JUST FOR FUN!

Even our frogs don't want to get their feet wet!

I MEANT TO BLOG THAT!

Every Saturday night I try and sort out the countless photos I've taken during the week and often come across a few that I'd meant to post but either slipped through the net or were just to blurred to see clearly. With Leanne and the kids staying plus the fact it had been an emotional weekend I didn't get around to doing it till I got up this morning. As I'd nothing specific to post today I thought I'd let last weeks forgotten few have their 5 minutes of glory.

A few damsels

Lily pads on the river
Windswept Poppy....Bobby Charlton comb over style?

back to back Frog & Hedgehog!

Not the greatest photos...but this Hornet was massive and I didn't intend getting too close!

Cute baby bird in the park
and a cute albino chipmunk

Beautiful Canna leaf

Pelargonium in it's 4th year...a cutting brought home by Mick
Reflection of the garden in a water droplet
Quaking Grass
Don't bees have hairy legs!



This one wasn't a "forgotten" photo...it's last night's sunset

Just had a lovely surprise; Shaz at Us Danes & Our Family has given me one of their awards! What a great start to an otherwise gloomy, rainy Monday morning. Thanks!!!! I shall wear it with pride.

AFTER THE STORM

What a storm we had yesterday evening; thunder, lightning and really heavy rain. I was even off the Internet for a while; thank goodness the TV didn't go off...I would have missed the final of The Apprentice! It was really humid though and I left the kitchen door open to let in some fresh air as the heavy rain meant I had to shut every window in the house. It was quite a shock when I went to make myself a coffee....some of our frog population had come in to keep dry!!! I spent about an hour trying to shoo the frogs out of the kitchen...of course they all tried to hide behind the washing machine and fridge...I thought I'd have to search in the Yellow Pages for a Frog Herding company! This little fellow decided to have a stand off with the brass frog doorstop..... The garden was full of snails this morning...speaking of which.....one of my Canna leaves look like it has bullet holes in it.....no doubt a slug or snail had a nibble when the leaf was still in bud...those little nibbles turn into whacking great holes as the leaf grows..........
I was pleased to see our Oriental Poppy is blooming...the flowers are so big......
and I love the chocolate brown splodges in the centre.
This Oxalis has started flowering too......such a pretty colour.....we've had this for years now and the clump is expanding nicely without becoming a nuisance......
the new Oxalis Triangularis I planted a last week are starting to come through now...I love the colour of the leaves................I have quite a few small pots of them growing so shall be able to try them in various areas of the garden to see where they do best.Couldn't resist snapping another picture of this Geranium......
the Candytuft is really blooming well.....this year most of them seem to be lilac.......

this Bidens is a different flower form to the usual one I have....I like the little tufts of petal in the centre...it was a "freebie" gift ....I like "freebies"...
The first of the Callas is starting to come into flower......I like the speckled leaves....
the Campanula at the back of the rockery is romping away......I cut this back hard after the first mass of flowers or it swamps everything else out....it soon comes back again.....

The Blogger's Paradise Blogalong theme for this month is My Favourite Recipe.......I've decided to opt for a cake...but we have so many favourites it's hard to choose...some I've already printed before on my Please Read blog so I don't want to do them again.....I've decided go with my Strawberry Crunch Cake....I'll print it up tomorrow so "Dieter's Beware!"

SLUGS, SNAILS AND POPPY, FROG TALES

It's that time of year again...

the Rhododendrons need deadheading......we've had a full 6 weeks of superb flowers but now they are looking quite bedraggled. It's a long job and I normally do a few a day over the course of a week. I know some gardeners don't bother to do it but we always have. Our soil is not naturally acidic so it's also the start of the feeding regime. Every fortnight now until the beginning of August I'll give them an acid feed...both directly into the soil and also foliar; Mick heard once that if you feed them too long after August the buds can turn to growth buds rather than flower buds.....as he was the Rhody King around here I'm not going to mess with his way of doing it. Then in the Autumn and Spring a potash feed and a mulch with cocoa shells.

Although our garden is small we still have our fair share of problem areas....caused most by the North facing aspect and complete lack of sunlight in some parts. One of these areas is behind the Red Rhody ......

the Rhody leans out towards the light and there's this SPACE that looks so bare. I've tried sowing seed or small shade tolerant plants there but nothing works.....a few inches to the left a fern happily thrives; I tried the same type of fern in this area but it failed miserably. What a difference a few inches can make!..........(Did I hear a few sniggers then...LOL)
The bare bit of fence really niggles me....even ivy doesn't seem to want to cover it......
so as a last resort I've hung a basket on the fence filled with some left over fuchsia cuttings, some morning glory seedlings I had left and a couple of begonias. I'm hoping that the fact that it's high off the ground means it may get enough light to do something!...only time will tell...I guess I should say "WATCH THIS SPACE!"........
Another problem we have a lot of is slugs and snails......I was hoping that as it had been a dry winter that the problem may be less this year......but I think the whole of the mollusc population has descended on our garden....................why I try to grow Hostas I don't know...it's a waste of time really....it's as though there's a sign saying "SLUG CAFE THIS WAY" pointing towards them. I think I've tried every possible organic and chemical solution there is.......they even climb the walls to get to the hanging baskets! Some seem to have very weird tastes....I'd planted my Hestia Runner beans in a tub with a few lettuce as a catch crop.....well look....they're eating the bean leaves and leaving the lettuce!!!

I've also had to say a sad farewell to the annual poppies that were smashed down in the torrential rain a few weeks back......I was hoping they'd pick themselves up with all the sunshine lately...or at least flower before I ripped them out.....they had to go though.....I was at risk of losing 3 roses, an hardy fuchsia and an agapanthus which were being smothered by them and I'm not losing perennials for the sake of a few annuals.it's left a bit of a gap (do you like my kneeler...Mick made me that many years ago)....but I've a few busy lizzies left which can go in there just for a bit of colour this year. I've some phlox root cuttings growing that I may try in there next year....I'm worried about the light levels for them though as the Open Arms rose throws a lot of shade over the area.
I remembered to photograph the Poppy flower I'd been watching ................
and the Peony flowers are looking beautiful.....they have a slight scent of Germolene!
I didn't see any butterflies or dragon flies in the garden today....very unusual....perhaps they've taken fright of the crazy woman who lives here and cavorts around with camera in hand......the frogs don't seem to mind though...they're always happy to pose.
It sounds as though we are in for a lot of rain this week; after hearing the news about the horrendous weather there has been in New South Wales I must try not to complain too much.

BLOOMING WEATHER

MAY DAY

Talj has had a great time taking some fabulous photos in our garden...over the course of time I'll post a few of them...for now though you'll have to put up with mine! I'm really pleased to see so many Ladybird Larva in the garden...............

some have started to reach adulthood and are starting to turn into the Ladybirds that we gardener's know and love. With a preponderance of greenfly this year we need all the help we can get!

We've also had another interesting find........

I'm sure this is a duck egg but how it got here I don't know! The frogs have been sunning themselves happily
and we found a newt under a trough I was moving. Leanne had never held one before.......
The Cammassia are starting to bloom
as is the Wild garlic

We desperately need some rain at the moment...I'm having to make sure that the pots are watered ......usually this time of year Mother nature is doing it for me..........I'm sure it wont be long before the words "Hosepipe Ban" are heard on the news.