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!

This Month In The Garden - March

It's been a while since I've posted about my garden, simply because a) it can be a bit repetitive and b) there's been a few disasters which are repetitive (read possums, birds, antichinus, and who knows what else eating the fruits of my labour).

But here's a little surprise...somethings I've grown for the first time and have had some success with.

 The above is the flower of the galangal plant, which is I think related to the gingers and has the most exotic scent. I literally watched this bloom open before my very eyes.  The flowers I must say, are short lived but their fragrance can be experienced from metres away. 

My other success has been the curry leaf tree.

It too flowered and I'm waiting to harvest the seeds so I can propagate them. 

These plants can become weedy so the flowers or seeds need to be removed and disposed of before the birds spread the pods far and wide.

~

We've had a pretty wet and at times cold summer, and it wasn't until last week that I spotted dragonflies in our garden.

This male, I'm pretty sure he's a Male Common Glider Dragonfly - Tramea loewii, stayed still long enough for me to take a 'point-and-shoot' shoot.

It looks like he may have tangled with a spider's web.

~

Here in the southern hemisphere we're gearing up for the Autumn Equinox! And an early Easter.

Counting Pollinators

My health has taken a bit of a tumble lately and as a result I haven't been up to much.

But it's not difficult to become involved in the Wild Pollinator Count. I'm endeavouring to do this as often as I can in the time frame.

If you're in Australia you may want to take part too.  You've got until the 22nd of November.

Taking photographs of your finds is optional but I managed one or two not-too-bad captures today so here they are. (Bearing in mind I used my point and shoot camera.)

I chose a large stem of elder flower from which to make my observation.

I spotted a fly (there was a second much smaller fly too)

and a European honey bee as well as some unidentifiable insects that reminded me of midges; and what looked like a pintail beetle which was too swift for me to even begin to take a photo.

It's nice to see the sun shine after weeks of wet stormy weather but the prediction is for heat wave conditions with temperatures in the low forties.

Linking to Outdoor Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Orchid File

I'm declaring 2015 a great year for orchids!

Cymbidium

Dendrobium 

Dendrobium Spike

Epidendrum

This Month In The Garden - April - Chilli

I have had two worthwhile crops of chillies this year.  I don't normally use chillies in my cooking, simply because Mr H.P. doesn't like spicy food. As you can see in the above picture, I've had to net the one plant I have because the possums treat chillies like delicacies.  On a nice hot sunny day I picked all the red finger chillies and using a needle and canvas thread, I strung about 20 onto the thread and allowed them to dry in the hot sun for a few days before bringing them indoors to completely dry. 

My first strand was exchanged at Crop and Swap for a yummy piece of blue pumpkin.

My second strand went to a friend I have made via an online garage sale and in exchange I received some kefir milk grains.  I gave the kefir grains to my daughter because she has been coveting some for a while now.  

Kefir is a fermented milk drink probiotic.  I must admit, milk is not one of my favourite foods and the closest I come to consuming milk is homemade natural yogurt which I religiously make about ever ten days and add to my porridge or smoothie at breakfast.

Tonight we used yogurt in our pumpkin soup instead of sour cream.

I think I will wait and see what kefir tastes like before I decide whether I will make it or not.

In the meantime, the weather has become very damp and humid and my chillie plant has been infested with aphids.  I'm hoping that a spray of soapy water will bring them under control.

It's not unusual for Sydney to be hot and humid over summer, in fact, it's quite normal.  But the past three or four summers have been so dry that I must admit I've forgotten how unpleasant the humidity can feel.  Unfortunately, the bugs have revelled in the return to more normal conditions.

This Month In The Garden - April - @ My Front Door

Wordless Wednesday

Linking to

This Month In The Garden - April - Indian Summer

The Blue Mountains has sort of been experiencing an Indian summer this autumn.  Technically it's probably been too wet but the combination of warm weather and high rain fall has seen some extraordinary things happening in my garden.

I have a potted echinacea purpurea by the front door which had a second flush of blooms late last month.  I honestly didn't think the buds would mature but I was wrong. 

Echinacea is also known as the coneflower because the seed head left after the 'petals' drop looks like a cone.

The 'cone' then continues to grow taller and taller.

What an amazing example of the Fabinacci spiral!

The pink petals of this echinacea are not true petals but bracts.  The many flowers grow from each of the spikes (eventually seeds) growing in the cone.  Sometimes a spectacular display happens when each of the spikes flower simultaneously.  This hasn't happened this year but if you look closely at the third picture from the top you will see three tiny, yellow, flowers growing to the top right of the cone.

My most favourite characteristic of this plant is the wonderful perfume produced by these tiniest of flowers.  I honestly believe the perfume rivals that of a rose.

Echinacea is commonly used medicinally to treat the common cold and boost the immune system.

Even though I've had this one plant for around six years I have not used it for making a tea simply because I felt the plant was not mature enough to cope with being harvested.

  Soon, it will die right back leaving only the seed head which is a favourite of florists to use in their floral displays.

Once the new shoots appear in spring I plan to split up the roots to start off some new plants.

I have under-planted the echinacea with runuculus so that over winter the pot continues to produce flowers.

Echinacea is a culinary delight to some of our wildlife and for this reason I have chosen to grow it in a large pot which I place close to the front door.  The possums and wallabies dare not venture this close to our house and so the plant survives long enough to produce flowers.  On a warm day, the perfume is glorious and can be appreciated every time we use the front door.

In the garden it works as a bee attractant too so if you are fortunate enough to not have to worry about what might eat this versatile plant...consider growing some in the vegetable and herb garden to help pollination.

This Month In The Garden - April.

We have had a most unusual weather pattern this past summer and now into autumn. We are into our second autumn month and I have seen not one gold coloured leaf as yet.

On April 4 Springwood received 76 mm of rain.  In one hour on the same day 10.4 mm of rain fell.  I have had to rescue some of my potted plants from the extreme amounts of rain.  One of these potted plants is an orchid that I have managed to grow from a cutting given to me by a local orchid enthusiasts and professional grower, Alan, who I met by chance at a garage sale.  He was generous and happy enough to take Mr HP and I for an impromptu tour of his nursery in Glenbrook one Saturday afternoon last June or July.  He offered me two cuttings he found on one of his work tables which I gratefully accepted and then gingerly planted into two small glazed terracotta pots when we arrived home.  

I have only every grown dendrobium or Sydney rock orchids so I was a little dubious about the success I would have with these.  For the first six to seven months they resided in the loft studio above our garage bathed in filtered light from a west facing window. I watered them rarely, almost forgetting their existence. I didn't hold much hope for them but after a few months some new growth appeared and then as the weather became warmer and our youngest moved back home, they began impinging on his space, so I moved the pots outdoors and hoped that they would continue to thrive.

Which they did.

On Easter Sunday one little flower bloomed and today I was thrilled to find all the flowers blooming happily, bopping their little heads in unison each time someone walked by the table on which I have now placed them in an attempt to control  the amount of water they receive.

Although I'm not 100% sure...I think they are Cirrhopetalum ornatissimum.

It's been love at first sight!  I wonder what surprise the other little pot will have to offer soon? 

I Do This Every Day...

There are a lot of things I do every day; brush my teeth, cook, clean, make the bed, shower. All pretty regular sort of stuff.
But there's one thing I just love to do and even if the weather is poorly I still try to do it...and that is take a little wander through my garden.

This spring, the weather has been exceptional and everything is blooming beautiful!

So I've created a collage to showcase a few of the flowering plants that have risen to the occasion.

I hope you enjoy them and thank you for visiting.

Harvesting Lemongrass

I know I frequently bemoan the lack of produce harvested from my garden, but not everything I plant or sow is a failure.

One huge success is always my lemongrass. 

Every year I wait until I have a reasonable crop to make Stuffed Lemongrass.  Normally I am able to make enough for about four people.  This year I was able to make enough for around ten people.  

Here is how I harvest my lemongrass.

I simply twist and pull each stem from the soil, roots and all.

All of the plant has a use.

Using a sharp knife carefully cut off the root just below the bulbous part of the stem.

Trim the long blades of strappy leaves leaving about ten inches/26 centimetres of stem for making the stuffed lemongrass.

These are the outer leaves of the stems which I use to make lemongrass tea.

Any thick part of the unused stems can also be used.  The very tops can also be used to make tea but I had so much I chose not to use them and simply added to my compost bin.

Shred these with a sharp knife lengthwise and cut into lengths of about 1.5 inches/4 centimetres to be dried in the oven or in the sun.

The bit below the bulbous stem can be planted immediately (if there are roots still attached).  If you harvest and replant during a waning moon, I guarantee one hundred percent success. Just make sure all of the root is in the soil with just the cut section protruding above the soil.

These were harvested last Saturday.
I will post pictures of the already emerging shoots in the next day or two.