White. SoS 12 September 2020

The garden has swung into action, rejoicing in recent rain and warmer temperatures. It’s remarkable how rapidly plants grow in favourable conditions such as the ones we are experiencing just now. Today I’m joining in with the Six on Saturday crowd, as always captained by The Propagator. To catch a glimpse of what other people…

An Outback Journey

A feeling of being closed in, a disinclination to travel to Sydney just now and warmer weather saw us (Mr MG and I) setting off on a hastily organised and whirlwind road trip to north-west New South Wales last week. I love the feeling of being on the road and as soon as we drove…

Hanging On, May 23, 2020.

A grey and rather wintry day today. Even though it isn’t winter yet, the temperature indicated colder days ahead as it struggled towards 13 degrees, and a cold wind nipped around my knees and ears as I visited two gardens which are going to be included in the Mudgee Open Garden weekend in October. All…

Anzac Day. April 25, 2020.

It’s ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. Usually there would be dawn services and a little later in the day, marches in cities and towns followed by drinks in the pub with old comrades and even a few games of two-up, today being the only day of the year when this game can be…

Avoiding the Obvious, 28 March 2020.

I’m going to launch straight in today and try not to write about the one thing that is on the front page of every newspaper and heads every news item in all media: understandably so. But I’m determined not to mention it. I think we need a small respite from the saturation we’ve all been…

Illyarrie

March 23 was National Eucalypt Day in Australia. Each year, those who wish to can place an online vote for the Eucalypt of the year and the winner is announced on Eucalypt Day. The winner for 2020 is Eucalyptus erythrocorys, or Illyarrie, the name given to it by the Noongar people of Western Australia. It…

Early Morning.

I would have liked to start a post without mentioning the weather, however the weather and gardening are intimately connected and mention it I must. Last Thursday we had a weather event that needs to be acknowledged. It rained. All day. Sometimes it was light rain and mostly it was good steady rain, but it…

Closeups

Although a top temperature of 35 degrees is forecast for next Wednesday, the extreme heat seems to have gone out of the days and the early mornings are beauteous: cool and fresh with dew spangling petals and blades of grass. The crested pigeons leave their prints behind them as they hurry around searching for their…

SoS: February 22nd 2020

It’s been a while since I posted. The summer has been trying, to say the least, but a couple of weeks ago we received some rain and it was remarkable the change that was wrought in the garden in a very short space of time. The lawn greened up as though it realised it had…

Wellington NZ. SoS December 14, 2019

‘A ruffian wind is bliss, a blind man’s comfort station. When I get tired of walking around it, I can always lean against it.’ James McNeish, 1931 – 2016. These lines of poetry are part of the Wellington Writers’ Walk and amongst others, can be found displayed around the pedestrianised wharf area that skirts Wellington Harbour. ‘Ruffian…