TODAY'S FLOWERS - Flinders Ranges Wattle

Acacia iteaphilla, commonly called Flinders Ranges Wattle,

is one of those wonderful plants that bloom in winter

with a delicately sweet scent.

This one we planted along the road verge next to one of our 

dams some 18 years ago and it performs beautifully 

every year.

It is so nice to do just garden posts for a while,

after all, there is so much in a simple garden to give one joy

OUR WORLD and Nature Notes - Just My World This Time

My little world is a work in progress

it is raining and I did not want to soup up the picture quality.

As many of you know over quite a few years I looked after my 

husband who developed Alzheimer's disease.

During that time, with the help of a severe drought, my once

immaculate garden went to rack and ruin, helped along by well 

meaning but illogical help by himself.

Today, I finally had someone to help. He cut the large areas of 

grass with a ride-on mower and set to with a will with a 

brush-cutter as well.

As if by magic, paths came to light and I  no longer was 

soaked to the knees when reading the rain gauge. 

Mowing is like making your bed, a large area looks tidy

and gives one courage 

but masses of hard work remain.

This may not look like much but this patch of rank weeds

is actually three large flower beds, the width of my house.

It will have to wait for two weeks for the next onslaught.

The front/side garden is also better for the mowing, now

I can at least get to the beds to start weeding!

In anticipation of the help, I had already started weeding this 

enormous bed . . mainly to get my broad beans and snow peas

into the lovely moist ground.

A seemingly little patch that I have cleared in a hurry as the 

tulips are already coming up although winter has barely arrived!

It is a monstrously large bed to weed. You may wonder at the 

black plastic garbage bag, with good reason.

Seeds and perennial weeds would go rampant in a compost heap

but in a garbag, left in the sun for 3 months, they turn into 

beautiful, weed free, compost.

Bleeding profusely, I managed to weed under the two roses above,

and with the courage I had gained from having some help,

even planted the Buddleia below and mulched it with 

sheep crutchings.

Maybe next time I will present a more interesting post,

for today, I am too bushed from all the gardening

but

I have had an absolutely lovely time!

Linking with OUR WORLD
and
Nature Notes

World Bird Wednesday - Female Flame Robin

A few days ago, this cute little female Flame Robin checked out 

our garden.

Isn't she a sweetheart? Some winters when we are lucky, a pair

of them brighten up our our gardens until late spring.

I do hope she brings a mate along . . .

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Winter Colour

Some people are just blessed. 

My niece came for the weekend from far, far away.

Here is my private garden gnome attacking the wasteland that is

my garden.

A couple of days later, there was a cleared patch and some

 rounds prepared for my tulips.

She even bought me some winter cheer 

which brought the sun out and a butterfly as an added bonus.

Isn't it great that flowers show up every day!

TODAY'S FLOWERS - More Orchids

Thank you Luiz for featuring me today as your Guest Friend!

Here are a few more orchids from my my dear friends' garden:

This orchid, with it's tiny, lace like flowers, was a good 5' wide

and 4' high. In fact, it was so big, I could not fit all of it into 

the frame. It is worth enlarging to see the branches laded with

buds of promise.

Their shade-houses were extensive and full of blooms, in a season

when nature is winding down and there is a constant chill in the 

air, in John and Beverley's garden, you would think it was 

perpetual spring.

This one was such an unusual shade of pink and fuchsia.

Thanks to Luiz Santilli Jr. and his team, we can enjoy flowers all year round!

OUR WORLD - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Just look at us, aren't we sweet? We would never dream of

touching a leaf in your garden.

How can you send us away like this, we are totally innocent . . .

How could you think that anyone as peaceful and gentle as we

are, would strip all the leaves and twigs off all the young citrus

trees, the roses, the fruit trees and berry bushes and trample

what we had not eaten?

Well, here is the proof of the pudding, the gate is shut and one

is still inside our yard. It just takes one thoughtless person to

leave one of our 8 gates open and the whole flock sneaks in to

demolish all my hard work.

Ah, the joys of farming . . .

This all out war has lately been going on in Our World, what is happening in your's?

SkyWatch ~ Fog

Wake up in the morning, look out the window and see . . .

nothing???

Well, nothing but the closest roses to my window.

At least the fog camouflages most of the weeds . . .

You can hardly see to the end of the house . . .

whatever happened to my view?

The fence has faded . . .

so have the roses on the fence-line

the roses have disappeared on the arch and the paddock

beyond is just a blur.

Oh well, at least it's good for the plants to soak up all that moisture.

Happy SkyWatching everyone!

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Helpful Insect

A late autumn rose with a friendly, helpful Praying Mantis.

Well, perhaps just a little camera shy.

How kind, she actually posed for a photo. . . just look at those

great bedroom eyes, beats Omar Sharif!

OK, I've had enough now.

They all enlarge so you can see me better.

TODAY'S FLOWERS is sponsored by Luiz Santilli Jr, it's great fun so click on the Logo and join in.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Roses Again

Here are some of the roses in my front garden, unfortunately
they are just fading and apart from them there are just two white
Oriental Lilies in a pot to give me consolation.

This bed of roses is in tones of pink, except for 'Avon', the one

touch of red as contrast.

In the back garden most roses are in the inbetween phase.

Below is 'Perle d'Amour', the flowers are only just over 1"

across but sweetly perfumed and profuse in repeating.

All photos enlarge and the Logo takes you to so many more.

Today's Flowers is presented by Luiz Santilli Jr. and his fabulous team.

Jonquils at Cair Paravel

Jonquils on this field of old
from a tiny bulb unfold
that some poor hard working wife
planted here to ease her life



Cair Paravel we call it now
to us a ruined castle bold
yet held it in some bygone time
a woman's love of place untold



She tried her best in barren waste
to make a homely garden grow
survivours of her toil stil cling
upon this little rise of saline soil



The Jonquils, Garlic, Periwinkle blue
have struggled here an hundred years
and fifty more and still
as they did long ago
gladden us and swell our hearts
with thanks to this starved soul
for these few links at hand
she had of comfort and remembrance
of her native land.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ 14 In Memory of my Garden

Please click on photos to enlarge for best effect.



This year there is no garden, no vegetables, no
flowers.... the drought has taken all....six years is
too much for any garden to take. We watered them
last summer with the last water we had, only to lose
so much to the concentrating salt content.

Neither our autumn, winter nor spring rains came.
We have just enough household rainwater to get by
on, and a mineral rich bore for the cattle.



Fuchsia 'George Risden' which survived until the
end of last summer.



Verbena, which normally lasts from two to
four years.



Penstemon, a strong and vibrant semi-perennial
and reasonably drought tolerant also succumbed.

My Roses, shrubs and trees are dead or on the verge.
Our predicted temperatures for this week are 41C +
or 102F + coupled with burning North winds.

If I sound a little despondent, it is because I am,
although on the bright side, I have 5 of my 150 Rose
bushes surviving on laundry water.

With thaks to Luiz Santilli Jr. for creating this meme
as well as Denise Castro and Laerte Pupo for making
it possible for all of us to participate.

Click on the Logo to see wonderful flowers around the world.

MY WORLD ~ 5 Our House on the Mountain

This is our personal Phoenix, rebuilt with the
original walls from 1850 or so, after the extensive
bushfire of 1983, which devoured 76 homes including
ours. Not much survived in the historic garden as well.

The house itself stands on the ridge of Mt.Lofty at an
elevation of 650m, overlooking Gulf St.Vincent and
Adelaide, the capital of South Australia on the western
side, and on the other, the eastern foothills and on a clear
day Lake Alexandrina at the mouth of the Murray River
some 100km as the crow flies, to the east.



As you come into the yard from the driveway,
the first thing that strikes your eyes is this
magnificent Camellia tree. Three of these were
planted in front of the original house probably
in the early 1850's. They have withstood the
force of two major bushfires and managed to
regrow again. This one has recovered much
better than it's siblings which were closer to the
front porch and much more severely burnt.



Close up of the Camellia whose name has been lost
in the depths of time.



The shadow on the gravel is from a Beech my
husband planted, The flowering crab apple is
Malus floriunda.



On the right a massive Snowball bush, another
survivor, burnt to the ground and regrown.



Looking up to the back of the house over
terraces of lilacs, Syringa vulgaris, in lilac
purple and white.



View from one of the dining room
windows towards the west.



My precious white Rhododendron, before the fire
the size of the Crabapple above, has taken 25 years
to regrow to this. Again, the name has disappeared
into the mists of history.



Looking up fron the eastern terraces in spring



'Papa Meilland' and 'Mr.Lincoln' on our bedroom wall



Taken through my car window heading down the drive,
a kangaroo grazing in the orchard with a backdrop of
Camellias, Rhododendrons and bare Oak tree.

This is just a fleeting impression of the three acre
garden that surrounds the new old house.

Thank you SkyWatch/My World team for making
this venue a delight to us all.
To visit amazingly beautiful and interesting places,
click on the logo on the right.