JULY 2011 – DEFINITELY MID-WINTER!

So I guess the drought has broken?

The rain continued to fall, the ground became soggier and soggier and I think spring will be VERY welcome this year. It's hard not to complain just a little bit about the rain and the freezing cold, but it's also great to see all the dams full and everything green and growing. It's certainly been a change to the climate of our first few years here and quite a number of the Australian natives are suffering from wet feet and may not survive. It just means we have to be flexible and keep learning, I guess. It will be interesting to see what the next few seasons bring us.

A couple of victims of the rain

Since 2003, I’ve already lost two Illyarrie Redcaps (Eucalyptus erithrocorys) through wet feet and it looks like the third one is going the same way. I’ve tried to save it by lifting and potting it but I’m not too optimistic. Well, it IS from West Australia so I don’t think I’ll try again. Unless …. maybe I’ll try just once more but START it in a pot.

I hardly disturbed the roots but ... I think it was looking unwell
by the next day.

The second casualty is the beautiful Grevillea “Superb”. I’ve been watching it look sicker and sicker for a couple of months and have now pruned it right back to see what will happen.

This is how it looked when I decided I had to do something about it.



Kill or cure! I really cut it back quite viciously and I'll be watching the many tiny shoots
deep inside the bush that were smothered with dead leaves to
see if there's any new growth.

 School holidays.
It was a month with a couple of family visits - and very welcome they were, too! Parents and children all gave much appreciated assistance in the garden. Early in the month we had all the Acacias along the drive cut back to stop branches falling onto the neighbour’s fence so there was quite a bit of mulching to occupy an energetic daughter and partner. Their small daughter just enjoyed getting to know about mud.

Trying to save the small trees
Another son helped with digging more of the drain from the small waterlogged Eucalypts and Olive (3) and Marley (6) thoroughly enjoyed assisting. They found the mud and the cold weather totally to their liking and loved getting outside to use up all their excess energy.

Ghost MothsThere were also plenty of the Ghost Moth cases left in the Bush Garden (see June’s Blog entry) for Marley to collect and take back for show-and-tell at school, and that kept him very busy and happy.

Moth hatchings
Just after the family had left, I discovered that my caterpillars had hatched. I had put them in a box way back in March and they had formed cocoons about three weeks later. And there they were, two lovely moths looking just like dried gum leaves.

Of course, I took lots of photos and have now printed them up and sent all the info down to the family – with one (very crumbly) cocoon. So sorry they missed it.

Gardening Australia – fame at last!
Around October last year I sent a proposition to a number of magazines, periodicals, newspapers, etc. suggesting that they might be interested in a regular gardening column based on my experiences here in the south-west of Victoria establishing an Australian Native garden. A few were vaguely interested but couldn’t provide anything definite. However, "Gardening Australia" suggested that I should put something into their ‘Your Say’ section and they would print the links to this Blog and to the Picasa Album. After replying and sending them a contribution, I heard absolutely nothing more – until nine months later - last week, in fact!
In the post I received a letter congratulating me on winning the “Letter of the Month” and enclosing an order for $100 on an internet nursery site. Now that’s a prize I really appreciate.
I have rung the online supplier and they are going to send me a spring catalogue and I can order from that or from my online browsing. I’ll probably wait for another month, till the weather warms up a bit, and then I can make my selections. Meanwhile, I can make up my wish-list. Great fun!

Buff Banded Rail
Sadly, we haven't seen our Rail since June 16th - reported in last month's blog. We carefully stayed away from anywhere he/they might be hiding in case we frightened them but there has been no sign all this month. That's about six weeks since our last sighting so I guess he's moved on. We're sad to lose him but feel very honoured that we had him for as long as we did - all of May and half of June. Maybe he'll return one day. Who knows?

Fruit trees and Asparagus
About a week before the end of July, the Nectarine needed spraying for leaf-curl. It’s now had itssecond spray – just before the buds begin opening. It’s all in the timing – I hope I’ve got it right.
The Apricot buds are beginning to open and the Plum is not far behind.
I covered the asparagus bed with compost, on top of the pony-poo, and just in the last week of July, I found two very healthy-looking shoots appearing. Could be a good year!

Spring – at least for one day!
The 31st July and we have a blue sky, slightly warmer wind and wattles. Now THAT lifts my spirits!

More pics and comments at the Picasa site here.

POST SCRIPT to JUNE POSTING

Ghost Moths
I found a heap of empty ‘cases’ in the bush garden in late June so on 22nd June, I sent off an enquiry to an entomology site I found online: 'kmebert@uqconnect.net'.  I was very impressed to receive a very comprehensive reply on 2nd July with all the information I could want.
I sent these photos:

You can see that all around them are holes
in the ground, so I assumed that's where they
came out.

It seems that the ones coming out of the ground are “Ghost Moths” of the family: Hepialidae and there are lots of species. “They have larvae that feed on the roots of trees below the ground. They make a burrow up to the ground surface. They pupate down under the ground but the pupa has circles of prickles on it and it can wriggle up the burrow with these gaining purchase on the wall of the burrow. So when it is ready to emerge to the adult (often in the winter time) the pupa comes up to the surface and projects almost all its length above ground before the adult hatches out and flies away. They are big brown or purplish moths, often with a few silver markings on the forewing. The adults don’t feed, but mate and die in a few days. The females are much bigger than the males and don’t come to lights as readily as the boys. If you have so many hatching in your garden then you should have had a few fluttering at your house lights.”
I have certainly heard bangings and flutterings at the windows at night but it’s usually when I’m already in bed and it’s been so cold I haven’t investigated. I’ll check next time I hear them.

This one was sticking out of the tree and when we touched it, it spilt rain water
all over my son - much to the entertainment of his wife!

The one coming out of the Acacia is similar and is called a Wattle Goat Moth. The larvae burrow into the tree and can live there for up to four years before emerging. This explains some of the big holes I've found in other Acacias.

I was so pleased to find all this out so quickly that I didn't want to wait till next month to post it on the blog.