Changing Season : February 2021

Welcome to our rustic, rambling, overgrown, lush and leafy, end of summer garden.

After a couple of months when the focus has been on an early morning wander around to check the garden, then just basic maintenance. Before going back inside to escape the heat of summer.

To notice that the lemon grass is gradually encroaching into the fish ponds. That the tumeric now has 3 flowers. That Jack’s pottery chook is keeping an eye on the strawberries.

Round the front the plumbago bush needs a haircut and everything is looking lush and rampant.

Look at the size of the lily leaves and the Irasine is a glowing, expanding mass of colour.

It is an un-manicured garden, slowly natives are being introduced, but we have also invited many exotic species into the mix and they are, generally, more invasive and try to take over. So time to trim them back and get them under control. 

The growth this year has been phenomenal. A steady 216mm of rain spread across 14 days of this month

Checking on back posts in the blog. February 2020, 2019 and 2018, I realize what an incredibly mild summer we have had this year. Though in this area there has been no floods, just steady rain, no tornadoes, no fires. In fact no weather events at all compared with the past 3 years. Other areas of Australia have had severe floods. How quickly I had forgotten the severity of the summers gone by.

But now here comes Autumn. Time for pruning, rearranging and enjoying the cooler temperatures.

Everywhere work is waiting to happen.

But we did have a weekend away. I was excited to book an open air concert at the Phoenix Sculpture gardens in the Mt. Glorious area. I booked an Airbnb nestled in the rain forest. 3 days before the event the area had torrential rainfall that washed their driveway away and, being an out doors the event, had to be cancelled. So disappointing. But we still went away and had the most relaxed weekend in the charming Airbnb. Reading, drawing relaxing and walking in the surrounding rain forest.

The concert has been rescheduled for April. So something to look forward to. Here is a beautiful video of the Phoenix Sculpture garden for you to enjoy

I am now into the third year of keeping a monthly “changing seasons” record with the prompting and support of Su (zimmerbitch).

Thanks Su for hosting this monthly challenge it encourages me to gather my thoughts every month and be able to look back over the 3 years I have been keeping this virtual, monthly diary.