NOVEMBER - IS IT SPRING YET?

Springtime arrives (sort of) – even though it’s nearly summer!

At last! The small seedlings that have been languishing through the winter and cold spring are on their way. I can see them growing day by day – just when I had almost given up hope. We’re still getting those cold snaps, though. Just can’t seem to shake them off for too long.
Milk Carton as seedling pot.
I don’t know where I read this but I’m giving it a try. After the milk carton is washed out, make quite a few holes in the bottom, fill it with potting mix and use it for the first transplant of a tiny seedling. When it’s ready to go out into the garden, cut the base right off the pot and settle it into the garden. Then you can slide the pot up and use it as a wind guard while the seedling becomes stronger. As an added bonus, it’s also quite good at keeping snails away.

Australian Bluebells – Wahlenbergia communis.

A wonderful plant with heaps and heaps of iridescent blue stars. I’ve grown it in various parts of the garden ever since we came here. Sometimes it spreads everywhere – as here

And sometimes it gets lost amongst stronger plants and disappears entirely. I’ve had some failures at transplanting clumps of it but this year – victory! There are now about four more sites where it seems to be very happy and I’m hoping it will stay for some years.
It’s not a plant for ‘tidy’ gardens. It falls all over the place, comes up in unexpected corners, and only blooms properly when the sun shines. But then, it gleams and sparkles.

It goes beautifully with golden Common Everlastings close by - Chrysocephalum apiculatum.

Many Photos on PicasaIt’s a wonderful month – now, after all our waiting for the warm weather to arrive. I’ve gone mad with the digital camera and have many, many photos of flowering Hibbertias, Melaleucas, Alyogynes, Eremophilas, Mint Bush, Native Iris, the list goes on and on and I have put them all – some in various stages of growth – on the November Picasa Album here.
Visitors
I was lucky enough to have some keen gardeners visiting this month and we had a marvellous time wandering around the garden and through the Bushland, discovering plants in full flower, some just beginning, others just finished. I did have a bit of a worry with trying to answer questions about botanical names and had to rush for my trusty spreadsheet. Fortunately I have been keeping good records – otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue about some of the proper names.

Visitor stress!
Does everyone stress out when visitors are coming? I have to admit that for the week before two lots of visitors were expected I was out there for an hour or so every day with wheelbarrow and spade, trundling heaps of mulch into spots that have needed it for the last month or so. Things that needed pruning were pruned, weeds were picked (or kicked!) out and husband Geoff got out for the final mowing until the place looked practically perfect. THEN, the weather bureau forecast rain from the Friday to Sunday! Thank you, Fate!
Fortunately, they were wrong. Friday was fine all day when the REAL gardener was here. Not so good on the other two days but at least we were able to enjoy it through the windows and we did get out on two or three occasions.

Many Skinks all over the garden.
It’s been wonderful to see how the skink population has suddenly exploded. Everywhere we walk, suddenly there a flash of movement and a couple of skinks disappear into the undergrowth. We see them in the mornings, basking on the warm rocks in the early sunshine. I haven’t managed to photograph any this month but I caught a mother and babies out there last January when we had a bit more reliable sunshine.

Australian Shrike Thrush
Although we’re surrounded by English Blackbirds and their songs, we are also lucky enough to have the Australian Shrike Thrush as a regular visitor. It was a couple of years ago that I took this video of one at our bedroom window. The poor little fellow thought he’d found the love of his life and was serenading his reflection with great passion. They have a wonderful song – equal to any European song bird.




We also have our resident Wattle Birds, New Holland Honeyeaters, Thornbills, Scrub Wrens, and Magpies which live in our trees and patrol the block, chasing away the occasional Starling invasion. At this time of the year there are always baby birds on one sort or another. The baby Magpies and Wattle Birds keep up their constant squawking for food and I managed a couple of pictures of two Wattle Birds being fed on our fence a week or so ago.

The parents are very fair and alternate between the two – when they can. There’s always a scuffle for the next mouthful, though, and mum or dad are sometimes caught in the middle of an enormous scuffle. Very entertaining!


The Last Week in November and Wind and Rain are wreaking havoc!
I’m afraid I’ve become so used to drought conditions that I’ve been caught by surprise with all this rain. And it seems that others may have been too.
When I was buying a couple of Eremophilas a year or so ago, I remarked to the Nurseryman that I hadn’t seen many of these before. He agreed with me and said that, because they come from the dry desert area of South Australia, a few years ago he would never have sold them for growing in the ‘wet south-west of Victoria’. Now, he told me, with Climate Change, he is selling more and more of the West Australian and dry-country plants.
Well, that could all be changing again! In the last three weeks, with all the extra rain in November, I’ve lost two Acacias and one Banksia – all with ‘wet feet’. I mentioned last month that in certain parts of our block, I could hear the water trickling underground. This is obviously a VERY BAD THING for some of my trees, as you’ll see from these photos.


Banksia burdetti (from Geraldton)




Acacia "Scarlet Blaze"




Acacia implexa

The poor Acacia “Scarlet Blaze” was blown out by gale winds last month but, because it had quite a large tap root still in the ground, I tried staking it up again – to no avail. Then I noticed the Acacia implexa – which has been in since March 2005 and was growing beautifully – had started to shed its leaves. As I thought – it’s dying! Must be wet feet.
And so I checked a few others for similar signs. Not unexpectedly, the Geraldton Banksia (B. burdetti) was definitely showing signs of imminent death! Its leaves began drying and are now quite dry and curling. Another victim bites the dust!

I also found my Viminaria “Golden Spray” (V. juncea) had broken off and was flat on the ground after the rain and wind. It had heaps of flower buds and I suspect the rain made it too heavy and the wind was the final straw.
It’s all very sad, but obviously these different conditions have to be taken into account for future plantings.


Vegetables
I’m not growing many this year. I think I’m running out of energy and what I have I’d rather spend on the native plants. I have one grafted tomato and my latest visitor has presented us with two special Italian varieties which are doing well so far. I’m picking silver beet every day or so, and my small grandson has insisted on transplanting some cucumbers that came up from the compost heap. Against my prediction to him, they seem to be fine! And the one thing I really love, the asparagus, keeps on producing with very little assistance from me. That’s the sort of vegy I like!

Nearly Summer:Maybe by the time I’m writing the blog for next month we’ll be complaining about how hot it is! Meanwhile, there are lots more photos in the Picasa album for November. Just click here.