June glories.

There is something very special about winter in Adelaide. The garden is quiet and damp, and completely lovely in a scruffy kind of way. 

'Sophy's Rose' is my June stalwart. 

'Cramoisi superieur' putting on a surprise show. 

Hidden hollyhocks under the apricot tree. 

Terrible photo of Chocolate Cosmos and Pelargonium reniforme. 

Pelargonium sidoides, love love love this one. 

Salvia leucantha under the apricot. 

Alyssum 'Snow White'

Acacia iteaphylla goes nuts at this time of year (red-flowering Japanese quince behind)

Mini gerberas and blue lobelia in a pot. 

Dwarf calendula, my favourite buff yellow. 

Fairy pelargonium (forget species) with a saltbush I totally forget the name of (Maireana erioclada?)

Pineapple sage, birds love this one (lemon behind). 

Rosa 'Crepuscule' under our bedroom window. Can hardly wait until it's bigger!

Volunteer nasturtium (one of lots, no wonder it's a weed in these parts). 

Lastly, the new garden corner, most plants in except for the roses which should arrive soon. 

Sorrel vs Chickens

Those chickens: fiends for anything green! 

This was June the first... Little sods!

But the French Sorrel is returning, ready to feed the chickens again the next time they get loose. 

Pity I can't quite say the same for some of the other plants that got eaten/dug up/trodden on. 

Nodding Violet

Must be doing something right if this little beauty is blooming! Nodding Violet (Streptocarpus caulescens) from a nursery clearance table, pot from the Salvos. 

Next up, mulch.

Two bales of peastraw mulch, and a makeshift curved bench made out of spare recycled red brick (not fixed in place in any way, which is good because I want to tweek it ever so slightly to the left, I expect I'll do that within the next five years or so). 

And a box of some of my green recruits.  

I gave up planting after the first four or so plants after my toddler was getting a bit too helpful. Will get back to it later this week, right after I drop of that application to do a degree in visual art (yep, really!). 

Roses winter 2015

Presenting my new garden space! We have moved the chickens behind the shed and removed their old coop. 

Doesn't look like much now, but just wait and see...

Planning too many roses (however do you cut down the wish list?!) I have 14 noted for this space, plus lots of salvias, agastache, nepeta and buddleia (mostly small varieties), two dwarf fruit trees (apples? Pears?) and an inbuilt chair for sitting and thinking (preferably with a notepad, pencil, and bottle of cider). The space is about 4m x 4m square. Seems tiny, but I am a mistress at squeezing lots of plants in, and it's still bigger than done people's courtyards. 

Geraniums and pelargoniums

This week's obsession: pinching bits of geraniums (or are they pelargoniums?!) from verges to propagate. 

Mouse Melons

Or cucamelons, or Mexican sour gherkins, or Melothria scabra (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melothria_scabra): cute, tasty, perfect snack size for the kidlets,really do pretty much taste like an ever so slightly sour cucumber, wish they were a bit more prolific but more plants next time. However, under no circumstances should you eat one which has fallen, overripe, from the vine: it will taste like arse.