This Month In The Garden - February

With all the rain we've been having fungi are popping up all over the garden.

The one above is especially eye catching.

Here's a bird's eye view of a banksia flower.

The autumn crocus is right on cue.

The flowering echinacea (above) and the flowering ginger (below) have been bathing the garden with the most glorious perfume.

The vegetable section of the garden has produced almost zilch this summer...3 cucumbers, 2 tomatoes, and I think that's it.

The herbs on the other hand are going beautifully.

My strawberry plants are looking very lush but alas, not flowers or fruit.

I think I need help with the vegetable patch.

I have asked for a consultation with a gardener but I'm not sure when this will be happening.

Autumn Crocus.

I dedicate this post to my brother, who departed this earth, one February, three years ago this week.
After his passing I planted a little corner of our garden in his remembrance.  A neighbour had given me a pot of Autumn Crocus bulbs which I planted as a border in this garden.
Unbeknown to me, in the southern hemisphere, Autumn Crocus flower in February.
My brother was only 43  when he left us, in a senseless accident, leaving behind a nine year old son.
Imagine my surprise when the first February after I planted the bulbs, the delicate looking buds appeared, just days before my brother's anniversary.
Is that serendipity or what?
And then, while researching the plant (they are classed as 'exotics' in Australia and I didn't know much about them at all when my neighbour gifted them to me), I found that their botanical name is Colchicum autumnale, and that they contain a toxin, colchicine, which has medical uses.
Colchicine is a toxic natural product used to treat pericarditis, (as well as other ailments) which is an inflammation of the fibrous sac surrounding the heart a symptom of which is chest pain.
My little brother complained of chest pain, as he waited to be rescued, and the coroner found that he died from a heart attack.
Sometimes the universe speaks to us surprising ways.

But in the autumn of my years I noticed the tears
And I knew that our life was in the past
Though I tried to pretend, I knew it was the end
For the autumn of my life had come at last
Now what, what do you say to a child of ten?
How do you tell him his daddy's goin' away?
Do I tell him that I reached the autumn of my life
And that he'll understand some winter's day?

Goldsboro Bobby - Autumn of My Life