The seasons bring constant and beautiful change in the garden and I can watch this change in the “Moonlight” Grevillea that grows at eye level from the back deck. Way back in July, mid-winter over here, It started to send out the curious, curly flower buds. Slowly they opened to reveal the intricate shape of the flower head.
It drips with nectar and the birds love it. The colourful Rainbow Lorikeet is a joy to watch. They arrive in groups and squabble and squawk as they hustle to find the best flower.
The Noisy Miner is a constant visitor and flocks of them dominates the garden, aggressively chasing away all other birds. He has a wicked looking eye.
It is a pleasure to sit on the deck, with our cuppa or glass of wine, and watch the constant display of nature.
It is now mid-spring and the flowers have changed to seeds.
I took these photos this morning from the deck as the rain poured down. It has been torrential rain for days and the garden is squelchy and soggy. But I welcome the rain as very soon it will be summer and the blazing sun will quickly dry the ground again.
Then last week I was delighted and happy to see the Pale headed Rosella arrive for a feed. How cute he looked as he daintily clutched the seeds in his claw and nibbled at them.
I haven’t seen this beautiful native parrot around for years. He is a very nervous and shy bird and I carefully and quietly took a photo through the window.
But he saw me and with a flutter he flew away. I hope he comes back again.
Amy gives us this weeks photo challenge “change”.
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It has been a while since I joined the photo challenge, or did any blogging, but finally I have sorted the Broken Hill road trip photos into some semblance of order. So I will take you on a trip outback soon…
The garden gives so much pleasure to us and all the visitors
Your post extends that pleasure, thanks Pauline..
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Gardening is so relaxing too
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Such a beautiful flower Pauline, and oh those parrots! Incredible
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I love grevilleas Tina, there is a huge variety of them over here. I have 5 different ones in the garden now
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Fascinating! I love the many varieties of grevilleas. I assume only a small fraction of your grevilleas are available to buy here in NZ. As you’d know, the bright rosellas are present in parts of NZ but I’d never even heard of the Pale headed Rosella – thanks for the intro!
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There are so many species of Grevillea I’m sure many of them are available in NZ. I was so pleased to see the rosella back. They used to be regular visitors about 10 years ago, but the noisy miners had chased them away
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The birds and flowers in your garden are truly spectacular, Pauline. I was about to send a query through your contact form to see if you were okay, but I knew how much was involved in sorting holiday snaps. Welcome back and I look forward to future posts. Regards. Tracy.
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The garden is really getting a beating from the rain at the moment Tracy. Thanks for your concern but I’ve just been taking time off from blogging. Kept putting off sorting the photos then it was a major job, but, sort of sorted now so post coming soon
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It is difficult to concentrate on blogging, Pauline, when so much is happening in the gardening. Still, I’m glad to hear you have been keeping well.
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This wet weather has given me time out from the garden. Good indoor weather…
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Nice pictures.
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Thanks Andrew
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Welcome back, Pauline! These flowers are so unusual and beautiful. I love those cute birds. Thank you so much for sharing with us. 🙂
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Thank you Amy, I’m a bit spasmodic with my blogging at the moment but couldn’t resist this weeks challenge
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Again, I am so amazed by the captures from your backyard – so magical!
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Lovely to hear from you. The garden is being badly battered by storms at the moment, hoping the sun will come back out soon
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It must be heartbreaking to see such damage … wishing for brighter days soon!!!!
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Such a beautiful plant and you’re spoiled rotten with glorious birds, Pauline. The diversity never ceases to amaze. 😃😃 xx
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G’day Jo good to hear from you. We love our birds over here. Do you have birds in the Algave ? I’m down sizing the time I spend on blogging too, it is quite liberating….
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Nothing like the variety I don’t think but I’m not terribly observant when it comes to birds, Pauline 😃😃
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Beautiful flowers
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Thank you
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I’d been wondering where you were, but then I’ve been here and there too. Thank you for all those lovely garden shots with all its handsome bird visitors. Wet here too.
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My blogging has been very spasmodic for the past few weeks, time out can be quite liberating. We are having really wet weather, been going on for days now and still have a weather warning in place for the next few days. Very unusual weather for this area
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Weird weather seems to be the story all round. And gales and hurricanes. I agree – less blogging can be good.
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I’m happy to see you back Pauline. I suspected you might be organising some posts about your recent trip. These photos are just beautiful. I have never seen a pale headed Rosella. How lucky you are to have one in your garden.
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We used to have so many native birds in the garden when we first moved in here. Back then, 20 years ago, there were no noisy miners. So it was so good to see one come back.
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Beautiful shots Pauline; the birds are gorgeous.
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I was so pleased to see that lovely rosella visiting us, but he was very nervous
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Wonderful captures of these wonderful birds and plants Pauline… So good to have caught your post today..
Have a wonderful Season, as we prepare our Autumn beds to put to sleep for winter..
Love and Hugs ❤
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Hello Sue, lovely to hear from you. How quickly the year has flown by, I hope your winter is not so vicious this year as the last one. You’ll need to tuck all the plants up well just in case…
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Yes we had a sharp early morning frost only a couple of weekends ago Pauline and tucked the tender plants up.. Then it became warm again.. Now back to normal temps and rain.. We are well on top of the garden this year, and just have to wrap my winter Jasmine.. It suffered greatly last year in minus 14.. And this year never flowered.. So fingers crossed 🙂
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Brrrr. My jasmine is just starting to flower. My son has just bought a house with a thick jasmine cloak draped across the deck fence
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Sounds wonderful 💚🌱
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A lovely photo story. I hope the rosella returns. i also hope the rain returns later on. It’s great to have a good drenching rain at the moment.
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I hope they are getting this rain out west. The media never follow up. They told us endlessly about the drought
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I love to see birds in the garden, some of our little birds are coming back now so time to put out the feeders. Breaking News!
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Hit the wrong key there! The Aussie family are moving to Brisbane this week. Not sure where as yet as they have only just sprung this news on us.
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That is really exciting news. Any plans to visit yet?
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Hope your winter is not so harsh this year
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Oh, but you certainly do live in a beautiful and interesting part of the world. Thank you for sharing your plants and feathered friends.
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Plenty of rain at the moment Judy, so it should be an excellent growing season
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Grevilleas are such pretty flowers. We have bottlebrush trees loaded with blooms and the greenleaf parrots are having a feast at the moment. We love watching them.
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Bottlebrush trees are flowering well here too. The birds love them. They have been used as street trees in some areas and they are stunning at the moment
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Ours seem to have more flowers than usual. Maybe the drought is good for them.
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I think they are a very tough Aussie too much rain is not good for them, in fact they are now looking very bedraggled, they need some sunshine
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Yes, it has been a coon’s age! Australians are talking about spring now. It is funny. I like to be the last to talk about autumn here, but somehow, it arrived here as quickly as it arrived elsewhere, complete with autumn color and everything.
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Lucky you with autumn colour. Yes spring has well and truly sprung over here complete with storms…
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For us, spring is when the storms wear themselves out and go away. We have not had rain since last spring. It will be a while before we get any. It is nice though.
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Do you have any water restrictions for watering the garden?
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Not here, but most people conserve anyway. The problem is not the lack of water. The problem is that so many people live here now. Much of the region is chaparral, and much of Southern California is desert. It has always been like that.
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Wonderful 🙂
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Thank you
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Good to see you and your lovely birds 🙂
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G’day Gilly, lovely to hear from you.
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Happy that you are back again, Pauline! And with magnificent flowers and birds! Now I am looking forward to seeing your photos from the trip!
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Good to be back in the fold Leya
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♥
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A beautiful post, Pauline. It’s clear that you love your garden and its visitors!
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It is a never ending joy for me
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Beautiful photos and such sweet birds.
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Thanks Renee, lovely to have you leave a comment.
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