A warm winters day in the garden, plus new dahlias and amaryllises

After experiencing three frosty mornings in a row, it was a surprise yesterday when the temperature rose to a warm 15 degrees C. Today the temperature was the same, so I took advantage of it and spent half an hour walking around the garden taking photos. I didn't even need to wear a coat.

Some of the camelia bushes are in full flower now. They seem to think it is spring already. The red flowered camelia in the photo above has flowers that are larger than my hand. I picked one and put it in a vase to bring more colour into the house.

The white arum lilies are putting on a good show in the shade under the trees. 

There are so many trees and shrubs that I love, but I am finding it hard to find other plants that will survive underneath them. I found some real estate agent photos showing what our garden used to look like many years ago, before we moved here. The flower beds, which are 2 metres-wide, used to be full of perennial flowers, roses and small shrubs. The alder tree, which is now massive, was just a small sapling and the weeping pear (not-an-olive-tree) was about shoulder height.

The shrubs and trees now take up the whole flower bed space and cast shadows across the garden. However, they give us a lot of privacy from the neighbours as six properties overlook our garden. Without the trees it would make me feel rather exposed, especially since we used to live in the middle of 10 acres of land. Another advantage of the trees is that the shade cast by them gives us some respite from the heat of the sun in summer.

 

The viburnum is coming into flower now. Dad trimmed it back a bit earlier on in the year and he removed all the dead branches from the bottom. The growth is now a bit scraggy after its "haircut", so I think I will trim the bush harder to neaten it up once the flowers have faded. I am not sure when the best time would be to trim the viburnum, but I won't do it until all threat of frost has gone.

Two out of the four purple tibouchina cuttings, that we brought from our last house, are well established now and are flowering their hearts out. They are in sheltered positions and luckily didn't get hit by the wind and frosts.

The Chinese primulas, that we bought in spring last year, self-seeded and have started to flower which I am really pleased about. The slugs are pleased about it too by the look of the holes in their leaves! I may transplant the smallest of the seedlings into pots and grow them on until they are big enough to survive the slugs.

The orange abutilon (Chinese lantern tree) has grown massive since I planted it out. I need to stake it as it is on a sideways lean due to the strong winds we have had, and the soil being wet and soft in that corner hasn't helped either. 

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The neighbour's flowering quince is flowering, even better than last year, over the top of our fence, and the golden arctotis plants are starting to flower.

I have also been busy ordering more amaryllis bulbs and dahlia tubers online from the NZ Bulbs website. I bought 2 amaryllises and 6 dahlias which will be arriving late next month or early September. It is so exciting. 

The photos below of the amaryllises and dahlias are from the NZ Bulbs website.  

The amaryllises that I chose are:

- Dancing Queen  

- and Nymph 

The dahlias that I chose are:

- Cafe au Lait

- French Can Can

- Kenora Macop B

- Labyrinth

- Peaches and Cream

- and Tsuki-Yuri-No-Shisha

While I am waiting for these to arrive, I will be buying planters, stakes, potting mix and compost, ready for planting them. I will be putting all of these around the edge of the deck where they will get the most sunlight. I can't wait 😊.

                               

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hugs, Rose xxx

More Spring surprises in my garden

 

Lords and ladies - arum italicum 

We found large round clumps of white-veined, spearheaded leaves sprouting up under the trees in our garden. We had no idea what type of plant they were. 

I thought that maybe they were calla lilies, so decided to leave them until they flowered. We didn't want to dig up flowers thinking they were weeds.

Then one morning dad called me to have a look at the unusual creamy-yellow flowers that had appeared. On seeing them I knew immediately that they were lords and ladies, also known as cuckoo pint, arum italicum. This is a poisonous weed that we don't want in our garden. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get rid of it.

Willow tree catkins

A more pleasant surprise was to find that the weeping willow trees were flowering. They had long yellow fluffy caterpillar-like catkins all over them. I haven't seen willow flowers like this before. The only ones that I have seen are the furry, silver catkins of pussy willows.

Ornamental quince flowers?

These coral-orange coloured flowers have grown over the fence from our neighbour's garden and are really pretty. The shrub has been flowering for over a month now. I think that it may be an ornamental quince, but I'm not sure.

Bugleweed - ajuga reptans 

The bugleweed has produced dozens of beautiful dark blue flower spikes with unusual square stalks.

Japanese maple leaves - acer palmatum

I love the new maroon-coloured leaves that have opened up on the Japanese maple. I am not used to new leaves being anything other than bright green, so was surprised when these ones unfurled from their tight little buds.

Another big surprise for me was to find that, what I thought was a dead, leafless olive tree, was not in-fact dead, nor was it an olive tree.

Over the past few weeks its new leaves appeared. I didn't look closely at them, I just thought that they were silvery-grey-green olive tree leaves. But when I decided to photograph the tree, to show you the olive tree that had come back to life, I noticed that the leaves were furry.

Most definitely not an olive tree! 

I have no idea of which type of tree this is, nor if it will produce flowers and fruit. Do you have any ideas about what this tree is?

What has been happening in your garden this month?

See you again soon.

Hugs, Rose x

22 varieties of fruit in our new garden!

Meyer Lemon

I have just made a list of all of the different kinds of fruit trees, bushes and plants that I could identify in our new garden and was amazed at the number; 22 in all! So much variety, I am so happy. 

There are 4 different kinds of berries:

- Blueberries, which are flowering at the moment, on last years' growth. The previous owner told me that they harvested 5kg of blueberries last year off the three bushes. The bees and the tiny wax-eye birds are pollinating the flowers at the moment and are loving the pollen and nectar after the long Winter. Once the flowers are pollinated, they drop off the bushes leaving the fruiting-body behind to develop into yummy blueberries for us (and the blackbirds and thrushes no doubt) to eat.

- Thornless Blackberries or similar berry? One side of the house is filled with berry canes that are now just beginning to flower. I cannot tell from the plants which type of berry they are, but I like all berries lol. The question is, should I be cutting out the old canes now and just leaving the new canes in place?

- Raspberries. Just 3 canes of these starting to show Spring-growth.

- Orangeberries, these are trailing along the ground at the side of the house, near the lavender and raspberries. I don't know if the previous owner was successful in getting any fruit off the orangeberry plants. They are supposed to be temperamental when it comes to fruiting here in New Zealand.

6 different kinds of citrus tree:

- Lemons, fruiting now. They are Meyer lemons, large, yellow and juicy. Quite different in lemony-flavour than Lisbon lemons. Lovely to use a slice in a cup of tea, to use in some cooking recipes and of course, baking. Lemon meringue pie comes to mind, yummy!

- Naval Oranges. We have just finished picking the last of these. There is only one orange left in the fruit bowl now. They were delicious, juicy and full of flavour. Much better than shop-bought ones.

- Blood Oranges. These weren't successful in producing any fruit this year and there are no flowers on the tree. The leaves are yellowing. The tree looks as if it has been neglected. Dad and I gave all of the citrus trees a good dose of citrus tree fertiliser, plus some Epsom salts for all of the yellow-leafed citrus. I read that yellowing of citrus leaves is due to the lack of magnesium.

- Clementines. Again, no sign of fruit or flowers and they have yellowing leaves. Hopefully the treatment we gave them this week will revive the trees.

- Limes. There are two of these trees. One looks healthy and has lots of new leaves growing on it, although it only produced 3 limes this year. It looks like it is a young tree, so maybe this is why it didn't produce much fruit. The other lime tree is huge, there is a lot of fruit on it, but the fruit is very lumpy and bumpy, plus the leaves look green but are deformed. I don't know what could be wrong with it. 

- An Unidentifiable Citrus Tree. This is one large citrus tree, very healthy and full of flowers. It didn't produce any fruit this year. It will be exciting to find out which type of fruit it will have. I only hope that it isn't grapefruit. Unfortunately, neither mum, dad, nor myself can eat grapefruit as it is contraindicated with some medications we are on.  

3 types of stone fruit

- Peaches

- Apricots

- Plums

These fruit trees look old and they haven't been pruned properly, so we shall see what happens with them. The plum has a tiny bit of blossom starting on it and the peach has just finished flowering. There is no sign of life on the apricot tree yet, although it may be too early for it to flower. We have given all of these trees some fruit-tree fertiliser to help them along.

9 other fruit

- Apples. Still dormant after the Winter.

- Pears. Also dormant.

- Figs. New fig leaves have sprouted at the ends of the branches, all are looking fresh, green and good.

- Yellow-fruited cherry guava. There are some little green, unripe guavas on the bush and a lot of new leaf growth. The blackbirds are very interested in it.

- Rhubarb. A few leaves have come up now after the Winter.

- Passionfruit. There is a lot of new passionfruit-vine growth, which looks very promising. I will need to tie the vines up to some stakes before they start climbing up the bushes or the wind damages them.

- Quince. This looks like quite a youngish tree. It still had its plant label on it. The label was only slightly faded, but it was starting to cut into the trunk of the quince tree.

- Feijoas (Pineapple Guava). New flower buds have appeared on the tree, I hope that they will develop into fruit. 

- Olives. There are 2 olive trees. One lost all of its leaves during Winter. We had the wettest Winter on record here in Auckland this year. The soil became waterlogged. I doubt if the tree has survived. All you can see is bare branches. We will leave the tree where it is, just in case it is still alive, but I very much doubt it. The other olive tree, in a drier part of the garden, looks healthy and full of green leaves which is a relief.

I am enjoying keeping an eye on the fruit plants growing and also learning how to look after them. A new hobby for me. We are so lucky to have them in our garden. 

Now I need to find my lemon meringue pie recipe and start baking!

See you again soon.

Hugs, Rose xxx

Moonrise over the camellias

Last Tuesday evening I looked out of the sitting room window to see the full moon rising in the sky, over my pink 'water lily' camellia bushes. 

The sky was full of soft pastel shades of purple, pink and blue, and the air was filled with the joyous sound of evening birdsong.

I opened the window to hear the birds more clearly and I could make out the songs of the blackbirds and skylarks. There was also a pheasant calling and I could hear the shrill, rattling sound of the spur-winged plovers cry.

I quickly ran for my camera and managed to capture the colours of the sky, just in time, before the pinks and purples faded away.

Then I sat and listened to the birds until their evening chorus stopped. It was such a lovely way to wind down at the end of the day.

The weather has been stormy since that time, with blustery gale-force winds and torrential rain until today. I ventured out at lunchtime to see if any damage had been done to my garden and found all my ixias and poppies flattened, and the petals of the purple babianas gone. Oh well, such is the spring weather I suppose.

Now I need to sit and watch another sunset and listen to the evening birdsong again. It won't be this evening because it is raining again. So I will snuggle up with a hot chocolate and do some more knitting instead.

I hope that you enjoy the new week and maybe manage to watch a sunset and listen to the evening bird song too.

See you again soon.

Hugs, Rose x

Another spring walk with my cat Otto

The sun came out at last, in between squally Spring showers, so I took the chance to go for a walk with my cat Otto, in the fresh air, while I could.

Otto is very much like my shadow, he likes to follow me wherever I go. He is now 2 and a half years old and acts like a kitten still, always leaping about and climbing up trees. 

You can see Otto in the photo above, near the top of a very tall eucalyptus tree. This is the highest that I have ever seen him climb. 

My heart was in my mouth when I saw him rush up the tree trunk at lightning speed. He has only just learnt to climb down backwards, instead of just leaping down from any height, or trying to run down the tree trunk head first! 

The ground was very wet and muddy and the grass was long, so I had to wear my gumboots to keep my feet dry. We are waiting for the land to dry out before we can mow the grass. It is quite overgrown at the moment.

This cabbage tree (cordyline australis) is Otto's favourite tree to climb at the beginning and end of each walk. He also uses it as a scratching post, then rushes up the trunk until his head is in the leaves which he plays with. 

Occasionally Otto will bring long cabbage tree leaves into the house as presents for me, or to play with. 😄

The blue wisteria is in full flower now and smells wonderful. This one grows just outside my bedroom window, so I can enjoy the scent when I have the window open.

Above is the view through our orchard and across one of our fields to the nature reserve. 

You can see the lemons, which are ready to pick, on the small tree at the bottom right of the photo. The buds on the rest of the fruit trees are just starting to open.

Our pond has filled up with water now, after all the rain that we have had. The pond is frequently visited by Mallard ducks, Canada geese and Paradise ducks. Although there were none to be seen on this walk. 

I love the Canada geese with their honking call, but they are very shy here and fly away as soon as they see us.

In the middle of the photo above is where the daffodil patch is. The daffodils finished flowering a month ago and we are waiting for the leaves to die off before we can mow over that area again.

The bright green tree on the left is our persimmon tree. It puts on a lovely show of fresh green leaves in the Spring. Then in Autumn the leaves turn a bright rusty orange colour and the tree is then full of bright orange persimmons.

Otto and I very much enjoyed our walk 😊

It is time now for me to have my afternoon tea. Twining's English breakfast tea, no milk, 2 sugars and a slice of lemon with a couple of shortbread biscuits today. Yummy.

I hope that you are having an enjoyable week.

See you again soon.

Hugs, Rose x

A Springtime ramble in my garden

The rain has finally stopped, for the moment, so I jumped at the chance of going for a stroll in my garden with Otto and my camera. I love being outside during Spring, seeing the new flowers opening and the leaves on the trees unfurling. 

The purple Babiana flowers are abundant in my garden this year. They grow from corms which I spread about each year to form new clumps. The flowers also form seeds which I collect and sprinkle around wherever I want them to grow.

Once established, the Babiana clumps grow quite quickly. I love the contrast between the purple of the Babiana with the gold of the Arctotis.

We spread the golden Arctotis by taking cuttings, at any time during the year, and planting them directly into the ground. We tried growing different colours of Arctotis, but for some reason gold is the only colour that will survive in our gaden. I have no idea why.

If the Arctotis flowers are regularly deadheaded, they are supposed to flower from Spring right through to Autumn. But it is backbreaking work, we have so many of them. I tried one year and had to give up. There were too many flowers and each flower only lasts 2 days. Maybe this year I will try deadheading just one clump and see what happens.

Below is a view across the Ixia wild flower bed towards the native New Zealand Ponga trees (tree ferns). The Pongas grew themselves there, we didn't need to plant them. 😊                                                                                                                            

And another view, in the opposite direction, of the Ixia. The wind was blowing quite strongly so the flowers were bobbing around making it hard to take a clear photo.  

                                     

This is my favourite garden seat, overlooking the Ixias to the pond. Behind the seat are Kniphofia, Agapanthus and Clivia plants. The Clivia didn't flower this year. It tried to, but snails ate all the flower buds off them 😕

I still haven't managed to find the name of our frothy, pink-flowered succulents. Please let me know, in the comments, if you have the name for them. It has been puzzling me for years.

Here is Otto, walking alongside the orange Sparaxis. This clump has been growing steadily in size over many years. You can see how big they are compared to Otto!

The Sparaxis have also naturalised into the wildflower bed near the Ixias. 

This year the pheasants have left the Sparaxis alone. Usually they peck all the flowers off. I don't know if they actually eat them, or just like picking at them. Hopefully they will form large clumps like in the photo above. But it will take many years.  

               

I feel refreshed after walking outside. I find the garden calming and soothing, and Otto is quite hilarious as he follows me around, then runs up trees all excited that I am outside with him.

Now I am back inside trying to sort out some technical problems. My mum's iPad has stopped being able to download library books. I phoned the library to see if it was an internet/library problem, only to be told that their eBook application had been updated and that many people are having the same problem. The libraries are all closed to the public in Auckland, due to lockdown, so there is no other way for mum to borrow books.

It turns out that the operating system on the iPad is too outdated, even after doing an update for it. Sigh. Mum was beside herself with despair. I phoned my brother for help and he said there is nothing we can do apart from by a new iPad....But shortly after, he phoned back and said to expect a new iPad mini in the post! Thanks big brother, mum is now over the moon with delight.

My next technical glitch happened after I downloaded the latest update for my Android cellphone. Included in the update was a change to how the phone's camera operated, to speed up the time it takes to take a photo. My photos now are not as clear. I will have to investigate the settings and see if I can do anything about it. Plus there are other changes that I haven't tried yet...a job for this afternoon.

My last technical problem was with this blog post. Not being able to align my photos and text properly. Not sure why it is happening, but please excuse the messy bits.

They do say horrible things come in threes, so fingers crossed that that is all, for a while at least! I am off now to have a play with the camera function on my cellphone, while the weather is still fine.

Looking forward to seeing you here again soon.

Hugs, Rose x