Iceberg roses are found all around Australia, often in their standard form, gracing front gardens. I have inherited two in my front garden on each side of the door, standing sentinel like Hans Christian Andersen’s Steadfast Tin Soldier. And constant they are, flowering for many months of the year, and requiring not much more than…
Author: Jane
Thanks for the Memories
Hibiscus Syriacus Some years ago, when we lived on our olive farm beside the Cudgegong River, we spent many pleasant evenings with neighbours further along the river, often sitting around a campfire, talking well into the night, solving the world’s problems, or not, as the case may be. It was a particularly agreeable place to…
Garden Visitors 2
“Fig jam this year,” I thought last week, as I surveyed the figs developing on my fig tree. I have to admit that I’ve been quite proud of this three-year-old fig as I grew it from a cutting given to me by a friend, but I haven’t been able to identify it. This year it…
Garden Visitors
We are very fortunate to have two Australian Magpies as visitors to our garden. In a recent poll taken by The Guardian (Australia) newspaper, the magpie was voted Australia’s most popular bird. This was in spite of the fact that a magpie can swoop on an unsuspecting passer-by and inflict serious damage. To an Australian,…
Challenging Weather
We are having a brutal summer. In Australia we have a tendency to think we have a monopoly on hot weather, and of course, we don’t, but just now I’m feeling a bit put-upon in the garden. We’ve had a string of days in the high 30s and only 9.5 mm of rain in January…
In Praise of Perennials
I love all plants, really, but the ones I love most of all are the herbaceous perennials. They seem to be the plants that are best equipped to deal with the climate here on the western edge of the New South Wales Central Tablelands where the temperatures can reach forty degrees plus in the summer,…
Hillandale
Driving anywhere from Mudgee (I’m including Gulgong and Rylstone in ‘Mudgee’) is a reasonably lengthy business. We’re slightly isolated here and it’s at least an hour and a half of driving before we reach anywhere else. This is nothing, I know, compared to the distances people all over Australia drive, but it sometimes seems a…
A Garden Visit
An April visit to a nearby garden in Rylstone revealed a number of charming views with the afternoon sun glancing through the trees and settling on various sitting areas. I would have been delighted to sink down upon one of these chairs and enjoy the peace on another day, but the garden was full of…
A Splash of Colour
During this driest of dry Autumns, when many plants are struggling, it seems nothing can stop the red iron bark (eucalyptus sideroxylon) from flowering in a splashy way. This splendid tree is a short walk from our house. Thousands of bees are bustling around its rosy pink blossoms going about their nectar-gathering business while the…
A “Blank Canvas”
In July 2014 we moved into Mudgee town. Parting from our beloved farm wasn’t an easy move to make. We were leaving our idyllic spot in the valley by the river. Our garden and trees, all of which we had planted ourselves, were like children to us and we had given them all individual…