Some new additions

We've had a few showers over the last fortnight and there is still some moisture in the soil. Taking into the reckoning that our last round of plantings are now well established we decided to go plant shopping.

• For the back fence we bought two Acacia iteaphylla (Flinders Range Wattle)
• For the same bed a Pittosporum Sunburst to go with an existing Pittosporum. This new one has a variegated leaf with gold veins blending to green at the edge of the leaf.
• There is a small strip against the houses back wall of the house that has always been a problem. We're trying Correa Mallee Pink here. The flowers are unusually open for Correas and are a lovely pale pink colour. It was a love at first sight sort of purchase. The kind were you've decided to buy and then need to justify it by finding a suitable position. This is our seventh different Correa and each time we shop we find some more variations so I expect it won't be the last.
• Finally I wanted to get some ground covers for the lawn bed at the front. We'd planted two prostrate grevilleas in the drive bed. These are doing really well and I was keen to get some more. Wasn't able to find the same but picked up Grevillea Crithmifolia. It's more compact that the Grevillea Curviloba. So I'll need to have more to cover the area I need it to cover.
  

Not Playing Possum Anymore

We have a regular nocturnal visitor to our garden. But there have been three occasions recently when our visitor (a possum) decided that it was worth taking a look inside. It's a bit disturbing waking up at 3am to noises in the next room. It's also no fun trying to hustle a nervous possum out the front door in your PJ's. We're assuming the possums coming down the chimney so today I took some action and covered the chimney top with chicken wire. Simple, a bit rough and ready but hopefully we won't get anymore late night visits.

Some Rain at last

The last 36 hours we've seen some real rain. It's amazing how quickly the remaining lawn turns green after a shower. The biggest sign for me is that the bird baths now have water in them after months of being dry. I hope this is the start of the end with regards the drought. I have lots of things I'd love to be doing with the garden when the water restrictions ease.

Bloom Day : March

In the spirit of bloom day (read more) heres some photos:

Hebe Abbey Rose

Correa glabra x decumbens

Acacia

Correa Glabra

Dietes Iridioides

There are also a couple of the Grevilleas with small flowers and some big red Pelagoniums near the washing line. But I don't have any photos of these yet. The last two photos were taken awhile ago. But the Dietes (there are three of these in total) bloomed again on the and the Correa Glabra never stopped flowering .

Drought Victim

I have just removed a climber from the fence outside our bedroom. It's been unwell for a while. But the drought was really the last straw. I would have liked to leave it a bit longer as it provides shade to our room through the worst of the summer heat. But it was so dead it was a fire risk.

I'm unsure what to do here. I'm considering mirroring the shading on the other side of the house which has parallel beams of wood and trellis. With the trellis a climber would have a proper support and the area would be quite shady while the climber grew. But the problem is finding a climber that will working in a small area with little shade or water.