time to reveal the true mess

So as a horticulturalist who does this stuff each day i am sure you wondering where I really do hide all the stuff I have to have for all my clients?  Well down the side of the house (under a hopeless but efficient carport) is not only the washing line but aerobin, and general stuff storage.  I know why would anyone have a washing line on the side of the house for everyone to see?? Exactly the same question I ask almost daily.  Opps sorry I digress again

Here it is the carport and place to stash everything.  I know made even worse when Mr R adds his building stuff!  The aerobin (big green thingy) does an amazing job at breaking down the leftover kitchen straps (that the worms don't get) and grass clippings.  It is a great way of reducing the waste that goes out in the bin and solid enough that the rats don't get in. there are also a couple of wheel barrows and a clients mulcher which is fantastic in autumn.  Just beyond the gate is my main vegetable patch which I should have taken a photo of (next time). But my aim within the next 2 months is to get this to a state that you might actually be able to walk through.  

So what part of your garden do you call the shame corner?

everything gold glows

I am so impressed with things that are flowering happily in the garden at the moment without a care of what is going on around them.  Take for example my Cymbidum orchid.  Yes I know it is early but you try telling it that.  For the past 5 years it thinks flowering time is actually in autumn not winter.  Who am I to judge?  

Nine stems is absolutely amazing as I think 2 has been the best i have had in the past

Mostly yellow but I think it is quite delicate

So I had a client who had some palms that were doing quiet badly in these old fashioned pots so I took them.  Mr R kindly painted them white so they looked clean then i filled it with orchid mix, 3 years later....

I do have another pot which has a couple of different colours, so wait and see hopefully they will be as impressive in winter (cross fingers and toes).

Do you want to see what is going on in the vegie patch??  It made me very happy (or at least will when I get to harvesting them.  Helianthus tuberosus also known as Jerusalem Artichoke.  It grew (again without me really paying any attention to them) up to about 2.5m, really take a look for yourself it came right up to my neighbours window (which is above the garage).

I did have to cut it down on the weekend as it and a lot of weeds decided they would take over the vegetable patch.  I didn't think it was on so it got a severe chop and I returned the passionfruit back to the fence line.  So I expect there will be quite a selection of things I will use the tubers for:  soup and roasted veg.  Have you got any favourite recipes that you use Jerusalem artichoke for?

The Chinese gardens, Sydney

Why is it that you tend to only get out into the gardens of Sydney when you have guests?  I am now determined to make myself get out and remember what a fantastic place Sydney is to live.  But then i also have to remember that my own garden as it is still looking quite unloved at the moment after all that rain.  Although I did throw a pile of chicken poo all about the place yesterday as the I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get something into it after all this rain has washed a lot of nutrient from our soils.

Anyway I love the Chinese Gardens of friendship because it is nothing like our European garden styles and for all the symbolic meaning throughout.  This is not to say that we don't put thought or effort into the garden we create but lets face it the Chinese do create gardens to look like landscapes rather than grow things that are either pretty or edible as most of us do.

So here we have a bridge that has turns as the Chinese believe that evil spirits can't turn corners or even go over curved bridges. So they do tend to design them so that we can cross them safely. After all who wants to get pushed in by an evil spirit?

Just caught the butterfly on the Ixora

I love the modern buildings next to the temple

I remember back in 1988 when Darling Harbour and the Gardens were first open to the public and you could see over the tops of what were then really small plants.  I only wish I had been into gardening then and had taken photos so I could do a then and now.  Anyway here are a couple more photos taken recently.

Moon gates are holes in the wall used for pedestrian access and often used to create a vista or glimpse of a garden beyond

A view from the mountain

Double roofed pavilions are very lucky 

Dragon in the lake

When was the last time you just chilled out in a garden that wasn't your own?

A whirlwind few weeks

Hi I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you all.... The extra 4 guests are almost gone and the house is kind of back to normal??  If it could ever be classes as normal in the first place.

Firstly the big 21st was a smashing success.  The weather was amazingly well behaved.  The food kept me busy in the kitchen but then I did have 25 or so different finger foods to serve.  Thankfully I was prepared and actually had much of it organised apart from the heating up of the food and serving.  But then I guess you have to wait for that kind of thing

The collection of sofas ready for the movies

Stupidly I forgot to get some photos of everyone actually ready for the movie but the they would have been dark I guess.  I did move the Murraya min-a-min (ball in pot) so that it didn't distort anyone's view. And now the party is over i can think about doing something with that pointless garden at the base of the screen.  I wish I could put in more vegies but the neighbours trees shade it for most of the day.  Sigh.  I guess that is the only trouble I have living in the 'leafy North Shore' trees cast too much shade.

Set up ready

I do recommend movies in the garden (if the weather is good).  It was great fun although I am not so sure the neighbours down the hill enjoyed the volume especially as V decided to watch 'Burn After Reading', a movie with a lot of swearing and sex not a movie you want to watch with your mother-in-law (sorry Ann).

So what have you used your garden at night time for?

Lilian Fraser Garden

I was on the way back from Dural (collecting plants for my clients) and I thought I would stop at Lilian Fraser Garden on a recommendation from a client.  She had told me about the garden as her daughter had hired the garden for her daughter's birthday party.

To give you a brief history it once was a poultry farm that once stocked Sydney's eggs, citrus, apples, pears and summer fruit.  Now a lady called Dr Lilian Fraser worked for the Department of Agriculture back in the 1940's working on Citrus diseases including Phytophthora (a root diseases that is now affecting many of the Eucalyptus around the foreshores of the harbour).  Anyway she did travel lots with work both in Australia and around the world and brought plants back with her for the garden many that have grown into large trees. Having no family Dr Fraser donated her land to Hornsby council so that it could be enjoyed as a public garden.  Something I am grateful for.

So on my visit I found there was not much in colour but it was fantastic place to rest in the cool shade.  I absolutely loved the many small pathways that compelled you to take a look at what was around the corner. I imagine it would be the best place to play hide and seek.

I also loved it rambling nature that wasn't an overly trimmed and tidy garden as some of the very manicured gardens are today.  While I see a lot of work that I could do I am happy to just enjoy it for what it is.  I really must stop in during autumn and spring when this garden will really come into it's own.

I will be interested to see the wisteria in flower in spring

If you hire the garden you can also hire the hut with the basic sink and kettle

Tour of the garden

Wow it is amazing how busy it gets with an extra 3 people in the house (and we 3 had moved out before the guests arrived!).  So haven't our South African guests been treated to some fabulous weather this week?  It has been a joy although much warmer in the garden and I have noticed the pots are getting very very dry so I must get the hose out later this afternoon.

Any how I thought I would give you a bit more of a glimpse around the garden although i have been busier this week on the clients gardens. So as you can see Mr R has finished the paving so it marries to the slab under the deck (which fingers crossed might be re-built this year). We are hoping to nail a sheet up across the posts under the deck for V's big 21st outdoor movie party spectacular.  So the garden in front has all been chopped back so people can see the actual screen from the grassed area and I have to say i really upset some of those bees that were happily buzzing through the salvia flowers.

So I was standing on the grass zone looking back at our tiny pool area (well it is big enough for the dog). we actually own a few meters behind here but it is mostly weeds.  We have cleared it out several times but the weeds come back faster than you can imagine so next time I think we will have to have some sort of plan for redesign and planting so it looks like someone cares.

I was really lucky two weeks ago when my Dad's cousin gave me a massive clump of Sydney Rock Orchid which I am thinking I might cut into the massive rock surface just at the bottom right hand corner of this picture.  I can already imagine how fantastic it is going to look.

I am sorry I didn't take a photo back around to the left beyond the shed at the vegie garden but I have to say it is looking very ordinary indeed.  So it will be a photo for another day.  Although I can happily say i just popped in some snow peas, cabbage and leek so when they get a little growth on I shall get snapping.

I had to add this photo of Mr R and Diba who looks like he is not impressed that he has stopped working.  See I told you Diba takes his supervising role very seriously indeed :o)

Talk to you soon

A taste of the tropics

So the rain did actually stop this week which I guess is good as I got to actually get out and work.  Of course this means apart from the random weeds I pulled and mow the lawns I haven't done much my garden. Mr R is cracking on with some paving out the front.  Widening the drive and sorting out the raised areas thanks to the Liquidambar roots.

So I haven't told you that it is V's 21st coming up so there is a massive push to try and get the house and garden sorted for the (fingers crossed) outdoor movies. V's mum and 2 sisters arrive tomorrow from South Africa and his gran from the UK next week so the house will be so packed that I might have to sleep in the garden?  It might not be such a bad thing if only I could sleep walk and fill the green waste bin with all the weeds and clippings.

Anyhow I don't have many photos to post of my garden so I thought I might add a few I took last August in Cairns Botanical Gardens.  They were quite beautifully laid out and had some excellent specimens.  The top side was maintained with fabulous results (photos included).  However as a result of Cyclone Yasi the rainforest walk had been very badly hit and not as interesting as I would have hoped.  Perhaps another year on it might looking up?  If you are in Cairns needed a break from all that it offers I recommend you pop into the Botanical gardens and have a wander.  The coffee shop had really tasty things.

Jade Plant (Stronglodon Macrobotiys)

Brownea grandiceps x coctinea