Life just moves along here at a snail's pace despite what is happening in the world beyond our gate which I really wish I didn't know about sometimes when I see disturbing reports on the news.
Of interest during the past few weeks was the arrival of the tree loppers who somehow got into our neighbour's yard with their heavy equipment and commenced to cut down a couple of the old pine trees that were becoming quite dangerous. These trees were probably fairly old when the CEO bought this house 43 years ago so I had become used to seeing them next door each day for many years.
It was rather sad to see them cut down as lots of birds perched there during the day which was great for when I was doing the annual backyard bird count....
...but we still have a little bit of the trees left as the CEO bought a big pile of pine chips after the mulching had been done and now it is sitting in our front garden.
Apart from watching what was going on in my neighbour's backyard I managed to finish five beanies and gave them to one of our charities that helps the homeless in our city. These are loom knitted.
A reader asked me if I knew the name of this succulent and I did ask on Instagram but nobody seemed to know. Can anyone recognise it?
Nothing much is flowering here at the moment apart from the odd camellia....
....so I bought another bunch of gerberas at the farmers' market to bring a bit of colour inside.
The leaves on this pelargonium are quite nice though.
Our pecan nut tree has now lost all its leaves and I have been raking some of them up to make leaf mould after I saw a video by Milly Ross on Gardening Australia How to turn leaves into potting mix.
Hopefully they won't take too long to break down as the CEO didn't want to run the mower over them. He said not to use the macadamia nut leaves though as they are thick and take too long to break down. He's the gardener! Well, he used to be when he was younger and fitter. I guess we all used to have a different life when we were younger and fitter. LOL!
I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy your home, friends and family.
The fog was thick here too, Chel, and we enjoyed the rainy day that followed. It was getting dry! The gerberas look so pretty! MegXx
ReplyDeleteYes it seemed to be a long time since we had any decent rain. The veggies certainly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteWe had several rainy days. I think we got at least 10 inches of rain. I like when it rains at night, so I can work in the garden during the day. :)
ReplyDeleteYour beanies are so colorful, Chel. It's so kind of you to make them for the homeless.
Nil, the loom knitted beanies are really easy to make. Give it a try sometime.
DeleteWe actually got quite a bit of rain Chel. It filled both our tanks, and the neighbour, who has three tanks, were overflowing too! It was an unexpected water deluge for winter. They're expecting more today/tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI've been spending some time with my succulents in the garden too - as some are flowering and the nectar feeding birds love them. I don't actually have that particular variety, in your image - but could it be an Adromischus shuldtianus? Goodness, that's a mouthful, lol. A very beautiful succulent, with very unusual form. I like it. :)
Chris we are having some light rain at the moment. I can't get any result for that succulent. There are lots of results for Adromischus but none of the succulents look like the one I have.
DeleteOoops, I forgot to mention the species, "Juttae" I have a link to an image which looks similar to yours, but may not be it HERE.
DeleteChris,thanks for the link but that doesn't look like it. I bought it at Danish Flower Art but there was no name attached unfortunately.
DeleteOld trees are lovely however safety is important too, my Mum just had a big palm tree cut down because if if fell it would fall on the house...nice to have lots of fresh mulch.
ReplyDeleteKathy, it is such a shame to cut down these old trees but once they become unsafe they have to go. The birds have had to find other trees to perch in and there are plenty around here as it is an old area.
DeleteHi Chel, those Gerberas look so bright and cheery. I lost a couple of Gerbera plants in my garden last year due to the fire. The embers were carried right into one of my ornamental garden beds and the mulch caught but we managed to put out the small fire that started there. Unfortunately it took out some plants and wrecked our irrigation system there. We used it as an opportunity to decrease the size of the ornamental garden in that area. (Too much garden & not enough rain.)
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple of trees felled a few weeks back. The team that did the work were very fast and professional. One tree was a dead tree that was adjacent to our driveway and the other was one that I was have long been afraid would crash through the roof if we had a bad enough storm.
Sherri, I didn't realise until a couple of weeks ago that cut gerberas only need a little bit of water in the bottom of the vase and was told to cut some of the stems off every couple of days. They last so much longer that way. I had been filling up the vase with water before that. Oops! Let's hope we don't have a summer like the last one with the dreadful fires.
ReplyDeleteOver the years a number of trees have died and been cut down in our yard and the neighbouring yards. It is surprising how easily the garden seems to embrace the changed layout but there is always the lingering memory of them. We have quite a lot of gerberas in flower in our Kandos garden at the moment - the single variety which I find very appealing in their simplicity.
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