Planting Trees on Clarkson Sept 2019

Officially this is on the Clarkson block but as we have moved the fence line to give us more space.   Either way what we are planting will benefit both houses.

Jody came to visit for the weekend so I put her to work 

We planted :

1. 2 x Backhousia Citridora (Lemon ironwood or lemon scentered myrtle.   We called on Meryl and one Merve
2. 2 x Cupaniopsis anacardioides (Tuckeroo) We called on Lara and one Brooke on account of Jody's friends the Tuckers  These grow up to 12 metres high and 3-4 metres wide
3. A couple of days before Jody and I did our planting Garry planted a Hymenosporum (Australian Frangipani) High to 10 Metres and width to 6 m

Lemon Myrtle

Tuckeroo

Flame Tree

26 October 2019 We called into Wallu Nursery again today and got 2 Flame Trees
Brachychiton acerifolius or Illawarra Flame Tree

We planted one on the Road / Tree line at the dam and one on the Clarkson block (that we use)



BACKYARD BUDDIES HAVE A GOOD WRITE UP ABOUT THIS TREE

Creating a Front Garden

I've started a shrub garden across the front yard so that we can look out onto it from the deck and also the house and just to break up the large expanse of lawn and give the birds another place to forage. 

Day 1 of planting 4 October 2019

We got the bob cat to dig about 6 holes for the bigger plants and then filled those with our mix of top soil, mushroom compost and river sand.  Then we had a truck bring some Forrest mulch and we got the bob cat to spread it into the shape we wanted.  We didn't bother removing the grass I just hope we've put enough mulch on to choke out the grass.

I got the majority of the plants from the Wallu nursery but also have a few things I brought up from the city. 

On the first day (4 Oct 2019) I planted these:

1. Tulbaghia Violacea (silver lace) Height 30cm and sread 30cm
2. Leptospermuum Tickled Pink 1.5 - 2 metres tall  x 2 
3. Metrosideros Collina Little Ewan 1m x 1m
4. Euphorbia Ascot Rainbox (got this one from Bunnings) 50cm x 50 cm
5. Alternanthera dentatq Little Maroon
6. Metrosideros Collina Firecracker Height up to 3m
7. Lomandra Little Con
8. Euphorbia Pulchermia Poinsettia Winter Rose (bought from Bunnings)

First Few Plants

Added more plants on 26th Oct 2019

More planting on the 26th October

We went to Rainbow Beach for the morning so called back into Wallu nursery on the way home so I got a few more plants for the front garden.  I still can't plant out the whole garden as we have a fire set ready to burn and it's too big to move and we've been on a total fire ban for months.  I don't want to burn any new plants so I'm leaving that end free until we can have a fire. 

So today added:

1. Baeckea Mount Tozer Height to 1m
2. Coprosma Inferno 1.5 x 1.5m
3. PolyGala Spread 1m Height 1m

African Violets

Successfully growing African Violets has always been a goal for me.  My mum grows them beautifully and up until now I haven't had any success but things may be changing.

I've had these ones for 3 weeks now and it looks like I may have found the right spot for them. 

The plant name for the African Violet is Saintpaulia which sounds really pretty to me.  They are native to Tanzania and Kenya. 💜💜💜

A Brand New Year

A Brand New Year and a Brand New Day it was time to find a different walking route.  It's amazing what is going on so close to home but out of sight from our everyday routine.

Beautiful flowers, a gorgeous flame tree and knitwear for trees and signal posts.

It was a beautiful morning and a great start to a New Year with my two favourite dogs, Layla and Lupin.

Magnolia - A Hint of Spring

I've been in bed for a couple of days with a winter bug and outside my window I've been watching the Magnolia tree start to bloom. They are beautiful flowers and I love how they fill up the tree without a leaf in sight.  I don't know much about trees but apparently Magnolia's are the early bloomers and I'll take that as a sign that spring is nearly here.

Okra Flower

I planted Okra for the first time a few weeks ago and it has just started to flower.

I've only eaten Okra a few times in my life so am looking forward to trying a few recipes.  Hopefully I'll like the vegetable as much as I like the flower.

Water Lillies

This is the 2nd year the lillies have flowered in the dam and this is the most I've seen at any one time.

Garry bought the seeds for these online a couple of years ago while living in an apartment.  He grew 3 plants in buckets on his very small balcony.  I could never really understand why and used to complain about the buckets of slimy green water.

We brought them up here to our block and put them in the dam long before we started building the house.  Two of them didn't survive but this one seems to be doing well, although it spreads quite slowly.   The flowers are worth waiting for they are such a beautiful colour.   It will be interesting to see how far one plant can spread.  We're not actually sure of the name of the flower but I think it's a kind of lotus flower.

Sunflowers and Others

I love Sunflowers. I love the colour and I love how tall they grow.  King Parrots also love sunflowers.  We were walking in the area not long after we moved in and found a garden full of sunflowers and a King Parrot feeding on the seeds.  It's was such a beautiful bird to look at, I decided I must grow sunflowers to attract the parrots. 

I bought a packet of seeds and sowed them in a few different places around the garden.  Unfortunately I only managed to grow ONE sunflower.  It's obviously not as easy as it looks and I also discovered that ducks love sunflowers.  They especially like the sunflower seedlings, 10cm seems to be about the perfect height for a duck.   

My one sunflower was pretty spectacular though and I was happy that I had managed to grow it.  Maggie liked to sit under the Sunflower and I think that's probably why we never saw any King Parrots.  When the petals had fallen off the sunflower we gave the head to the chickens who thought it was a real delicacy.

We use the hay from the chicken coop on the garden and it's always a surprise to see what springs up out of this mulch.  We have many many cherry tomato plants and we haven't planted a single one.  This flower also grew from the mulch and at first I thought it was going to be a sunflower.   I don't know what it is.  It could well be considered a weed but I think it looks lovely in the vegetable garden. 

I'm waiting for someone to invent google for pictures.  I often have pictures of plants and birds and I don't know how to find out what they are.  Try typing in yellow flower with petals into google and see what you get................

If you know what this flower is please leave a comment I'd love to know or if there is a google for pictures please let me know.

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