25 April 2011

So Easter has been and almost gone. For the first time in a long time Easter Monday is on the same day as ANZAC Day which means that tomorrow is also a public holiday. The kids are wising up to this Easter Bunny caper. Sunday morning they were up at the crack of dawn checking the windows out the front and back. But the "Easter Bunny" is just as smart. She made sure that when she put the eggs out that they couldn't be seen by the kids from any of the windows. That tricked them!!!

After the hunt we went for a drive firstly to Bird World and afterward we just drove around finally coming out at the end of the Tonkin Hwy so Paul suggested visiting a rose nursery he had once seen. As it turns out there are a few nurseries along Alexander Drive but one in particular is called Roworth Roses and that is where we ultimately ended up. Its not massive but it would be about 99% all roses. At the bottom end of the nursery they have planted out a large number of the varieties they stock and it was amazing to wander through all those beautiful bushes (although I was just itching for a pair of secateurs to dead head them). They had the most gorgeous bushes of Chameleon which was a striking pink and yellow with a delicious scent. Paul was quite taken with Gold Bunny and Alex was most disappointed that we wouldn't buy Alec's Red... a stunning red rose with a lovely strong scent, the flowers look like the Old World roses but its not a David Austin rose. Many of the roses there I had heard of but there were so many more that I hadn't. The standard I rescued from Greenwood I have decided is definitely "The Fairy" and I would give my right arm for "Chaucer" - maybe he and Pierre could live together - the poet and the writer, the Englishman and the Frenchman. I still haven't decided where Pierre is going. He looks quite nice where he is but that area will eventually be replaced with paving. I've also considered a garden arch buy the coffee nook out the front but I'm not sure how that would go down. I've even considered systematic poisoning of the diosma and conifers... I could get quite a few roses into that section and be rid of those horrible massive hedges once and for all. So for now Pierre will have to remain potted. I think today I will plant the "Magics" in the front between the Bonicas and Pierre can go into one of those bigger pots.

For the record, Clayton appears to be a type of Ash and the tree out the front is a London Plane Tree. Apparently the London Plane trees are particularly resistant to vehicle emissions which I guess you'd have to be if you lived in London.

We actually had a bit of rain yesterday... the first since I wrote about it on the 11th. It was a bit on and off during the day but today it is intensely blue skies.

I forgot to write about the sweet groundcover I got at Drovers the other week... Winter Candy or something similar its called, a grevilla groundcover with sweet pink and white flowers which flowers in the winter. They are now in the native patch.

I've cleared out the base under the second plum. I've (A) never seen so many ants in my life and (B) never seen so many jonquil bulbs in my life!!! There were quite literally hundreds. They've obviously been dividing and multiplying at a furious rate there. Each time I turned over the soil there would be more. So I've taken them out, sorted out the bed and them replanted them. Still have the ranunculis to put in Clayton's garden and the King Alfred's to put somewhere. Speaking of ranunculis, one has popped up its head rather early in the Bonica bed... silly thing!!!

11 April 2011

We went to sleep last night to the sound of rain. Not the sudden massive dowpour which is over before it really begins but the steady constant pitter patter of a good soaking rain. Let's hope its the first of many such soakings.

Could there be anything better than Autumn in Perth! The weather has been beyond glorious lately. Even this morning, though cool, its not cold and it definitely wont be hot. Everything is putting in a last mad growth spurt before winter truly hits us.

The three Magic Carousels are looking particularly good at the moment. I would never have thought they would do so well after I separated the bush into three last year but all are looking very fine.

After having bought a lovely urn for the "fronds-on-a-stick" and planting it up during the week, I examined it yesterday and found in fully rotted through. So as it turns out it didn't need repotting afterall... it needed replacing!!! I'm thinking of getting a dracena to put in its place. I'm pretty sure its the ants which are causing so many of these problems lately, they are everywhere!!! Whenever dirt is moved you can be sure to find them. On Saturday I cleared the bed under one of the plums. I was concerned about all the mulch Paul put around them and just as well I did because collar rot had started. But worse still were the ants around the base of the tree. I've moved a large amount of soil from the bed, fed the tree and hopefully it should give a good display this year. I'm hoping the jonquils will do better this year as well, not having a massive amount of dirt to try and push up through. I've sown some seed from the lovely poppies that Yvonne has in her garden so I hope they come up too... that would be nice!

Roger and Shirley have taken out the massive Wooly Bush which was on the fenceline, so its looking quite bare there now. I'm torn between putting the salvias in there now or putting them in Clayton's garden. Either way I want to get some cuttings so that while I do one or the other now eventually I can do both.

I need to start lowering some of the other beds like I've done for the plum. Because we lay mulch every year the beds are getting progressively higher, the front roses are slowly getting swamped.

3 April 2011

Yesterday I finished taking out the grass from under the study window. Its now all ready to be made into a native garden bed. The two grevillas already in there seem to be settling well and we'll put the third plant we got from Kings Park there too. I wouldn't mind getting one of the beautiful dwarf bottlebrushes we saw there as well... the most intense red flowers, it was very striking! A little love seat under the window, some stepping stones, ground covers, possibly a bird bath... I can all it all now!!!