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Garden Artistry

I have been asked by one of my readers to post some progress photos on my verge garden that I started during Covid. Since my verge garden is pretty plain, even plainer than in the first year or two that I planted it out, I will extend this show-and-tell to another small patch of my front yard that I have been giving a makeover.

The verge garden has had some setbacks with several plants finding the conditions too harsh/cold/hot/wet/dry, etc. The central feature of my verge garden is the brittle gum (E. mannifera). Brittle gums are difficult trees to grow anything under, especially plants that come from Western Australia, which is on the other side of Australia from where I live. So, duh, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the outcome. So, I’ve found some plants that like to grow under brittle gums and they are going well. Let’s take a look.

I’ve planted a couple of tiny shrubs on the right hand side because the lack of symmetry offends me.

Not much happening here but, fingers crossed, my vanilla lily might flower this year.

Your view of the bulbine lilies will be interrupted by a shrub in future years.

I’m being hyper-critical. If I was to come across a patch like this under a brittle gum in the bush, I would be delighted. So I’m delighted. Still, six years is a long time to see results.

Keeping with the natural bush theme and planting of locally indigenous plants, I decided to hack out the kikuyu in the front yard. I’ve been working on this for three years now and I’ve only rehabilitated a few square metres. It is one thing to work to improve a patch of woodland that already has an understorey of native plants. Nature is a great artist and she guides the way. However, it is more challenging to create a grassy woodland understorey from scratch, especially without a plan. Voilà the current state of gardening play –

I started with a couple of existing tussocks of kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) and a few wallaby grasses that I began to work around, clearing the kikuyu and other weeds. The plan is to gradually push back the exotic grass.

Two years ago I planted out the area below. It is very grassy now. I love it.

Then I started on the following area last winter and the current spring.

I’m thinking of moving to my twilight home. You know, the one with less yard. No one appreciates this type of garden so when we sell the house, no doubt someone will scrap the native garden and replace it with viburnum hedges and whatever else is the current fad. In the meantime, I need something to do so I will keep improving biodiversity in my own yard. Every little bit helps, especially these days.

Do you have a project to keep you sane and leave the world a little better off? If not, perhaps start something, or plant something, small and watch it grow. I highly recommend it.

Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Hidden In the Rushes

I am posting this again in memory of my mum’s dog, Ashie.  He died today from a serious illness.  There is only one line and photo in this poem-ish photo-essay that relates to him, but it sums up this beautiful dog so well, at least in my opinion.  Farewell, lovely boy.  You will be missed.

***

When our family ventures out to our beautiful natural areas, we go slowly, for it is only then that nature’s hidden treasures are revealed.  We take out, what we carry in.  We tread lightly and with care.  There may be no houses, but we are nevertheless going into someone else’s home.  This is what we taught our children from a very young age.

Let’s see who is home today – in the rushes.

moorhen2

The little family is well camouflaged.  It is a Dusky Moorhen with her chick.  

moorhenchick

The chick leaves the safety of its nest, but mum is not too far away.

swan2

The black swan and her signets weren’t expecting visitors.

swanb

But all is calm, so peace is soon restored.

Ashy

Come out of there, Ash, and leave those ducks alone.  Ash is a farm dog.  He knows to not hurt the wildlife.

No comments necessary.

First published in 2018

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Suck It Up

For Sunshine’s Macro Monday #32

It was a public holiday in Canberra today to mark the anniversary of the official naming of Australia’s national capital in 1913.  And a beautiful day it was.  It is such a privilege to live in this gorgeous city.  As well as being the seat of the Federal government, Canberra is the home to a number of research institutions and universities, so we have an abundance of very clever people living here.  Some of those people have developed and maintain the Canberra Nature Map, an online map of Canberra’s diverse flora and fauna.  It is a live map updated regularly by members.  As a result of this wonderful resource, we now know the name of the funky fly I posted photos of recently (see original post). Read more

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You

Can a grey day fill the senses, ladies and gentlemen?  I used to think not.  However, on this particular grey day, after completing some chores, I stopped off at my new favourite bird watching spot.  I encountered another photographer there — a very nice man.  He had all the gear, but was lamenting the light.  The birds though, were making the most of it. Read more

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Animal Farm

Once upon a time, yellow box and red gum grassy woodlands stretched from Toowoomba to Victoria (Australia), providing a continuous wildlife corridor 100-150 kilometres in width and 1,500 km in length.  Since colonisation, vast swathes of grassy woodland have been cleared for agriculture.  Now there may be as little as 1-5 percent remaining. most of which has been modified in some way by grazing.  Many birds and animals have become trapped in isolated communities, reducing valuable genetic diversity and leaving them vulnerable to threats of local habitat loss.  It is not surprising then, that yellow box and red gum grassy woodlands have been declared a critically endangered ecological community. Read more

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Not So Creepy Crawly

I would like to thank Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo for his Tuesday word prompt, crawl.  It allows me to post about something near and dear to my heart.  Yes, I know.  Everything is near and dear to my heart, but that can’t be a bad thing surely?  You have probably all seen the news this week about a recent insect study review.  The review found that insect numbers have plummeted, experiencing a 2.5% loss per year.  Now one can argue about the rate of decline, whether it can be applied uniformly across the globe and to all insects, but one thing is clear, our insect population is in trouble. Read more

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Strange Aquatic Creatures

Today’s post will introduce two very strange aquatic creatures found at one of Canberra’s nature reserves — the first, one very odd looking duck, and the second, quite duck-like.

Australia’s musk duck looks half-fish, half duck.  It must be the oddest looking duck I’ve ever come across.  It is so named because it is very smelly, emitting a musky smell from scent glands on its rump.  Musk ducks spend most of their time in the water.  They even sleep on the water.  They can fly, but launching from the water or ground is hard work, so they do so infrequently.  When fleeing predators, they choose a watery escape rather than take to the wing.   Read more

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It Is Okay To Stick Your Beak In

In my previous post, I mentioned that my love and I had gone out to the river for a sticky beak.  It soon became apparent that not everyone understood this strange Aussie/Kiwi colloquialism, with a number of readers requiring a translation.  In response, I thought I should provide a general explanation for those too polite to ask for a translation.  Which is completely fitting as the explanation links in so perfectly with today’s post (unintended) about one of our most weird and wonderful mammals, the short-beaked echidna — a real sticky beak. Read more