New Lawnmower

With our new lawn being smaller than our pre-drought sloping front and large back lawns, and much smaller than most of our previous houses' lawns, I suggested we switch to mowing with a nice quiet eco-friendly push reel mower. With only a little encouragement my husband did some research online, visited a few stores, and decided which one he wanted... which was very timely as our old mower developed a small leak. If only everything worked out so neatly. Here's hubby trying out the Flymo for the first time. He was very happy with its performance.

Garden Update Late October

Today's temperature was 7℃ to 18℃ (or 44℉ to 64℉), apparently there was some rain before I woke up and it remained cloudy all day. Heading off to the nursery I definitely needed my jumper again. 

I've decided a red Japanese maple would be perfect for one of the new garden beds, so now I'm seeing them in everyone's gardens but there are virtually none in the nurseries! There are a few large ones but they are very expensive and anyway we actually want a smaller one so it has time to get well established before it starts to peek over the fence and catch the afternoon sun. The small ones we saw a week ago were all too greenish and we suspected some of them might have been mislabelled as my online research indicated that the type we wanted remains reliably red throughout the growing season.

When I got home I grabbed the camera and took some photos.

This large bottlebrush has been encroaching on one of the maintenance paths for years (alright, the shrub was there first and my path encroached on it). I mentioned to hubby that it was due for another trim and he pruned it a little more than I expected, which surprised me because he's usually the cautious reluctant pruner. Good to see some regrowth.

I was really excited to see this little plant, name long forgotten and much transplanted, decide to finally do something impressive. A little thinking and a little googling confirmed it's an arenaria montana. 

This bottlebrush featured in last November's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. It doesn't last very long so is it early this year?

I wish I'd planted this convolvulus further into the corner, it seems to be growing more towards the sun and I'm not sure it will fill in the space the way I hoped. Live and learn.

I love the cute tiny little flowers on the dianella.

Yay, at last a better photo of the eucalypt flowers.

One of the reliable old hebes just starting to flower.

A photinia.

Salvia Sierra Pink bouncing back after being pruned.

The gorgeous variegated weigela.

Birdwatching

As afternoon begins to turn to evening and the heat fades the birds arrive to play in the bird baths and chase each other around the lawn. Some crimson rosellas, including this juvenile, were particularly attracted by the eucalypt blossoms.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

It seems I started posting on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day last November so I can't make a comparison with one specific mid-month post, but I did a few garden updates in October and I'm a little disappointed.  The diosmas are flowering but most not as profusely, the hardenbergia has barely produced any blooms, the tetratheca is sulking, the pigface is bare. However the little gum tree has done better this year. The most spectacular show is the choisya between the garage and the fence which is only visible if I crawl through the jungle.

Last night's minimum was 12℃ 53℉ and it is currently in mid-afternoon 23℃ 73℉, breezy and partly cloudy though no sign of the forecast rain.

diosma

seaside daisy

eucalypt

choisya

The peak of spring, how pathetic, how disheartening. But if you'd like to see lots and lots and lots of blooms I've posted about this week's excursions on my other blog.

Tired and Grumpy

Well, this is what's left of the correa that featured in my original header photo. The drainage still isn't good enough I think.

Time to find this conifer another spot... again. It wasn't the right choice for the first location and is now way too crowded here and I have plans for that space so hubby moved it... and then moved it again. Fourth time lucky?

I would have taken more photos but I reached for the secateurs... just a quick trim here... and there... and next thing I knew we were having a very late takeaway dinner. And not really that much to show for the effort, though hubby did some nice realigning of paths. And I'm not going to check but I have a feeling my To Do List got longer not shorter.

Why can't I have a garden like this one? Oh wait, that IS our garden.

Early October

I had thought about visiting Floriade, our local spring flower festival, on the first weekend as the weather was so lovely, but then I decided not to rush and deal with the crowds, especially as there was also an open garden I wanted to visit that weekend. Last Sunday hubby and I set out for Floriade and by the time we approached the car park it was raining, so we drove around for a while admiring the gardens in that part of town and with the rain well and truly set in we came home. Tuesday was forecast to be about the only fine day this week so plans were made again, and I spent Monday night awake with a tummy upset. So, with more blue skies than we've seen for a while and a freshly charged camera... I visited my own garden.

Yep, there's the blue skies.

Down the garden path.

Aha, Hebe flowers!

Had to look carefully for this Hardenbergia flower.

There's no missing the pink Diosma.

And there's more flowers on the way.

These bottlebrush should be blooming soon.

I wasn't the only one visiting my garden.

The Chinese Pistachio was abuzz with bees.

I love the Lomandra in this light.

There's another variety of Lomandra.

Yes, I love ornamental grasses.

Another variety of Photinia is producing new leaves.

Love the rocks.

Some are so big we had to landscape around them.

Outside The Window

October began with more rain. I wasn't even thinking about trying to take any photos but the antics of the birds lured me to the window. It's hard to believe two weeks ago it felt like summer. Today's temperature range was 1℃ 33℉ to 12℃ 53℉. Daylight saving begins this weekend.