Purple #2

I'm having a purple theme to celebrate my sister's second children's book launch,

Don't Forget Purple.

This year we have a lot of purple flowers in the garden, most of them native plants which seem to love the fact that we've thinned out the undergrowth from around the bush block we live on.

I suspect that they are receiving more sunlight.

Native Iris

Native Iris

Lavender

Dianella

Native Finger Lime

Golden Pod Peas/Snow Peas/Mangetout

The golden pod peas are doing really well and so far none of the native wildlife seem to have noticed it.  That or the high chicken wire shield I've erected is working, even though the plants have emerged out of the top of the netting.

And here is my sister's book, Don't Forget Purple in the bookshop window along with one of the bears I knitted.

The story is based on a real life event with real life characters.

Purple is my niece's bear, or should I say was!

Here is Purple Mk II.  The family found out the hard way that purple bears are not easy to come by!

Orchid File

I'm declaring 2015 a great year for orchids!

Cymbidium

Dendrobium 

Dendrobium Spike

Epidendrum

This Month In The Garden

July - 
National Tree Day 28th July 2013

No, I'm not going to share anything about my veggie patch...it's too embarrassing.  I need help in that area.

Instead I will take you on a little tour of our small suburban block which in reality is called a bush-block in our part of the world.  I'd swear that there are some areas that have never experienced the fall of a human foot because of how densely the vegetation grows.

Miss Five had a sleepover last night and this morning asked if she could go 'bush-bashing'.
I'm not sure where she's heard this term before but she knows exactly what it means. 

Miss Five donned her boots.

We'd had a late breakfast and by the time Mr Honey Pie and I had finished our coffees, the cold morning had given way to a comfortably warm day.

Here is a daisy picked from our neighbour's garden. 

Our garden is just over one thousand metres squared. And yes, bushing-bashing is something easily achieved in our 'garden'.

Our rock orchid hasn't flowered in years so it's exciting to see some buds on it this year.

Boronia rosmarinifolia grows prolifically on the south side of the garden.

I visit the solo Casurina (She Oak)once or twice a year, just to make sure it's still thriving.  It has been a very slow grower and grows at the bottom of the slope making it difficult to access.

This year's Wattle Flowers are spectacular.  And their season has only just began.

Native Violet, above, make a pretty cut flower which last well.
I use my crystal violet vase to put them in.

The cone flower is in bud.

There are many names for the above native plant, one is Snottygobble, another is Geebung, the botanical name is Persoonia.  I think this one might be the Broad Leaved Persoonia. 

Yes, this tree is growing on a lean, unfortunately it will probably have to be removed as it has drooped over the road just a little more over the last week or so.

Isn't the colour of these "Happy Wanderer" (Hardenbergia)flowers intense?  This plant likes to trail down slopes or climb up small bushes.

Here is our little cottage, perched high on a hill, surrounded by virgin bush-land.

A delicate flowering bush grows on our nature strip. (Above)

The naturally pitted and gnarled trunk of an Angophora tree growing in the bush across the road from our house.

These fern trees have shot up in the last year or two.  They grow in a gully, also across the street.

A young New South Wales Christmas Bush.

Little Miss Five was intrigued by the gum tree sap we found beneath a tree.

These puff balls are supposedly edible but I don't think they look at all appetizing. 

Here's a little surprise we found whilst scrounging around in the leaf litter...I think it's called a House centipede.  I'm glad we didn't have our first encounter in the house...

Native cockroaches are slightly more pleasant than their European counterparts...and they live outdoors.
The Giant Burrowing Cockroach makes an unusual pet.  But I don't think this one is as large as the Giant Burrowing Cockroach.

And these are fungi...which I at first thought were Turkey Tail mushrooms...but they look more like moths!

Well...here is something from the veggie patch that I couldn't resist sharing with you.  It's actually a fruit...not a veg.
This is a cutting I took in autumn from our mulberry tree...can you see the mulberries? I'm not sure if this normal.  But there you go.

These plants and animals are just a fraction of what grows and lives in our garden.
I hope you enjoyed visiting today.

Day 281/366

Day 274/366

There is usually one area of a photograph that is better focused than the rest (most likely to be the centre).

The unusual structure of some of our native  flowers fascinates me.

This is a banksia brush in a floral arrangement that our Eldest Son and his Fiancée gave us as a 'thank you' during their recent stay with  us.

   Perhaps it's been coloured by the florist because it's a colour I haven't seen before in a banksia.

But then again, some banksias brushes are more favoured by florists than others because of their offbeat colour.

The wirey bits in the photograph remind me of the hairpins by Mum used in her hair during the sixties and seventies when she'd pin her long locks into a "bun".

I also had the odd occasion to have hairpins stuck into my hair, usually when I was bridesmaid to one of my cousins or aunts.

My sister, my cousins and I would spend hours at the hairdressers getting our hairdos done.

So much hair spray or lacquer was used to hold up our hair that I doubt the hair pins did much at all!

And here is the original photograph before it was cropped.

Day 262/366

I know spring has arrived when I see these little beauties in my garden.

I'd say at least seventy five percent of our garden is bush.

So when these Patersonia make an appearance they are like neon lights on a dark night.

I think this one is Patersonia occidentalis.  It flowers in spring through to summer and is one of my favourite naturally occurring native flowering herbaceous plants.

Unfortunately, I have found them impossible to transplant so as a result, they grow wherever they like,including amongst my Italian parsley. 

They are sometimes called native iris or flag iris.

The species Patersonia is named in honour of Col. W. Paterson (1755-1810) 

Paterson (a Scotsman) was trained in horticulture and spent time in South Africa as a botanical collector.

For a while he was also based at Norfolk Island and compiled information about flora and also collected seed for nurseries.

  

Day 229/366

Once again, it's difficult to choose just one photograph to depict the day's experiences.

On our way south, after stopping at Bangalow for morning tea, we went to Bexhill, to visit the open air cathedral.

The 'cathedral' is surrounded by a memorial garden with a beautiful array of Australian native plants.

The majority of the native plants are grevilleas. 

Grevilleas come in an array of colours, from ivory, to gold to red to pink to apricot.

Grevilleas belong to the family Proteaceae and are known for their quirky resemblance to a toothbrush.

Like this one:

After our visit to Bexhill, we drove to Casino where we went on an op-shop crawl.

We managed to pick up a few bargains which I will post about once we've returned home.

(Actually, our op-shop crawl began in Bangalow!)

Day 219/366

We had an unexpected visit from a goanna at our camp-site this morning.

These tiny figs are growing on a native fig tree. I thought it might be a Morton Bay fig but I think the fruit is the wrong colour.

I also found some native hibiscus flowers on the sand. 

Three photographs today, how could I choose just one?

Day 172/366

Blue skies are even more appealing accompanied by Gymea lily and eucalypt.

Day 159/366

I bought this mobile in 2010 when Mr Honey Pie & I visited Wyndham Western Australia.

Wyndham is Western Australia's most northern town.

The mobile is made from boab tree nuts which have been cut into two and carved and polished.

Boab trees can live for anything up to six thousand years.

While in Western Australia, we visited two boab trees which, in the past, were used as lock ups, for Indigenous Australian prisoners in transit. They are known infamously as Boab Prison Trees.

One is in Derby and the other in Wyndham.

One of these trees is said to have the ability to house up to ten people at a time.

How ironic that such a significant tree was put to such use.

Day 155/366

In another effort to shake off the  overbearing mundane feeling I'm experiencing at the moment Mr Honey Pie and I went for a long bush walk today.

The weather was threatening rain but we did not allow this to deter us.

Because of the chance of rain  we left the camera at home and had to rely on Mr Honey Pie's mobile phone camera.

The results were a big fail but I was able to salvage this photo by editing it a little on Picasa.

We are lucky to live within a few metres of a fire trail which is a popular walking track for locals.

The trail meanders through a mixture of dry and wet sclerophyll forests.

After the recent wet summer the creeks were in full flow and spilled noisily over the rocky ledges as they accompanied us down into the flourishing valley.

Climbing back out to the real world we came upon the above plant; a native pittosporum in fruit.

This is the first time I've seen the burst seed pods of a native pittosporum.  In summer the creamy coloured blooms give off a strong fragrance and this has lead the plant to it being commonly called native Daphne.

These plants tend to become a bit weedy as the sticky seeds are easily spread by birds.

It's not uncommon to find pittosporum growing in amongst potted plants in native and exotic gardens alike.

Native pittosporum features strongly in Eleanor Dark's novel Prelude to Christopher.

He was beginning to feel exhausted again, and, to his annoyance, found his tongue expressing his thought in a way that was obviously ridiculous:

"Roses - don't smell - of pittosporum..."

Day 119/366

Playing with Picasa.

Day 18/366

Dianella caerulea buds. (Blue Flax Lily.)

Flowering a bit late in the season?

This is an untidy little native plant which I photographed as the sun is beginning to lower itself in the sky.

This Month In The Garden.

August.
Saturday September 10.

A dedication.

I would like to dedicate this post to those who passed in the last six weeks or so.

But mostly my Dearest Uncle who left this world just short of his ninetieth birthday.

To my Mr Honey Pie's work colleagues - two in the same week. 

To my sewing teacher's elderly Aunt.

To local icon and Grandmother Shirley Wilson, who died tragically in a house fire one week ago.

And last but not least...to my Dearest Daughter's school friend, overwhelmed by the pain of life.

All gone to a better place.

Here in the southern hemisphere, we celebrate the first day of Spring on 1st September.

Thank you for visiting my garden.
This post IS a little late; due to some gremlins sabotaging my post!