Picking Up Treasures for Gardening

My boy and I are down with a cold thanks to the unpredictable hot and cold weather here in Melbourne. However, that did not stop us from spending a few hours in the morning sun cycling around the neighbourhood and then doing gardening.

 My green globe artichoke plants.  What a relief to know that the three which I divided late winter survived and are growing well. See them right after dividing.

 The two tomato silvery fir plants which I have rescued See the rescue here from Big Fig's pot, nursed under cloches, and planted here are growing bigger too. I have removed their cloches since yesterday (background).

 Doggy. He trotted around the neighbourhood while we cycled. Now he is happily resting under the olive tree and trying hard to get the treat out of his toy.

I captured a picture of my boy making himself so comfy on the lawn and looking at his car pictures.

It is the time of the year when the council comes in their trucks and collect bulk refuse, which everybody will place on their nature strips.  Every time we cycle around the neighbourhood, I kept an eye out for things which I can use for my gardening.  This morning, I picked up two glass door panels.  I cleaned it up and use them to cover over my seedlings to create a mini green-house.  It sure beats using plastic sheet!!! People's rubbish certainly can become my treasure!!!

 And I also picked up a showerscreen panel.  I know it may sound disgusting and I was really hesitant at first.  But it was rather clean without any human scum.  I took it home (it was heavy and I needed to come home to get my car to return to the panel) and gave it a good wash.  I want to use it over my vege patch during colder days.

 This morning I did some work, including sowing new seeds of Choy Sum in this planter.  Note the wire protection over the planters.  I cut this out from a larger piece and simply bend it into a curve before placing it over the planters.  It would deter any pests from landing on the veges when they grow bigger.

This is the second season for the tulips next to my small gate. Pretty! I do notice the stalks are rather short this year. I dont mind shorter stalks, just curious why they came up so short this time.

Today is a rather hot, scorching and breezy day. Temperature max 22 deg cel. It is a glimpse of the hotter weather to come and I seriously pray that we wont get any heat-wave coming summer.

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.

An Ugly Sight...Dreaming of a New Lawn...And Some Encouragement.

Every time I passed by a beautiful well-manicured lawn, I would be filled with envy and parked on the path dreaming. My front and back lawns are far from perfect, they are an eyesore. Bald areas with weeds of various kinds growing despite my husband's spraying weedkiller. And worse, the spraying killed the existing grass and produced the bald brown patches. I am working on doing a new lawn but am very doubtful it can be done this season. Is it really worth the money? How much is it going to cost? Can we really do it on our own? Many questions to be answered.

The back lawn - with bald patches and my pots. Dead area where traffic is high and low sun exposure causing bald slimy patch.

Front lawn also with bald patches and various weeds.

Side of Front lawn with more bald patches, uneven ground and weeds.

Well, at least there is some comfort out in the windy rainy morning. Some of my snow pea vines are flowering.

A good number of tulips have shooted from the ground near where the conifers and side gate are.

The straight green leaves near the green strings are the daffodils planted in 09. I have counted about 7 flower heads. Last spring, I only had 2 flowers. So encouraging to see more this year. And so encouraging to see that I may not be very far away from having my dream garden (see http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-dream-private-garden.html )

Well, the arum lily is considered a weed here (at least the white ones) but I reckon they are very beautiful. I have a handful harvested and put in a vase. Such a pretty sight!