butterflies and bees

This picture of the bee in the mauve poppy was taken in December but the one of the butterfly in the marigold was taken last week when the fine weather brought a few butterflies to the garden.  There are still bees around but with not many flowers in the garden they must have flown to other gardens.  There are still a few flowers on the budlia and that is attracting the butterflies.  Strangely enough the white butterflies - there are too many of them looking for brassicas to lay their eggs on- do not go anywhere near the budlias.  I have pruned back the budlia bush in the outside garden as it was getting too leggy.

Flowers in autumn

The Cosmos and Zinnias have been flowering through the summer months and they look like gracing the garden for a few weeks to come.  We may losing the warm weather soon and that may put a stop to the colourful flowers, which will be a pity.

The chrysanthemum may last longer as they have only just started to open up.  There used to be a large clump of this chrysanthemum and a creamy coloured one in front of the verandah but after three years they became leggy and no amount of compost would improve the growth.  I transferred some into a pot and the rest into another bed and they are doing quite well even though the stems are still so thin and scraggly.  I may divide them after the flowers finished and hopefully encourage better growth for next year.  They are ready for Mother's Day.

 A pot of pansy is always cheerful.  I bought this plant for a couple of dollars and they will brighten up the garden in winter.  I may buy a few more to plant in some of the bare patches in the garden bed.

sweet potato

I am not too hopeful about finding sweet potato tubers as I really grew the plant for the shoots.  When the plant dies down in winter I'll find out.  In the meantime I am picking the sweet potato shoots as a vegetable.  It can be steamed or boiled but I like it fried with a little chilli paste.

a clutch of beans

This is more like two or three clutches of beans.  I am happy to say, after picking these beans there are still young ones on the vines.  Some of these in the pictures would have been better picked a couple of weeks ago when I was away.  I will pod them and cook the beans in a casserole.  The pods themselves will be deep fried for a crunchy accompaniments and when tossed in a sambal they will be just delicious.

Heritage tomato

I bought a few seedlings of this heritage tomato from the sales table of the Kew Gardening club.  I have been a member since 2008 and I have bought a few plants for the garden.  This tomato I found close to the ground while I was watering and I am surprised it has not been damaged by grubs or slugs.  It is a beautiful fruit, in taste and look and I will be saving the seeds.  One of the visitors to this blog sent me a seeds saver guide which I have saved.  There are helpful hints and to save the tomato seeds I would have to collect the seeds and juice and let them ferment for about three days at room temperature.  This will remove the gel coating the seeds and and prevent the transmission of seed-borne diseases.  The seeds will then be washed and dried and stored.  I hope to grow a few more of this variety next year as I have enjoyed eating them fresh and cooked.

Black Beauty

The picture does not do this rose justice.  As its name suggests the rose has a black velvet look not captured by my simple camera.  I bought the rose at the La Trobe Sunday market.  I do love deep red roses and this one will planted in the bed in the middle of the lawn where there are already three other roses.  I may remove one which has not flowered at all.  I hope this Black Beauty will give me enough flowers to grace the garden next spring.  I will dig in a lot of compost into the bed before the transplant in winter.

protea along a neat edge

The grass is short and the edges neatly trimmed.  Michael is very good with keeping the edges neat.  He did the lawn this morning not three weeks after cutting the grass while I was away.  The rain and warmth are sending the grass into frenzied growth.  It is a pleasure to look at the lawn after the mowing.
The protea bush was planted over three years ago and I have been waiting for the flowers to appear.  They have appeared this season, at least four buds and one in full bloom.

I expect to see the honey eaters sucking the nectar out of this protea soon.