Wednesday 2 September 2015

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

It's been quite hectic over the week or so since my last post, and yet although we've been out and about, they have been fairly futile forays to find things.  I've been out in the garden quite a bit and hubby is on a roll with fixing our MM.

SOME GARDEN PHOTOS.

Crocus bought at the garden show and planted very late when we moved here.  Most of the bulbs I put in  are up, although not sure all will flower.

The magnolia I bought a couple of weeks ago, ready pop open any day.

Muscari and jonquils around the silver birches in the front garden.  These were already in situ when we moved in and I've planted some things here and will change a few others in this bed.

A patch of violets in the back border.
Now I do wish we had 'smellavision' or something similar.  A little plant in the back garden has come into flower and smells absolutely heavenly.  A lot of my northern hemisphere readers aren't going to know what this is, so here are couple of pics.

Brown Boronia (an Australian native.)

Closeup of above.
We also discovered today, that we have a pond full of wee little tadpoles, but being so small I couldn't get a photo, but this little beauty was sunning itself on the edge.

A skink.
A QUESTION.

Does anyone know what this is?

Looking up into a beautiful blue sky with a few fluffy clouds through the tasselly flowers of an acer.  I've not yet seen this in leaf.

A not so good arrangement, but ever so pretty.  
I was going to post a few more pics, but they will have to wait, as while I've been doing this, I've also been preparing our tea.  A little quilting has been happening, but with these lovely sunny days, after such a long cold winter, it's been too nice to stay inside.  I'll do another post over the weekend with a catchup on other bits.

Take care all and hope your week has been good so far.
Susan.

17 comments:

  1. Your spring plants are charming, and the mystery flower looks like one I looked at this morning at Home Depot but I can't remember the name. Where you are crocus spotting, I just bought my first chrysanthemum this morning, a sure sign of autumn here. Enjoy watching your tadpoles mature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanna. It's sometimes funny that when we come to Spring all my northern friends are doing just the opposite, but now they are predicting a long hot dry summer with huge bushfire potential, as even though I thought it fairly wet, we've actually had less than average rainfall in most parts of Oz.

      Delete
  2. Is your mystery plant a hardy geranium? How lovely to see all the new life just popping up in the garden. Being a new house, there'll be all sorts of things showing themselves just now, it's a case of watching to see what's there. A skink? I'd never heard of one before, I've just had to google that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jo. I thought it might be a geranium, but just wasn't sure, as I've never seen one in actual flower, although the leaves looked right. A skink is just what we call the small brown lizards. I would love to find we have blue-tongue lizards living in our garden, but haven't seen any yet, as they eat the snails and slugs. I love them and used to hand feed one when we lived in Cambewarra, NSW. I've been trying to take photos of birds that visit the garden, but they are too quick for me.

      Delete
  3. I think that your arrangement is lovely!!! As Jo said, I think it is a hardy geranium too, they are great plants and this one looks in great shape! Hope you enjoy all the great things that the garden has to bring your way. xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Amy. Now that spring is here, I think that all the bulbs are up and the next step will be a lot of replanting, better terracing, vegie bed and tweaking. I've freesias flowering now too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's lovely to see all your spring photos while we are slipping into autumn. Jx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I adore the scent of Boronia - such a pity the plants don't last a long time in the garden though. Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Julie and welcome from across the Tasman.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love watching spring emerge on the other side of the world. Muscari are one of my favourites and that magnolia will be stunning when it blooms. Enjoy the warmer weather. x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Susan, sorry I am late coming to this. Jo is quite right - that's a hardy geranium - a perennial. Great "do-er" in any garden because it flowers for ages and ages, great for bees. If you cut it back (leaves and all) after flowering there's a good chance it will flower a second time in the season. After a couple of years it will get bare in the centre so dig it up during autumn when it's gone dormant, split it and replant.

    Do be careful though - if it's really happy it will grow very very fast. I'm going to have to dig up huge amounts of it from the cottage garden this winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jayne. Now I really know what my geranium is and it looks beautiful at the moment, along with a few other bits in the same garden.

      Delete
  10. The Muscari are pretty but they spread like wildfire here, mine are confined to a pot or they would take over. I saw a hardy geranium with new flowers and lots of buds this morning, our weather this year has confused pots of plants.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello Susan, I blog hopped and found you and you live in S Australia, where I have visited twice.. my friend lives in Mount Torrens and I have second cousins in Geelong. Lovely to see your flowers and that your spring has arrived. I read right back on your blog and your quilting is amazing and I loved that cerise jumper with its diamond pattern, very pretty and looked very warm. I live in Essex, quite a way from Yorkshire, but my step daughter and hubby live there so we do visit. Beautiful country side but unlike here in Essex where it is very dry, Yorkshire can be wet and cold and as a gardener I prefer here. Keep happy and enjoying your spring time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome Chris and thanks. I actually know Essex too, as my hubby has his best mate there who lives on the edge of a small village and we always visit when we are over.

      Delete