Where do I start?

Spring is truly upon us now and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do first.

I did get out this week and pruned the majority of the roses in the front yard, quite hard; some of them I hadn't touched in 10 years. I'd had a bit of a snip at others as I got more interested in how to prune different types of roses over the last few years. 

I've decided I don't want any high maintenance plants in my revamped garden, So I went hard with confidence, thinking it they flush with new growth and flourish, that's great, but if they are too weak or sick and cant handle it then bye bye.

I also did a tiny tip prune ( spontaneously ) to the tea trees which are in bud. the white flowering one is a semi pleasing shape and the pretty hot pink one is on a steep lean and top heavy on a long bear trunk, not too visually appealing as a general shape. I have attempted to strike cuttings from what I pruned off these.

In the front yard there are 3 beds here with good bones. The triangle bed has an olive tree at its peak, about 15 to 20 roses, 2 of which are half dead standards, at the other end. It has some day lilies, salvias, a couple of different Correas, Dutch iris, bearded iris a smattering of bulbs and some self seeding annuals. Generally a lot of bare soil and it's over run with a pretty grass that has most attractive drooping seed heads, but I don't want that grass in that bed. I don't want all that bare soil.

The big front border has about 1/2 dozen LARGE trees including a willow and a Eucalyptus.

The Eucalyptus end has a lot of callistemon and grevillea most of which are at least 8 feet tall and form a bit of a canopy over the area, there is no understory or ground planting here. The issues are privet, honeysuckle and ivy all being dropped into the leaf litter and sprouting.

The other end is the willow tree with a large rose climbing up it, under planted with camellias and a couple of hellebores, there are two large Correas in between each end. The entire willow tree end and through the mid section is overrun with very dense blue periwinkle (vinca major). It is climbing the Correas and Camellias, the camellias are also heavily polluted with privet and cotoneaster seedlings and black berry is beginning to creep in.

All the weeds through this bed, aside from the vinca major, are deposited via bird droppings.

 The third front bed is largely shaded by the willow and has a couple of large oaks on one side. It has a smattering of roses, a few healthy grevillea shrubs, a beautiful Philotheca, a viburnum juddii a small, healthy box, a few other bits and pieces it has a lovely dark green ornamental grass spreading through it. The weeds of concern here are again privet and cotoneaster, along with general non welcome generic grasses and Blackberry!  

So how do I tackle this? Is it a deal systematically with all weeds, in all the beds kind of deal, or focus on one bed at a time? I know the Vinca major is going to be a nightmare for a long time, do I try to free up the plants first, or start at the edge where it is least bad and work my way back into the depth of it? Do I select and grow new plants as I move through or wait till all the weeds are gone? Will the vinca major ever be entirely gone?

Decisions, decisions.

Hello Again.

 Heydi Ho, here I am back after almost 10 years thinking about reviving the garden blog with a new twist on how I used to run things here.

I know the lay of the land now. A lot of what existed here does not anymore and its very weedy and unloved, but I have a fairly clear vision of where I want to take it. Its a mammoth amount of work and I'm tackling it slowly, though I do have a lot more time on my hands now with my children being somewhat self sufficient teenagers.

There is so much to do its difficult to know where to start or what to work on at any given time. My plan is to use this as more of a record of what I'm doing, fighting and growing; where and when. Also where I'm drawing inspiration from. It wont be all pretty pictures now though my photography skills have vastly improved since 2012; there's a very busy English Cocker Spaniel Puppy underfoot and 'helping' too. so you can expect to see my energetic little Eevie here and there in my images. 

Lets see how it goes 

Water Lily

This is our third summer in this house, the first water lily photos I posted here were from Jan 2011. 

I had always thought we had one pond that homed yellow water lily's and another that homed Pink I was stunned to see this beautiful fancy flower pop up in amongst the yellow this week.

This one is a much more elaborate and ornate flower than the other two and there is another bud surfacing too. :)

* edit * I later found out that this is called a Monet Lily

Fish in frozen Ponds

On frozen mornings I am sometimes able to see glimpses of the larger fish who sit on the bottom and hide themselves in the plant life down below the layer of ice, waiting for the sun to work its magic.

In the second pond the plants sit in suspended animation poking through a sheet of ice, the top section thawing and showing gem like dew drops hanging from them.

While the bulk of the plant sits serenely below the surface viewed as if behind glass, untouchable and still.

There is so much wonder in a frosty morning if you can brave the chill for a little while. x

Natives

Absent

Well its very wet here right now!

I've stopped in to explain my absence. Strangely with two children now at school full time I seem to have less available time rather than more! lol I have really not written much on my personal blog these last weeks either and a month has passed since I posted here. So as maintaining two blogs and posting regularly is not possible for me at this point in time, I have decided to incorporate more of the garden into the everyday postings at Girls Wear Blue Too This works much better for me right now so I hope you will pop over from time to time if you don't already and see what is happening over there. 

Though I can't say when I'm sure I'll be back posting here again at sometime in the future :)

Wrong!

I took the photo of the nectarines a few days ago. Then we had some heavy rain through the early hours of the morning, at which point the snails climbed up the tank and ... feasted on my nectarines! Sigh.

Mine!

See there on the heavy branch weighed down below the height of the tank,wedged between it and the support trellis, slightly obscured from overhead view by the overflow pipe, rambling roses and other vines.

A closer look as I zoom in from where I was standing with the previous photo.

5 plump luscious nectarines! 

The birds can't see and perhaps can't reach. They will be ripe enough to pick within days!

Drimia maritima

Huge thanks to Cathy who identified the mystery plant! With the one with the enormous bulb.

commonly known as sea squill.

Here is the link she sent me. :)

Mandarins

Oh My! 

Juicy and delicious.

and a few more ready too.