berries

I have strawberries growing in pots and in garden beds.  I have them spread around for different reasons.  Mainly it is because I hate to have all the strawberries in one place and have them all eaten up by birds and slugs.  Having them in pots placed above ground, for example, assure some red berries for me to pick for breakfast.  When it rains constantly the berries in the garden bed tend to go mouldy.  I try to place the stalk of berries on to some mulching but the humidity can affect them badly.

The raspberry is a heritage variety and only starting to fruit now.  I have been eating a few at a time.  I will never get enough to make a jam but the few picked in the morning before I water the garden make good eating.

cannas

If I have more space I would grow more cannas for the different leaf and flower colours.  Cannas are easy to grow from seeds or rhizomes.  If there is an ugly fence to hide the canna will do the job quite easily.  I have three different colours of the flower and I have lost the maroon-leaf variety.

This yellow canna does a good job of hiding the colorbond fence.  The bright yellow cheers up the garden and in summer they will send up endless new flower stalks.  I am quite diligent about removing the stalk with the spent flowers.  Blood and bone around the base of the plants seem to help.

I bought this salmon pink variety from the St Andrews market many, many years ago.  I have given gardening friends cuttings of the rhizomes.  At the moment the flowers are looking pretty in the front, besides the fence and I sometimes notice passers by stopping to admire the flowers.

white flowers

I have here white petunias and gardenia.  At dusk the flowers seem to glow.  I would love to have more mass planting of white flowers but the weather cannot guarantee a constant permanent show.  I'll stick to a few pots of white flowers placed in strategic positions for me to admire.

morning harvest

I harvested these vegetables this morning.  I could have cooked a ratatouille but the zucchini was only thumb sized.  This summer the zucchini has not been doing too well.  Maybe the bees are on holiday.  There are flowers but they don't seem to set.  The eggplants, tomatoes and beans will make a good curry and the basil will give me a few jars of pesto.  The tomatoes are so good eaten raw that I am sorry to cook them.  I will make some delicious sauce to freeze for use later.

dahlias

This red dahlia came with me from my previous garden.  For a while it was planted in a container until I could decide on a suitable place for it.  Once planted dahlias can be left unattended and will return after its dormant period.  I am still looking for a permanent site for this dahlia but this summer it is doing quite well in two sunny spots.

These two varieties of dahlia come up every summer through the clumps of azaleas.  Once the leaves have died one would have no idea that the dahlias are waiting quietly for the warmer weather.  I look out for the young leaves in spring and scatter snail baits as the young leaves are very attractive to snail and slugs.

A close up of the white and mauve dahlia which stays pretty through summer.  Maybe I will have a look at the tubers this autumn to divide.

Battling cockatoos

This picture of a sunflower is taken from the window next to my computer.  I have been enjoying this sight, watching the sunflower unfurl over the last few days.  The very tall stalk (over 6 feet?), grows in my outside garden next to the fence.  The roof is that of the carport, so you can imagine the height of this magnificent flower.  This year I have sunflowers all over the garden but this is the tallest.  The cockatoos too must have been watching for they came yesterday afternoon and one landed on the stalk.  I saw the flower disappearing and heard the squawking.  I made a lot of noise to frighten the bird away and discovered the broken stalk.  I was tempted to bandage it and allow the other buds to grow and open up. I have repaired other semi-broken stems this way with success.  Instead I cut the thick stalk and put the flower in a vase which I placed on the front verandah to be with my potted plants.  I hope the bees will keep coming to do their job and the flower will go to seed.  I also hope the smaller bud will open up.  As for the cockatoos, what can I say?

tidying up

This blue budlia has been attracting butterflies but it is nothing but a dried up spent flower now and time for me to prune back.  I also have a pinkish cream variety which can do with some pruning.  Yesterday, before the storm, I managed to spend a few hours tidying up a patch of garden bed.  I have pulled out the  dead stalks and leaves of the ixias and sparaxis.  They should have been done weeks ago.  The bed is looking neater and some of the bulbs have been dug out and some will be passed on to interested gardeners.  I have sprinkled seeds from the dried up pods of nigelia (love-inthe mist) and hope to have a second season in autumn. The clump of chrysanthemum, which has been looking unhealthy, was moved to another position.  It was doing so well for the last couple of years but could be overcrowded, hence the thin stems and yellowing leaves.  There will be more tidying up to be done and this morning heavy rain has stopped so it is out into the garden again.