A Time for Flowers at our New House!

Actually today is my Hubby's birthday but haiz...we had to be out at the new house doing work as we could not reach a common date with the tradesmen and pittosporum supplier. Here's the tag from our Pittosporum Golden Sheen : Some daffodils have sprouted at the patch next to the garage :

This tiny stretch of fence will not have any Pittosporum Golden Sheen. It has some arum lily bush growing. We had relocated some arum lily from another part as it interfered with pittosporum planting (the one on the left was a relocation. Hope it survives replanting) :

Another clump. The middle one was original where else those two on its left and right are relocations :

I have let this rose shrub go haha...I have uprooted all other rose shrubs except this lucky one. I have pruned its long branches this morning without much knowledge. See if it will produce some beautiful blooms for me :

This is the plum blossoms from our plum tree. It is white instead of pink and smells mild :

My immediate neighbour has a camelia which is flowering. I really dont mind admiring hers because I have pulled up mine to make way for fruit trees :

A neighbour further away has a Magnolia tree. Beautiful tree with beautiful blossoms for ornamental purposes. I am not going to have one since it has only lovely flowers and is very expensive, so I will be content with admiring that nearby tree this time every year.

I sought the tradesman's help with identifying this succulent plant. He mentioned it was a Jade plant and this plant is grown for good luck and prosperity. Whatever, it is pretty and have lovely flowers and I will keep them where they are. I have three growing at the side of the house :

I cut a bunch of lavendars from the bush. Did that before pruning the bush :

The bush is growing well :

That's the same bush after pruning :

Another bush after pruning :

Pittosporum Golden Sheens are Up!

It rained almost the whole day yesterday. I had hoped it would not today as work was scheduled at our new house. Samuel was also having a bad cold for a few days, nose running like a tap and I could not find any childminding for him while Paul and I were going to be on site. Thankfully, the weather today was gorgeous! Sunny and clear and best of all, the soil was soft to work on. And another thanksgiving point was that Samuel recovered from his bad cold almost suddenly after a nap yesterday afternoon. No more running out of tissue paper at home! The first thing the tradesmen did was to dig holes for the two conifers to be planted at both sides of the small gate. It used to be rose shrubs. These two conifers are not cheap, costly us $70 a pot : Samuel was well enough but we decided to enclose him in the car as he would probably create some minor havoc in the garden and interfered with the work. He bothered us a little but was able to spend some time 'camping' in the car and doing 'handstands' and 'somersaults' from backseat to boot :

Our 24 pots of Pittosporum Golden Sheen have arrived. One of the pots looked a little run-down but well, I shall see how it grows :

One of the tradesmen started his work pruning my flowering plum tree :

He has pruned off quite a fair bit :

Here's the final look. May not get much plums this year but pruning was necessary :

The Golden Sheens were spaced out. 24 pots, just enough! :

This is after the plants have been planted in and given some black gold which is a type of garden compost with pig manure :

Now the tradesman work on the camelia stump and removed the concrete ring. This space will have a new tree which I have not decided what it would be :

And work went on to dig a trench around the oleander stump. Wow it was seriously massive and they mentioned they had to return with some grinder/machine to dig it out. It was too much using manual strength. And I have to clear all the sawdust produced before any possible future planting can be done because oleander is poisonous :

Signs of Life

Although it is still winter, the fruit trees in the backyard are showing that they are not so dormant after all. A lot is actually going on and here are just three : One of the plum trees, which produced just a few maroonish tiny and round but sweet plums this year, is already putting forth its beautiful white-pink plum blossoms. Scent-wise is mild.

The rest of the plum trees are also putting on buds. This is another type of plum tree and I am not sure by the time I move out, if I am able to see the beautiful blooms. It would be spectacular like what I witnessed end of last year from my living room window.

The pear tree is also having its spurs I think. It is a pity I only had a bite of one of its pears this year, the rest being eaten by feathered looters.

One More Month of Winter...How's Are Some of My Potted Ones?

Guess what? I really took a break from my garden this week since giving them charlie carp and seasol last week. Did not bother to open up the covers for my oriental radishes or buk choy. Did not bother to even inspect my plants. It was a rather nice feeling to take a break and let go sometimes. And there is a reward - they are all doing fine! No pests, no night looters. Well, everybody out there in the backyard is doing fine. The only exceptions are those on the frontyard -my lavendar bee pretty is fully infested with green aphids and my nasturtiums which have flowered so much but blown down by the strong winds as if it has a bad hair day. The planted daffodil bulbs have sprouted in the pot. Yippee! At least I can bring this pot to my new house at the end of the month.

Kaffir lime and a small pot of mint are doing fine surrounded by the plastic protection.

Chilli padis growing quite well though very slow. It should take off once spring arrives.

Puzzling to see the tips of aloe vera turning brown but new pups are emerging from the potting mix.

The vietnamese mint/laksa plant is growing from glory to glory...surprisingly able to take the cold winter without any protection...it will look very pretty on my patio (minus the water feeder haha)

Plants are really very affected by strong winds. A week ago, things look bad...My common mint in this large pot is flourishing! Harvest is round the corner.

This pot which almost died in the strong winds and minor aphid attack is back strong and healthy.

After being trimmed because of aphids attack, the lemon verbena is putting on new shoots. Hope the irritating aphids will not return!!! I am not going to bring a aphid-infested plant to my new house. Have to closely supervise and treat it first.

Same goes for this curry plant.

Spring onions sown from seeds still look rather skinny.

Spring onions from bulbs...fat and growing well...this is going to be the 5th or 6th harvest.

Mosquito plant growing well despite ants making its potting mix their home. I am thinking of planting it into the ground at the new house.

This pot should win the championship! Thyme...ever so gorgeous and growing so fine.

Not so the rosemary babies...growing fine but still struggling with powdery mildew. How am I going to stop this powerful powder?!

The mother rosemary has been dumped to one corner of the garden where it can get some sunshine and rain and cold. I am just leaving it to the hands of nature to treat the powdery mildew.

The snow pea seedlings are growing great. Good to invest in mildew-resistant breeds...can grow them in plastic covers without worry of mildew.

My calamondin/calamasi...the prettiest and largest fruit on the mini tree.

My neighbour Jenny came over with a bunch of gorgeous-smelling Daphne flowers. Really strong heavenly perfume.