Hope you all had a lovely holiday.
I just returned from a blissful holiday in Northern NSW....... Aaaahhhh.
Lots of time was spent in the hammock on the verandah crocheting, chatting and drinking cups of chilled hibiscus tea. The night sky was spectacular and the frogs were incredibly loud (good thing I brought my earplugs).
This year Sydney had lots of rain during winter and spring, after a very long drought. As a result Sydney garden are flowering beautifully. The Jacarandas, Flame trees and Bougainvilleas are absolutely magnificent. In my garden the bulbs are always fun to watch as they emerge. Spring takes me by surprise every year......... everything is dormant and looking slightly shabby; then within a few weeks the garden is growing profusely, looking fresh and lush.
The Hippeastrum.
A flowering succulent with irridescent red/pink flowers. My sister-in-law, Ali, gave me a cutting a few years ago.
Sprekelia bulbs
A drawing of my paintbrush bulbs. I found these on the side of the road. They are quite rare.
How incredible!
There are small pockets of remnant rainforests (cabbage palms and treeferns etc.) close to my home in suburban Sydney. They act as wildlife corridors and are full of....... ringtail and brushtail possums, bandicoots, parrots, owls, flying foxes, water-dragons, frogs and snakes. I have had a family of three Tawny Frogmouths nesting in my garden for the last few years, Mamma, Pappa and new baby. They're very strange looking birds: a big wide mouth and little whiskers.
Bandicoots
Rainbow Lorikeets
Koalas.
Illustrations from The Australian Fauna and Flora drawings 1801-1820 by Ferdinand Bauer
A few days ago I was puzzled by a humming noise and thought it was a hard drive on the blink. After consulting The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, by Peter, Pat and Raoul Slater, I realized the sound came from the Tawny Frogmouths........"a soft but penetrating oom-oom-oom...".
Other bird Beat poetry in my garden......
tink-tink; pseet-it; tock-swit-it. (Eastern Rosella),
pee-o-wit; nasal clut (Magpie-lark),
grut-grut cris grut (Drongo),
chock; cheery-boob; falling chung chung chung (White-eared Honey-eater).
This last week I have been very busy designing and renovating a garden with an impenetrable rainforest next door (I'm a Horticulturist/Gardenmaker a couple of days a week). A wonderful, old and overgrown garden full of old-fashioned plants. Many different species of orchids, bulbs, bromeliads, gingers and ground covers have been revealed under the truckloads of weeds. Whilst there, in amongst it all, I noticed the unmistakeable and my favourite Australian bird song...... a loud flute-like warbling and whisper song from the Magpie.
and the Whimsical Coral Garden has been started...........
