This little jumping spider had her back to me. At the sound of the shutter she quickly turned to examine me with four of her eyes.
Author: Cath
I'm working on transforming around 3 acres of paddock into a garden. I'm only here a couple days a week so the result so far is more like patches of garden.
Our water is rainwater collected off the roof of the hut, the house, and greenhouse, and the power comes from solar panels.
We try to grow enough tomatoes for frozen and bottled purée to last through the year, and enough kumaras (sweet potatoes) and pumpkins. We can generally harvest fresh greens of some sort.
In a Vase on Monday – a mixed batch
My Iris unguicularis is doing so brilliantly! I’m very excited about it – the nurseryman who sold me the baby plant said he grows his under a big Totara tree facing the sun. Mine is at the base of a tree at the edge of a path and it has spread to about 18″ wide after 3 years, and has been flowering since late Autumn. I’ve combined them in the vase with some native cultivars : leaves of the Cordyline ‘Magenta Rays’, and a pink flowered Tea Tree (Leptospermum).
In a Vase on Monday – Perfume
This week I have so many scented flowers you would think it would be overpowering, but they blend together to make a perfume. We seem to run out of scented flowers at the end of Summer, and it’s a nice change when the cooler weather brings the scented bulbs and shrubs.
It was a dark morning; although it’s not technically the solstice for another 2 days, the day length in minutes is as short as it’s going to get, and it was cloudy.
Bee loved Red Hot Pokers
The Red Hot Pokers are flowering (Kniphofia ‘Winter Cheer’) and this reminds me that last year I assumed that bees didn’t like them, because I hadn’t noticed any bees when I looked at the flowers. Others quickly mentioned that theirs were covered with bees. Sure enough, as the flowers start to go over the bees come in. It’s just a case of timing.
In a Vase on Monday – Sunset on a Short Day
Not long to go now till the shortest day, when the sun will start moving back along the horizon toward Summer. Flowers from the orange garden and buds of Rose ‘Crepuscule’ (‘sunset’) reflect the sunset colours.
Purple Verbena and Penstemon, Geranium ‘Roxanne’, and Erysimum Bowle’s Mauve’ bring in the purples.
Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday – Sunset on a Short Day”
Absent Gardener 