Periodically I am going to show you just one small corner of the garden. I will spend 5 minutes photographing it. I am inspired to do this by Desleyjane and her “5 minute regular random” challenge…
- choose a subject or a scene
- spend five minutes photographing it – no more!
- try to not interfere with the subject, instead see it from many angles, look through something at it, change the light that’s hitting it
- have fun! (sure did!)
- tag your post #regularrandom and ping back to this post
If you remember last visit I left you sitting on a bench in the company of a pelican. So today I will show you the next section. Follow me…
Behind the bench are 3 ponds made from old bathtubs that we found at the rubbish tip shop. Jack made artificial concrete rocks and over the years it has developed into quite a rustic area. I have to confess to still having a few pots in this area. Being protected and sunny it is also my nursery area. You can see how narrow this part of the garden is. When we moved here in 1998 this whole area was lawn. No lawn at all round the back now. The concrete slabs we made by hand and the crazy paving tiles were pilfered from a rubbish bin outside a home being renovated!!!
The ponds are covered with water-lily plants, but at the moment only one is in flower, as the nights are getting cooler the tropical blue one will be hibernating till next summer. The Sarracenia, pitcher plant, loves this spot with its feet in the water and head, catching flies, in the sun. The ponds are full of fish to eat mosquitoes larvae and keep the mosquitoes under control. They are still a scourge in summer from other areas and I always slather repellent everywhere on exposed skin before I go in the garden. You’ll spot Jack’s sculptures tucked away all over the garden.
Behind the pots is a rosemary. I will be pruning it very shortly. I used to prune it just before Anzac Day (April 25th) and give all the pruning’s to the council to give to the people parading at the dawn service. But then we started travelling so was no longer around to do that.
That long spindly plant in the left hand photo, is a dragon fruit. I love it, it is red, fleshy and juicy and the flower opens overnight for one day into a blaze of glory. Go here to see one on my Gypsy life blog, it will amaze you.
Rugged, overgrown steps lead round to the back of the pond. Agave pups have just been trimmed back on the left so we can get in to do a major clean up in that area. The coleus and fern and that dainty (unknown) ground cover have all just arrived with no help from me!!! And look at theBauhinia corymbosa It has been continuously flowering all year.
Along the back fence a scruffy, untidy Cocos Palm was cut down, many years ago, and just the stump left. On that stump we attached a staghorn. But the stump has gradually rotted and now it is on the point of collapse and has become an urgent job to remove it and find the staghorn a new home. The area is crammed with a profusion of bromeliads, ferns, heliconia, spider lilies, dianellas, roeo, and others I don’t know the name of, all pushing and shoving and reaching for the light. In the corner is a paw paw tree, but it is a non-fruiting male, it will have to go. Of course we could just leave it all to its own devices and let it become a jungle. Maybe I will do that!
I do like these (unknown) plants for the way they arrange themselves so tidily and artistically along the border. I have them everywhere to fill in gaps. Above them is a camellia bush, just coming into flower, and, of course, more bromeliads. This is the fence on the north side of the garden.
This wall of the house faces west and the succulants love it here. In mid summer the wall gets so hot you cannot touch it. The desert rose loves this corner and flowers continuallySo that took me 5 minutes to photograph but has taken much longer to tell you about this small area.
Next time I will take you round the corner to the very narrow, and hot, north facing border between the house and the neighbours fence.
I was just thinking that it’s taken me 5 minutes to read, stopping to ooh and aah, Pauline. 🙂 🙂 Mick has a very laidback, let it be approach to gardening but I’m a snipper and tidier upper. 🙂
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Jack tends to say just let it go feral but I like tidy too, but it’s never ending.
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Yours is huge! Ours is a fraction of the size. 🙂 Off to sort cupboards, etc. Speak later 🙂
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Actually it isn’t too big, only an average size section, but it looks larger when I photograph it in small sections
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More great pictures of your lush garden, Pauline!
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Thanks Jane
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I can not identify them either. Those lined-up rosettes of foliage seem to be a type of dracaena. I would call them corn plants here because they look like corn (or at least they look like that to whomever named them). There is so much in that garden. Some are houseplants here.
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And that is only a small corner. This should keep me going with posts for a while
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So many interesting nooks, Pauline. That desert rose is a triumph.
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Not a big garden Tish, but lots of nooks and crannies
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What a lovely place.
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Thank you for your comment
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You’ve got a tropical oasis, Pauline. Is that desert rose a climber and from Mexico? We had something like that here but we had to drag the pot into the laundry every night in the Winter to protect it from frost. It lasted until we forgot to bring it in one night. 😦
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No it isn’t a climber but it does come from Mexico. Definitely does not like cold. It is in the hottest part of the garden.
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Thanks Pauline. Either way, too much work to look after here. 🙂 But it looks lovely in your garden.
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Jack has 22 baby desert roses that he is growing from seed. They are about 3 t 6 inches tall and the small ones he bringing inside every night…
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Really! That did make me chortle. What we do for our babies…
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🙄
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What a gorgeous garden!
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G’day Dawn, thanks for the comment
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I cannot believe this took all of 5 minutes Pauline, what an oasis you have there!! I’m insanely jealous of your green thumb! So much beauty surrounds you!
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You and me both, Tina!
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Thanks Tina, taking the photos only took 5 minutes, just sorting and posting takes so much longer
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Our gardens are a complete contrast to each other aren’t they? Other than wet they have nothing in common! And you have the heat. Your little piece of paradise is so unique with the hand-made paving and walls and Jack’s little sculptures all around. An artist’s garden I feel. Allowing plants to do their own thing and find their own place with just a little persuasion from you. Your eye for colour and structure and form make this corner look so natural. Can’t wait to see the other corners 😀
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I used to wish for a cottage garden, but the weather dictates what you grow. Now I love the tropical style and all the shades of green
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I think you have it there, Jude – an artist’s garden indeed!
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😊🌷🌼🎨
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😊😊
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5 minutes well spent! Your garden is so lush, and lovely!
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It has been a very good growing year, plenty of rain, so far, winter is our dry season though so hoping it doesn’t get too dry this year
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So peaceful, I love the pond.
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Thank you. We have another 3 ponds at hothead other end of the garden and 2 large pots with fish in round the front Jack loves his fish
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Your garden is filled with so many treasures! apart from the lovely plants and beautiful flowers, you have such interesting statuary & now I see fish as well!
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My garden is my passion, a lot of work, but I love it
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You have so many special and unusual things both growing and just sitting there, I love the pitcher plant with the light shining through it!
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I liked the light in that photo too
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Wow, this is a beautiful garden. Your hard work has paid off. From lawn to paradise. 🙂
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Thanks hard work but good for the body and soul…
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