not an easy year for us and with the drought and recent high temperatures and bushfires in our state, my garden isn’t much to write about at the moment. I do work hard to keep green as a featured colour and we continue to recycle water in buckets from showers to ensure my garden can be watered more than the Sat & Tues between 6-8am ruling. I hope to come back and post more often soon.

My Bonsai isn’t looking well :-(

kathiemt — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:59:38 +0000

I rang my plant doctor – a friend who has a nurseryman background and who also gave me my Bonsai for my 50th the year before last.

It’s not looking well and I don’t know what’s wrong with it.Â It’s not been burnt from the sun as the leaves aren’t turning brown from the top down, but are turning brown from the bottom up. It is being watered regularly but not sitting in water all day long.

It gets the morning sun but not the hot afternoon sun.Â It is sheltered from most of the wind.

Anyway, guess I’ll wait and see what the ‘doc’ has to say – he did tell me over the phone he’d come and pick it up and nurse it for me for about a month, and repot it as he felt it was probaby due for that.Â I hope he can nurse it back to health and tell me what I’ve been doing wrong.

Glorious rain!

kathiemt — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:46:03 +0000

Such a pleasure to go to sleep at night hearing the rain falling heavily on the roof above.

I woke up this morning and found our pond very full – the rain fall has helped, but so has the drainpipe we have running from our overflowing guttering around the roof as well.Â The water is now right up to the line of rocks and much more rain will mean I’ll have to turn the tap we have on the pipe so the water doesn’t start overflowing the pond or going back up the pipe feeding the pond.

Maybe we really should consider putting in a rain tank.

Mushies in the garden

kathiemt — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:31:43 +0000

I couldn’t resist photographing these when I saw them a couple of weeks ago in the garden – after some rare rain overnight. But I was too scared to pick them and use them in the kitchen – I don’t know the difference between ’safe’ mushrooms and unsafe ones. However, they looked so perfect I just had to photograph them and share them with you. They were in the remainder of our vege garden down the back.

This one was just peaking through the autumn litter.

Watering Restrictions and Timing

kathiemt — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:33:16 +0000

I don’t understand why in Victoria we were told we could only water in the mornings from 6am to 8am?Â I have 2 days a week alloted to me – one week day and one weekend.Â To me it would make sense to water in the evenings – particularly in the summer. That way the gardens would stay damp for the majority of the night, whereas during the day and under the hot summer sun, the garden dries out really quickly. Where is the sense in this?

Perhaps someone might be able to tell me the reasoning for this but it seems to me that the majority of people would be getting ready for work in the mornings, or want to lie in bed a little longer on the weekends whereas in the evening, the majority would be home organising their evening meal or doing something else and they could water their gardens then.

What do you think?