Sowing Seeds & Bird Watching.

Yesterday's temperature was 28 deg and accompanied by very strong winds. Then in the evening we had a bit of rain (not as much as I have wished) and lots more even stronger winds. I definitely am not a fan of high winds. It brings a lot of destruction.

I sowed another two pots of water spinach (kang kong) and two pots of bok choy. My focus will be on leafy vegetables this season.

 My Jasmine flowers finally bloomed. I think I could sit all day out in my back garden to enjoy its fragrance.

 My son and I harvested our fat coriander, some spring onions and vietnamese mint/laksa leaves for two dishes.

 We have placed some bird seeds on the front and back gardens in order to attract birds.  I very much wanted to attract lorikeets and galahs but it seems like wishful thinking as we do not have any tall native trees in our garden. So far our grevillea has attracted beautiful honeyeaters.  We also get some noisy nymahs. Today we have two fluffy and cute spotted necked pigeons as our first customers.

 They managed to find the bird seeds and were busy feeding themselves.

 If you look carefully, you would notice a white sticker on one of the birds' leg. My husband forgot to throw this sticker which he has peeled from the new garden edging which we installed on Sunday.  Poor birdy stepped on it and it got stuck to its feet. I wonder how it is going to stand on tree branches if the sticker doesnt come off.

 In the foreground of the picture are two hanging pots of trailing kalanchoe. I hung them out of my kitchen window so I could admire them. Amazing so far, a honeyeater has tried to land on the flowers and then a spotted neck pigeon tried doing so as well. Unfortunately when they saw me peering out at them, they took off. I thought that was very amusing.

Flowers Update & Mucking Around in the Garden.

Little man and I were admiring the blooming tulips along our driveway when we discovered loads of green juicy aphids attacking the poor tulips. They have been planted here along the shady driveway so this welcomed those pesky creatures. My son and I had fun squishing (sounds cruel) the aphids, esp my son. 

The centre of the tulip is very pretty so I snapped a picture of it.

The little yellow daffodils at the patch next to my garage are slowly blooming, it's 3rd season.

Below the plum tree are the King Alfred daffodils.  They are very tall but not as big and beautiful as I thought they were.

Little man has the habit of putting his hands into his pockets as he walks nowadays.  He was enjoying the fluttering white petals of the plum tree as the wind blew and I snapped a shot of him.

Mid-winter, and all the daisies are flowering their heads away.

 Calendulas too...

The three cyclamens out of my kitchen window are looking glorious. I love the leaves and the butterfly-like bright flowers.

Finally I divided up the very much neglected evening primrose plants.  I threw away a lot and have about 6 pots left.  I wonder how they will end up (I mean in terms of look) 

The star jasmine plant is growing well on this fence and I cant wait for it to flower.  I cant wait to indulge in the killer fragrance they produce.

 I have decided to hang my two pots of kalanchoe out of my kitchen window so I can admire their flowering day and night (since I spend so much time spending in front of the window where my sink is!).

 This is the pot of kalanchoe which I have propagated successfully.  It is blooming beautifully.

Tulips from last year are sprouting up next to the small black gate where my conifer is.  This picture shows the left side of the gate.  Unfortunately only one is sprouting up from the right side of the gate.

Tulips, Wisteria (Japanese), Lavender, Arum Lily, Kalanchoe, Protea, Sanorita

The white arum lilies are so pretty, especially when cut and placed in a tall vase on their own. Samuel counted 14 in bloom. Although they are considered a weed in many parts of Australia, they are well under control in my garden and nice to have :

I am running out of space for plants as my collection increases. The Protea (Special Pink Ice) on the right seems to be surviving its winter repotting. Its leaves were looking dry and yellow for a long while until I gave it some tender loving care of trimming and watering recently. I would be quite sad to lose it since it cost me quite many bucks and produces really gorgeous cut flowers. I have been thinking of planting this Protea and the Sanorita (left) on the front nature strip. This will free up my front patio space, allow them to grow bigger being in ground, decorate my nature strip and attract beautiful native birds. However I needed to check if they attract possums to my house because that would be a no-no...

This wisteria (below) that I bought was bare like a stick but have put on so much leaves now. I had researched on this vine and found out that it is so strong that it can uproot the tree it climbs, plus the seeds are poisonous (not good for my dog). I am so attracted to its glorious purple blooms (that attract bees). I wanted to return it to the nursery but when the leaves came, my heart relented and decided to keep it. I will keep in potted to prevent any ground issue with its invasive roots or pulling my patio support down. As for the withered blooms, Hubby had already delegated me to be the one cleaning them up when it happens!

The Avon View Lavender are blooming and attracting bees again :

My very first red tulip has opened!!! It is stout and pretty. The bloom actually opens in the day and closes in the evening, so I could snap a shot of it. Notice the conifer on its right (actually behind it) and the ivy on the left (which I planted as fence cover) :This is my first yellow tulip!

This is the small area on the right of the small gate where the tulip patch is :

And this is the area on the left of the small gate where the other patch is :

My kalanchoe trailing has been blooming gorgeously but then I realised that the succulent leaves were limp. I tried to repot it and found out that the plant was already root-bound. I repotted it anyway trimming away the sides of the root ball and giving it lots of seasol. I also took cutting and hope they will root and produce new kalanchoe trailing for me :

Flowers Update

Spring has come and so did spring showers and strong winds. It still feels cold most days with a few warm days in between. Last year, I planted three lily bulbs (Lilium LA Hybrid) in the patch next to the garage. The flowers were 'so so'. I am so surprised but very pleased to see them come back this spring. At first there were two rosetting green heads appearing when I was doing work at the patch. Then there is the third one. I hope the flower quality will be better this spring/summer.

This pretty yellow daffodil under the plum tree was part of what I bought from the reject shop. Two which had opened was white and yellow which I was not a fan of. I did not realise that the pack was mixed daffodil bulbs. So far only three daffodils and lots of green leaves. Hope the daffodils under the plum tree next year will be more numerous, showy and impressive.

My 20+ tulips are growing...but slow...I am almost certain the flower quality will not be too fantastic this first season.

The numerous tiny pink flowers of the jade plants are withering, not a pretty sight now.

Annabel dwarf maguerite daisies have swarmed the whole bush.

My purple pak choy (left) and green pak choys (right) have towered more than a metre. The flowers of the purple pak choy has an amazing perfume. I am waiting for seed harvesting.

The seed pods...I did not know that pak choy seeds are packaged this way.

Look at my pretty pinkish white cyclamen flowers! What a sight out of my kitchen window. I just cant get sick of looking at them while at the kitchen sink.

Pretty butterfly-like flowers.

And the red ones too.

I took a picture of my trailing kalanchoe. This picture does not do the look favor. The bell-like red flowers with jade-green caps are very pretty. I beam with pride seeing them flower successfully through winter to spring.

How about earring designs like these? So dainty and sweet.

Flowering Plants Growing

My gorgeous jadeplants have put on their tiny pink flowers. In fact, lots of neighbourns have these plants and they are all in bloom. Very nice! One calla lily flower is starting to un-twirl. Better get a nice picture before it opens completely.

I bought two packs of tulip bulbs from Bunnings and planted them around my two conifers. Samuel helped me with the planting and watering :

The three cyclamens are growing well at this spot under the pomegranate tree. The one in the middle has produced some white flowers but they are quite small.

These daffodils which I have bought from Dandenong Market have appeared from under the mulching. Their shoots look a little different from those I have bought in Tasmania. They are supposed to produce yellow heads, I do hope so because I only like the large yellow ones.

This pot of daffodils is doing great eversince I took it out from the garage. I predicted there was still life after the previous bath (which did not yield a single flower)and I was right. I hope for this season, I would see some flowers. I told myself that I will not fertilise the pot in any way this time. The bulbs were bought during our 09 trip to Tassie.

Over here, gorgeous daffodils at the patch next to the garage that died down last summer are coming up again, with even more shoots and I will expect more flowers this time. They are of the same type as those in the pot.

One of my candy tuft plants at the patch next to the garage has died leaving the one as shown above. A small part of it has also died and I pulled it out easily. Since its planting in early 08, it has put on a single flower. Disappointing.

My trailing kalanchoe in its pot has put on loads of buds. I thought it would be difficult to get it to flower from some reading up that I have done, but it has done so on its own. This beautiful plant has been the subject of moth caterpillars from spring to autumn and I had resorted to netting it. It has been resilient and sprang back with flower buds as mid-winter approaches.