Cold Winter...Deciduous Trees Out of Our Rooms.

French lavender flowering outside my window.

New peach tree outside my bedroom window.

See that bare patch on the ground? That was where the oleander used to be. Since it was gotten rid of, the patch stays bare. I am not sure if I can plant a persimmon tree in its place. I need to probably dig that area to see how the soil feels like.

The view out of my son's bedroom. The plum tree lays bare against the cloudy afternoon sky. Near the fence, you can see one big clump of lemongrass, in fact, three clumps, growing well. Next to the lemongrass are the snow pea vines protected by plastic tree shields.

My brown turkey fig #1 has also gone bare. I am contemplating seriously to shorten the tall thin trunk by cutting it off.

There are already new buds on the two branches.

More daffodils are sprouting from the potting mix from last year's pot.

Just an updated picture of my oriental radish doing really well at Patch A. I have recently sowed another three seeds but they have not germinated at all, probably due to the cold.

New Lemon Eureka.

I planted about 20 daffodil bulbs under the mulching around the plum tree. Hoping to see beautiful yellow blooms out of Samuel's room in spring/summer 2011.

We bought a new Lemon Eureka from Dandenong Market. I hope it will take off.

Here's the peach tree from my friend Andy. I planted it right outside our bedroom window. I look forward to seeing glorious pink flowers out of my room in spring!

The last harvest of sweet potatoes. How wonderful!

Beautiful Pictures.

Here are some pictures which I have got from gardening books. I just find these pictures awesome. They give me great ideas about growing fruit trees in pots. I hope one day my garden will be the beauty in the neighbourhood! This is a picture of a herb garden. Imagine a garden full of aromatic herbs, both edible and pleasing to the eyes and nose. This pot of nasturtiums is so spectacular, trailing down the height of the pot.

I always love the sight of a citrus tree in a terracotta pot, so pretty and so edible!

This terracotta pot of daffodils and hyacinth takes my breath away!

A grape vine growing in a pot and bearing bunches of grapes...how irresistible is that?

Another citrus in a terracotta pot. Gorgeous!

Another grape vine in a pot with herbs spilling over.

My Poor Grape Vine!

My third? fourth? harvest of sweet potatoes. I was almost to tears when I found out my dog, Marco, has 'chopped' off my grape vine (carolina black rose)! It was growing so well! I was angry with my dog for a whole day! I hope by trimming off the rough ends, it will survive and resprout. It was an extremely 'hard prune'. Fellow blogger Scarecrow and another gardener on the forum gave me some hope that it could survive. I have since fenced it with chicken wire and mulched it with bark chips.

The pot of daffodils which did not flower last season finally resprouted! I left the whole pot in the garage, covered with a plastic bag eversince the leaves died down completely. A few mornings ago, I took the pot out and yippee! A daffodil shoot...looks like the complete dying down really regenerated new bulbs as books stated.

I bought and planted some daffodil bulbs under the plum tree (right outside Samuel's bedroom). The ground has turned soft enough to dig eversince we mulched the plum tree canopy heavily.

This tuft of iris was given in a pot by Fina, a life group friend. I have planted it in front of the blue and white daisies at the patch next to the garage.

Patch Next to Garage

The three Lilium LA Hybrid plants have emerged and looking quite good. I hope it will survive the not so good soil here.

One of the gladioli plants has emerged as well. I have since fenced up this patch because doggy has been trodding on it and even nipping off some of the plants.

I only got two yellow daffodils this season while the rest all did not flower. They are probably on the way to die down. Hope for a better season next round.

The two candy tuft plants that I have planted are not doing well. There goes my twenty bucks!

Rosemary is also not doing well.

Oregano's not doing too bad at this point of time.

The blue and white daisies are doing just alright.

Patch Next to Garage

Before I left for holidays, I worked on this patch, planting herbs and flowers here with the intention of turning this originally pebble-filled patch with a few straggly succulents and weeds infestation into a display of flowers and herbs of various kinds, colours and heights. This is the look after I returned : The daffodil which greeted me just on the day I left had withered, replaced by another which greeted me on the day I returned :

The sunset red diosma is growing well and flowering more. I am expecting to see it grow up to 1.2 width by 1.2 height. Diosma is a common hedge grown here in Melbourne. It has aromatic leaves and gorgous display of tiny flowers that can cover the whole bush :

One of the large rosemary plantlet which I have propagated from the mother rosemary plant. The soil at this patch is actually clayey (but I still find lots earthworms) but I hope this rosemary can thrive here with the availability of sun. If it does, this rosemary will be contrasting with the other low bushes since it has the potential to grow quite tall :

The oregano which I planted here from its original pot seems to be growing better and happier. This herb is low-lying and tend to spread out. I intended that it acts as a groundcover as seen in the botanical gardens. See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/botanic-gardens-potting-on.html

Two Blue Marguerite (Felicia amelloides) with blue daisy-like flowers are also planted. These are small evergreen bushes which are low-lying. The blue flowers will contrast with the yellow flowers of the daffodils :

I also planted one dwarf marguerite daisy 'Annabel' (argyranthemum frutescens) which can grow to 1m width and 0.7m height and produces white flowers. Some of the older leaves look a little yellow :

Candy tuft (iberis sampervirens) is a mat-forming perenial groundcover. I planted two right in front of the patch since it is low-lying. One of the candy tuft died leaving a little left to survive while the other candy tuft is not doing to well. If still not thriving I will replace them with a bulb plant :

It will take a long while before I see the fruits of this patch. For now, I will be faithful to pull up weeds that find their way onto this patch.

Pomegranate, Kalanchoe & Daffodils

The pomegranate tree has sprouted new flowers as spring settles in. I was attracted to this pot of trailing kalanchoe at Bunnings. It is a succulent that produces stunning red flowers. I bought it and have it hung at a shady corner of my new backyard. Looks like I am beginning to give more attention to flowers.

Two daffodils at the vege patch of the rental house have opened just two days before I move out. Thanks daffodils for that!

And then this daffodil greeted me yesterday just before I fly out of Melbourne. Thanks for such excellent timing!

Dwarf Peach is Flowering

I have not gone out into the garden for a few days. It has been windy. Today I had to water the pots to ensure they are not drying out. Even the oregano which likes it dry is wilting in the mini greenhouse. My pixee peach's blossoms are open. Sweet-smelling pink flowers. I gave it a water of charlie carp solution. It is also bearing green leaves.

My lone spinach is growing quite nicely. Too little to harvest haha...

I was surprised to see two daffodil buds. Maybe I may have a chance to see its flowers since I still have a week before moving.