Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Blossom

I know that Summer has officially started and that the time to celebrate Spring blossoms has passed but our garden was never one to stick to convention.
Several trees have been putting on a beautiful show for the past three months so I pay credit to their prettiness.

The Blueberry Ash is a mass of pink tutu flowers surounded by bees and insects. I've given up on the blue berries surviving because the birds always get there first.

Its neighbour, the Lemon Scented Myrtle , is a bit more subdued with clusters of soft cream and lemon blooms.

Next to them the Black Wattle is past its best but its creamy flower puffs can still be seen. Despite its name this tree is not an Acacia;

"Callicoma serratifolia is a plant of historic interest as the first timbers used for the wattle and daub huts of the early settlers were cut from these trees. This plant was common at that time around Sydney Cove. Because of the close resemblance of its flowers to those of Acacia it was then known as black wattle, a name which is now applied more appropriately to some true Acacia species."

We have plenty of real wattle trees in the garden but their flowering period is long gone. The Big Boofy Cockatoos are having a great time ripping into the new seed pods and scattering the cuttings over the front garden - there is a layer of mulch about a foot deep over the lawn and the path and the car and the postman, if he stayed still for 10 minutes.

The one plant that is thriving is the Oca - so far my attempts to ward off snails and possums and birds have proven successful. The recent rains have been extremley beneficial to my Yam trials so I'm keeping my finger crossed for a good crop.

1 comment:

M-H said...

Yay for yams!