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…
Category: In My Garden
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,…
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,…
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…
The humble Oleander
The oleander is a much under-valued shrub, but it can be found all over Australia in public places such as cemeteries, churchyards and old parks, as well as being used as a street tree, often on beach fronts. The fact that it is poisonous in every part puts people off planting it in their gardens…