June has been cold, wet and windy and, with the amount of rain in the previous twelve months, our whole block has become soggy very quickly. It seems our first seven years here were un-typical. THIS weather, we are told by the locals, is the norm! But so many Australian natives bloom in the winter that the garden still manages to look bright and flowery; and before much longer, we'll be surrounded by the golden light of the wattles. No complaints about that!
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| These poor little Eucalypts - they've hardly had a week without wet feet. A small drain MIGHT help but I fear for their future! |
He (or she) is still with us – that’s nearly two months, now. There was a while during this month when we didn’t see him for nine days and we had both decided he’d moved on. However, on the tenth day her turned up again and, for the first time, sampled his new, and deeper, bird-bath. He definitely approved, ducking his head under time and time again and splashing water in all directions.
We still don’t know where he’s living but there are a number of very dense bushy areas that would hide him (or possibly two of them) completely. We don’t go searching though in case we frighten him away. Our dream is to some day see two adults and some babies come marching out.
Spraying and Pruning.
With the three fruit trees – plum, nectarine and apricot – I had to do a bit of maintenance. The Nectarine had to be sprayed for Curly Leaf. According to the local experts, it’s all around Camperdown and if we don’t spray there’s no escaping it. Then they all had to be pruned. The plum was getting much too tall so I checked up on the internet as to how much I could prune it back. “Cut it down to as short as you want it” was the advice I found, so away I went. It’s only in it’s third year here and we haven’t had any fruit yet. Let’s hope I haven’t killed it!
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| I was pretty ruthless with the pruning. Time will tell whether it will survive and produce fruit. |
Sadly, a really windy night around the 21st June ended the life of a Grevillea outside the lounge-room window where we sit and watch all the birds.
There’s also a Grevillea “Superb” in the same area that has looked very unwell for over twelve months. I think too much rain has had a bad effect on it. There’s also the possibility that the Dichondra and Pratia, which have grown totally out of control since the rain, are strangling its roots. I’ve tried to keep a clear space under the shrub but it’s looking extremely sick and I think I’ll have to replace it. I may invest in a large pot for a new Grevillea “Superb” and surrender the fight to the creepers.
STOP PRESS:
I've bought a replacement for the Grevillea Superb and put it into a big pot. I’ll wait and see whether the original one recovers – which would be nice. If not, I can put the pot in its place and meanwhile, its getting established and growing a bit bigger - and it's covering up the remains of the broken one behind it.
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| This pic was taken in the last week in June when we suddenly had a burst of sunshine. A very pleasant change! |
Fortunately the grass has stopped growing at last and everything else is taking a bit of rest from its mad growth over summer and autumn. And that gives us gardeners a chance to rest too. It’s good to stay inside keeping warm and watch all that wild weather outside.
A burst of sunshine
The last week of June turned on some glorious blue skies and sunshine – still very cold, though. It encouraged me to plant out a few of the everlastings I’d grown from seed and strikes – not into the garden yet but into a couple of bigger pots so I can still keep them warm and out of the wind until spring.
“Ralph” the Rail.
We haven’t seen him now for about twelve days so fear that he may have moved on. After we bought him a beautiful new bath and all! How ungrateful.
Winter flowers
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| Thryptromene |
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| Correa - "Pee Wee Pete" |
I'm looking forward to next month when we are again surrounded by our golden wattles.
More pics available:
More pictures can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/Gillian.Gardener/TreechangeAnAustralianNativeGardenJune2011#
