Autumn is ending

Autumn is ending, and it is soooo dry. This morning I really noticed the birds using the bird baths - except for three Jays. They were on one of the taps that has a slight drip, and the three (and they are large birds) were hanging off the tap, waiting for each drip.

And there was a flock of Bower Birds (maybe nine or ten females) out the back, feasting on the cape weed growing in the lawn.

The day started out calm, and I was working on the Cumquat bed. As each breeze sprung up stronger than the last, drifts of leaves came down, from the Liquidambars and the Pistachio. By the end of the day they were almost bare, and the beads and lawn were covered in golden and crimson leaves.

And only the Smoke Bushes were left in their prime - almost all the rest were three quarters bare.

It may be almost winter, but I picked a bucket of capsicums today, the last cucumber, and dug a bucket of spuds - with the potatoes still strong green vines.

And noticed a first Snowdrop. Winter must not be far away - I hope it brings rain.

Auditing the Autumn Leaves

There is no peak here for autumn colour - I have been Auditing my Autumn Leaves.

With notebook in hand, I walked out the back door and turned right:

White Cedar – green (what tips the cockies have left)
Crepe Myrtle – turning
Mulberry – green
Unknown autumn rose – green
Wisteria (white) – turning
White cedar – turning
Unknown (tree – elm???) – bare
Smoke Bush – peak
Cherry – peak (never should have planted by the smoke bush – too similar)
Claret Ash – peak
Manchurian pear – peak
Large crabapple – peak
Nyssa – bare
Grapevine – still good, but past best
Liquidambar – peak (maybe)
Robinia – almost finished, but not much anyway
Tulip Tree – almost finished
Lemon verbena – slight turn
Pistacio – peak
Bloomfield ambundance (yes, a rose!) – turning
Maple – bare
Viburum – turning (must move it)
Crabapple (Ionensis?) – bare
Birch – turning
Wisteria – green
Judas Tree – turning
Snowberry – slight turn
Spiketail – slight turn
Spicebush – turning, but flowers out!!!!
Crategus – red hips, green leaves
Double May – turning
Single May – green

I wonder if I missed any???? There are 32 on this list, and although some are shrubs on the smaller side, they do have nice autumn colour. The audit was yesterday, and as I look out the back door (it was quite cool last night), I reckon a few more have turned further overnight.

Nerines

My Nerines have me confused. Most of my normal pink ones grow in the bed you can see in the middle distance here:

I have a lot of white nerines that look like THIS. They are delicate but prolific. Well, the other day I saw some that were twice as tall, and stronger, but quite sparse.

Today I was looking at my pink ones. Last year, the only ones that flowered were the ones near Mum's bird bath, where they were frequently watered. And they were ginormous (ie big and strong). Now, the main lot of pink nerines just near them are finishing flowering, and behaving like normal nerines - flowering from bare ground, with the leaves gone ages ago. And the ones that flowered last year were, up until now, just a lush clump of green leaves. And today, as the others finished, that lush clump of green leaves has started to throw up buds.

I just don't understand my nerines.

Tree Dahlias

These are not mine, but are in a nearby town. And they are just stunning - they reach the top of the gable of the small cottage , and go right down the side.

These are obviously ones allowed to reach their full height, and much-loved. I keep taking the centre out of mine as they grow, which gives a much shorter bush, but heaps more flowers. But I don't have a good example to show this year - maybe next year. This year they are squishing in between the mulberry tree and a buddlea.

First Frost and Fence Finished

Definitely a "F" post. :)

I am running behind with this blog - but do need to record that I met Hellie up the street the other day - and she fixed my wagon. I reckoned it was minimum of two degrees overnight, but she had been out in the paddock next door, and it was definitely a frost.

So my mother's thermometer, which is next to the bricks of the house, reads higher than the general air temperature just a little further away.

And that figures. That was the night of Monday 9th May for the first frost. And on Tuesday, 10th May, the first petals broke out from the Tree Dahlias. They easily survived that frost, but as soon as there is a severe one, they will be gone.

And the side fence is finished - and is wonderful. It is like being given a whole new fernery up the side of the house, so I spent yesterday there weeding and planting up.

This is what the fence looks like from the front verandah - with the Ornamental Grape still hanging on. It is definitely the best-value autumn foliage.

Blast!!!!!!!!

There I was, having a lovely, peaceful morning in the Kitchen Garden. I was cleaning up a back corner, which is a bit too shady to grow much, but it has this lovely, white Tobacco in there:

I thought I would take a few branches off the suckering Queensland White Cedar in behind it - to open the area up a bit.

Aaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhh! No!!!!!!!!!!!! That branch wasn't supposed to fall that way!!!!

My beautiful, white, six-foot high tobacco is now TWO inches high. :(

And this text is misbehavin' - and I'm gonna leave it right that way and go back out and weed!

White Ginger

I haven't had a minute to bless myself with - and there, as I walked around the corner, was something I hadn't realised was coming. Gardens are like that.

For only the second time in I don't know how long, there is a flower on my white ginger (Hedychium). Usually the frost beats me on that. And it smells like a Gardenia.

Hellie, I am gardening all day tomorrow if you haven't seen it in flower ....

And I have photos to post of autumn leaves - but they are going to have to wait a couple of days. Drat!!!!!