Around the garden Ask the best and greatest thinkers in the world today-how God makes a flower and you'll find they cannot say. The botanist can tell you what goes on beneath the ground-but why and how it happens is a mystery profound. Down there in the earth's dark womb a speck of life is stirred, quickened by some magic process or mystic word. Slowly then it thrusts a point of green towards the light, bringing forth what was conceived in secret out of sight. On slender stem there forms a flower most beautiful-perfect in its daintiness, a tiny miracle. When upon a dreary day this lovely thing we see.....We should learn afresh the lessons of humility. |
I find gardening quite a challenge, as our
winters have frosty mornings which kill a lot of plants and our
summers can be hot and dry. Fortunately I have a good water
supply but I have to pay for it, we have water meters. Because my garden is large I've grown a lot of trees and shrubs. Most of the trees are native to Australia as they suit our dry climate, they thrive on harsh conditions, like bottle brush, and melaleucas. I would consider myself a lazy gardener as I have to find time for my other hobbies (like making web pages). I reckon the best thing for a garden is mulch and plenty of it. I use whatever, leaves, grass etc, but it must be a thick layer. I never dig, as there is always something growing. To me, mulch is more important than fertilizer. The plants I like the best are the ones that drop their seeds and come up again next season, like cosmos, balsam, salvias, petunias, marigolds and portulacas and there are heaps of others. I also have summer and winter flowering bulbs, but the garden is mainly dormant in winter. Thats when I do the cleaning up and prune the roses ready for spring. Kikuyu grass makes a good lawn when its not too dry or too cold but it does revive very quickly when conditions are right. I don't stress over the odd weed or two or twenty, or grub or thistle and I encourage birds to the garden. The only spray used is to kill bindii and clover and this I mix in a container and paint on the weeds using a paint brush. I don't kill plants this way. Other odd nasty weeds I dig out using one of hubbie's screw drivers. My garden is rather haphazard and as I like all plants there is no particular theme, anything goes here, so long as the plants are hardy. I like flowers inside in vases, which end up as pot purri. I mainly use the rose petals and lavender and any other flower that looks good dead. I just put them all in a suitable container, add some orris root powder, if I remember and a few drops of essential oils and there you have it. Rose buds dry well and look great. I also hang bunches of lavender around the place along with stattice,and anything else that is nice to look at and which doesn't make a mess. A fish pond and aviary complete our garden, and of course we have a barbie( barbeque) area for outdoor eating and entertaining. This is Australia after all, we Aussies enjoy the outdoors. |
Photos from my Garden. |