playing favourites...

Last night on Gardening Australia 

(pretty much the only TV show I watch...)

the question was asked of all the GA presenters 

"what is your favourite plant and why"

I wandered through our garden this morning 

and thought about how I'd answer... 

I still find it hard to go past Corymbia Maculata   

 aka the Spotted Gum

I love how they look all massed together.... 

I love how their spots are freshened up each spring with the shedding of their bark

I love them so much I planted my own little stand of them some 15-20 years ago 

(just look how my little babies have grown!)

Talking of natives - I love banksias..

  

(I love ALL banksias... but my Banksia Menziesii is a favourite )

it's not supposed to grow here, the little tree has been blown over twice - 

and STILL it keeps on keeping on)

at this time of year it's hard not to love all the deciduous trees putting on their autumn finery...

I dare you not to love a manchurian pear in autumn!

I love clumping bamboos...

especially Bambusa oldhamii   

mine brings a sense of peace and tropical lushness to the garden

and it's such a useful plant - you can harvest and eat the shoots, 

it's a spectacular structural 'timber' (it's actually a grass...), it regenerates rapidly...

love the clumping bamboo

I love serendipitous garden offerings

 seeds that find a spot and take root

then one day announce themselves...

(this is a tiny tomato that the kiddies found growing in our lush hot border... 

they've been raiding the HUGE plant for weeks now - 

eating the gifted fruit like grapes - YUM!)

indeedy I love all fruits and vegies and herbs

I have a big bow-shaped bed of 'wet' herbs 

including oodles of mints like this spearmint

- love how they smell, love picking them fresh for a pot of mint tea...

Farmer Phil loves evergreens...

he just adores all the camellias - like this one, my fav, Camellia sasanqua 'fuji-no-mine' 

but I think he'd nominate the humble lemon as his favourite plant

(just like Costa on GA!)

Visitors seem to have a totally different garden favourites 

- I have friends who mention they like this plant or that in the garden

(the mulberry tree is a hit with kiddies and visiting birds!)

.... and all the butterflies all seem to agree that the buddlieas are irresistible...

hmmm - maybe its best not to play favourites.... 

it's so hard to choose don't you think?

...

abundance...

I love the word abundance

 

 (part of our HUGE purple garlic crop just harvested) 

abundance (uh-buhn-duhns) : ampleness, bounty, deluge, excess, fecundity, fruitfulness, lavishness, lushness, luxuriance, multitude, myriad, opulence, overflow, plenty, plenitude, profusion, richness, sufficiency, teemingness, wealth...

I suspect for many abundance means having everything that you want  - aka oodles and oodles of STUFF. Here's the rub - for those on the 'get more stuff' treadmill, too much is never enough: the house isn't big enough, the phone isn't new enough, the body isn't thin enough... there's never enough time to make enough money to get enough stuff.... ENOUGH ALREADY!

Real abundance is the sensation that you have more than enough for a rich life: enough time to have a moment for yourself to walk, create, wonder, marvel and to cuddle with loved ones; enough space - physical and psychological - to feel free and unconfined; enough funds to pay for your needs (as opposed to wants); enough water to bathe and drink, enough food to eat --- enough of all the necessities.

Abundance for me means - overflowing dams & rainwater tanks, waist-high early-summer green grasses, a huge woodpile at the beginning of cold weather, shelves of books (libraries make me swoon!), jars and jars of colourful preserves. 

Nothing says abundance more to me than a garden full-to-bursting with ripe fruit and vegies


For months we've been picking and eating fresh produce from the garden beds: fresh asparagus spears, leafy greens, broccoli, beetroot, baby broad beans and peas..... the good things just keep coming (I've just harvested the first of the garlic crop - and the chickens are now in full production, so our house is overflowing with eggs!). It's hard to beat the feeling you get when you serve a meal made from your own fresh garden produce (we had yummy kale frittata with fresh garden salad for last night's meal...... mmmm DELISH!)

One of the things that comes close to topping that feeling is giving gifts of goodies from my garden - now THAT is something I never get enough of!

mountains of kale in the garden

 hey have you ever tried kale chips? 

place kale leaves on baking tray, drizzle a little olive oil, bake in low- moderate oven until crisp, 

sprinkle with sea salt - devour --- they are fantastic and kale is sooooo good for you!

And talking of abundance and things we can't get enough of - this week a lovely gift arrived in the mail from Fiona - so I'll leave the last word to her...

 

 

....

spring garden...

Although the calendar marks the beginning of spring on the 1st of September

spring doesn't really arrive here at the creek until sometime in October...

protea 

clematis

acanthus and borage (and garden statuary)

 sweet pea

 floribunda rose

in the raised beds the winter vege are coming to an end and setting seed 

- and bare beds wait for spring seeds to emerge

rather than waiting for the ground to warm up 
this year I'm raising many seeds like tomato, eggplant, chilli and capsicum
in pots on the verandah

we have made a start on a BIG new garden project
(more about this as it emerges)

and an old favourite bursts into leaf...

acer negundo 'kelly's gold'
gives a vibrant lime blast to the early spring garden



"If you have a garden and a library, 
you have everything you need. "

  Cicero 

...

autumnal...

come with me for a tour of my garden

on this glorious autumn day....

 

  

 

 

 

 

thanks ya'll for the nice comments regards hitting the big 400 last post - 

I will be wheeling bits to those I have the postals for.... 

and for those I don't have a postal contact - welllllll I've just have to send a virtual 'something'!

....

autumn colour....

It's a glorious autumn day on this May Day here at Sams Creek
(today is also National Permaculture Day dontcha know!)

my garden is only starting to don its autumn finery.....

and I'm disappointed that I had to postpone the Grand Opening of Sams Creek Bookworks as the weather right now is AMAZING! (autumn is without doubt my favourite season) the days start with misty mornings, the sun comes out for nicely warm days (comfortable for all activities), there are few vicious winds or storms.... mmmm delightful!

 

(I'm not the only one enjoying autumn in the garden)

Today I noticed an amazing fungi in the garden.... 

 I don't know very much about fungi 

so I have no idea what this one is called (or anything about it) - but isn't it fabulous!

(if you know about this one I'd love to learn more about it)

mmmmm its too nice to be inside ... 

I'm going outside to play!

...