First spring roses.

Long hiatus...

First roses of a rubbish, freezing cold, ridiculously wet spring. 

Strawberry Hill

Front fence, Strawberry Hill back left (Anthemis, Thyme, Nepeta, Alyssum and Dianthus also in flower)

Bedroom window with Crepuscule finally getting some height. Also Iceberg below, with Erigeron in flower. 

First Crepuscule bloom of season. 

Bonica? $2 standard unlabelled rose rescue. Bumble Bee salvia and Erigeron underneath. 

Golden Celebration. 

First buds on Fairy Moss (with lobelia and alyssum). 

Radio Times and Nettle-leaved campanula. 

Radio Times environmental shot with Apricot tree, Campenula, Californian Poppy, Maireana sp, pink cosmos, lavender, nepeta, cut-leaf coriander. 

Munstead Wood. 

Ever lurid Sophy. 

Black Boy starting to gain some much needed height on shed. 

White Wings, enormous and brief blooms. 

Devoniensis. 

Salvia garden

So beautiful I've pulled out the decrepit vegetable beds and I'm making it a whole lot bigger...

Shopping spree

Because, why not?! 

She couldn't handle the heat.

Oh, Martine, I shall have to try again with you this year. 

One off the wish list...

Daydreaming on the rattle and rustle of giant bamboo... Don't have the room, of course, I have been eyeing off clumping bamboos for some time but have not been able to stomach the price. So, when I stumbled across some cheap tubes of Fargesia nitida 'Fountain' the other day I decided to take a risk with the wee babies. Including post these average about $10 each. They've already been shifted into some 32cm pots and left in part-shade to grow on. It's likely they'll stay potted up for a long time. I'm hoping they'll produce canes of a useable size eventually (they should grow to 2-4m tall) and I'll never need to buy plastic-bagged bamboo from Bunnos for the garden ever again. Fingers crossed?!

Hello, I love you,

Won't you tell me your name?

First batch of strawberries from the front garden this spring. Variety name long lost! These get no special care whatsoever, just water over summer and whatever fertiliser runoff happens from the other plants nearby. 

There's a few happy mulberries in there too. 

What's coming up roses: back garden part 1.

Buff Beauty (hybrid musk)

Sophy's Rose... As always! (David Austin)

Cramoisi Superieur

Radio Times (David Austin). Smells divine!

Zephrine Drouhin, moved last year from a poor spot to a better one. 

Apricot Nectar (in a pot after being moved out of the front garden)

Sharifa Asma (David Austin)

Munstead Wood (David Austin)

Front Garden

Check out my sweet peas! These are self-sown from some planted in previous years. 

The front garden is looking particularly fabulous right now. I'm so happy to have discovered Dianthus and have been busy planting out all sorts of different varieties; they really have done very well so far. Now they just need to prove themselves over summer, eek! The rose  on the right is Strawberry Hill (a David Austin), going into its second summer now and looking amazing. The blasted heat really did come at the worst time to spoil a great deal of the first flash of roses. 

Pond revamp

Dear Huey, I am not impressed with the weather, please get your act together and save the high temperatures for summer :/ 

Meanwhile, I photographed and then completely neglected to post photos of my pond revamp from perhaps a month ago. I'm shifting the old bath out from behind the retaining wall and reclaiming that as garden. I've invested in a whopping great terracotta pot for the new pond. We painted on some kind of black, tar-like (in appearance, consistency and smell) waterproofing gloop on the interior, and plugged up the hole with concrete (I say 'we', I mean I got D to do it). 

I made a 'basket' from chicken wire for the lotus so that it would fit into the pot, along with a pile of cow manure and some extra soil and water-plant fertiliser tablets. 

My helper 'helped' as usual. The only plants in there are the dormant lotus (please come back, lotus!) and a nearly-dormant water lily. 

We piled a whole heap of broken terracotta (ex-plant pots) on top of the soil to stop it all floating out. Then, filled it up with rainwater, popped in the fish from the old pond, then sat back and waited. The lily has just sent out a few new leaves with this spate of hot weather, so there a plus at least. Mostly however, right now it's growing very un-photogenic algae. 

Early roses

A surprise 'Paul Bocuse' (Guillot)

And, glory be, not one but two flowers on my climbing 'Black Boy' Rose (Alistair Clark) already. Is this not the most perfect colour? 

Lately

Wow, don't post for a bit and those photos really pile up!

We've been away on a brief driving holiday to Sydney and back. 

Saw loads on Olearia in full bloom through those endless mallee lands. Naturally I had to pull over and have a good look. 

Stayed in a funky (and very dilapidated) old pub in Ouyen both there and back. Oh, if I had a few spare million to restore it to its former glory... 

If you have an opportunity to visit the Australian Botanic Gardens at Mt Annan, NSW, you really should do so. Free entry, free parking too, glorious flowers; I was in heaven.  

Went to the other botanic gardens in the Blue Mountains too. We only had a spare hour, I so wish I had more time to really explore. 

Came home to launch full steam ahead into spring. 

Put the girls to work doing my neglected weeding (they refuse to pose nicely for a photo). 

They are paying their board with so many eggs I've started selling the odd dozen when I get overwhelmed and can't bear the thought of another quiche (and I'm trying to cut down on the sweet baking). 

Gave the lemon tree a pretty thorough haircut and picked a few lemons. There are so many I might need to pop them at the gate with a 'free' sign. 

And the potato tower that had done so little at my last post has gone 'kaboom'. How fabulous! 

How I love spring xx