Bulbs , waterbirds, blocks and boys.

It's another of those wondrous transformations that takes place in nature, when these beautiful tulips begin their lives as unremarkable bulbs that look like this......

It was tulip planting time for me over the weekend. This time they were going in to pots.  The original tulip plantings in the rose garden have slowly disappeared. They are not as tough as daffodils and should really be lifted and replanted the following year. 
Now the long, cold Winter plays it's part and we wait for the green shoots to appear.

I also took the opportunity to dig up and split another clump of daffodil bulbs that had been in the same spot for years. (I already had three bucketfuls waiting for the ground to be soft enough to dig). Autumn is a great time for this.  
  I can't remember how many were originally planted but I usually plant in odd numbers, so I'm guessing maybe five.

 Just for fun I decided to count them as I pulled them apart. There were 109 bulbs !!!!! I have planted them in a roughly dug bed ( still extremely dry and clumpy clay )  around the pond along with the other three bucketfuls. 

This is Bill with his little sidekick...not sure who was giving instructions here......check out the state of the ground!!! It will be a miracle if they bloom but I have great faith in those tough daffodil bulbs.

Just like these pretty nerines. Surrounded by black ground but blooming none the less.

We were very happy to notice the water birds had returned to the pond over the weekend....a white faced heron,  a white necked heron, ibis and a spoonbill. Bill used his camera to zoom in on the white necked heron. Too far away for me to get a closer shot of all of them on the ipad when I first saw them.

This little man chose his own color placements for another granny block. Got to love that navy polka dot!

These little boys have been staying with us for 5 days. The house is full of noise and dirt.... but we wouldn't have it any other way!

......and  we can't wait to see this little boy in a few weeks.

Frog noises and gumboots

The frogs have returned!!  We haven't heard that noise for such a long time. These two little men are especially delighted. The wildlife warrior ( in the  brown boots ) gave us all a lesson on the life cycle  of frogs....... 

The heavens have opened and they don't seem to
have a turn off tap. We have had 40mm of rain over the last couple of days. 

I meant to use this photo of how the kitchen garden looks in my last post. The lemon verbena is fresher than ever. I adore the fragrance from the crushed leaves.

Another play with my granny squares.... block number 2.

Beautiful rain and lovely gifts

My  rounds of the garden were carried out in the rain tonight.......and it was wonderful!
The smell of the garden after rain is one of my favorites and I had almost forgotten what that was like.
The frog pond has water again and the horse paddocks look amazing. We have never seen them like that before.
We have had about 20mm overall....beautiful, steady, soaking rain. And the ducks thought it was Christmas!
I am hoping that Bill can finally get the fork into the ground around the pond now. I need to throw in  plant three buckets of bulbs I dug from a clump in the front garden bed last week.

 Up until a couple of days ago, the trusty crowbar wouldn't even make an impression.

A few years ago I received these little garden implements for Christmas. They are perfect for keeping in the kitchen garden which is just outside the laundry door. Somehow they remained untouched during the fire even though the laundry pipe nearby was blackened. These were the only small garden implements  we had for sometime after the fire.

There they are in the corner.

Today we received these.......

Bill is thrilled with his spade....something to do with the sharp, flat edge apparently. And I love my new little trowel and fork. Merrill knows me well....she also gave me the green handled ones! The knee pad was on our  "must get" list and one can never have too many gardening gloves.
Thank you for your kindness Merrill and Kevin.

And as if that wasn't enough in one day, these boxes of gorgeousness arrived crammed with herbs and beautiful little plants. I adore them.
Thank you Viv, my lovely friend.

This sweetly fragrant rose was planted before we arrived . I think it may be "Blue Moon".  I took this photo tonight. It looked so beautiful in the rain and evening light with bulbs popping up all around it. I am not that fond of the color but the perfume is divine. We can now start putting away the Australia Post tubs that had been left out for the birds and animals (thank you Amy). We have no idea how they remained untouched by the fire.....just another mystery.

We mustn't have taken a photo from that angle after the fire but the tub is still there and you can see the position of the birdhouse......

Love this!

Irises and April Showers

Our rose garden needs tough plants and these gorgeous  strappy irises fit the bill perfectly. When we first planned the rose garden,

Bill's sister Jo gave us a  bag of rhizomes that she had taken from her garden. They grew like crazy and we had huge clumps of irises everywhere.

...and I loved them!

And then Bill's Aunty Betty gave us some lovely ones that she had trouble growing at her place. She seemed to think that they didn't get enough sunlight. So they went in too. 

Add to that, the ones that have been given to us by friends and family and we have quite the special collection.

I especially love this cream one but I don't seem to have seen it for the last couple of years.

I took this photo a couple of days after the fire. There are several patches of irises in this bed.

And this is how they look today ..... one of the patches showing lots of new life. There are some old rhizomes in there though that will need to be discarded.

We have thrown them on the bonfire in the past when there have been too many.......and they still survived!

I have no idea about the names of many of them, but the ones that my cousin Judy gave me are called..Pass the Wine (got to love that)

Collage

and Berry Bliss....I hope they all survive.

I couldn't resist this little charm pack from the patchwork shop......we had 4mm today. Yay!!!

Sunsets, pomegranates and orangey things

A Wimmera sunset. 
Unfortunately, my Mum and Dad who are 86 and 89 are struggling at home at the moment. Mum is waiting for a hip operation and is finding it hard to walk and do the things she wants to do to remain independent. It is also difficult to see her in so much discomfort. We have spent the last few days with them to try to make things easier. We hope her operation can take place very soon.

It is always exciting to get home after being away.
I always look forward to seeing what has changed in the garden even in a short time. 
The paddocks around us now have a beautiful green tinge.

There is a freshly mulched pile of tree branches.

Sam, the hedge man has finished cutting back our banksia rose and fresh green shoots have appeared on the branches.

Thank you Raylene and Den for the gorgeous fuchsias and orange watsonia corms. The brighter pink one is exactly the same as the one that was planted outside my sewing room window next to the daphnes ( but I know you didn't realise that when you bought them ).

( the new wheelbarrow works a treat!)The fuchsia was next to the hot water tank....nothing remains of it.


I will plant the orange watsonia corms near this deep, rich orange rose called Hot Chocolate,  given to us by Zoe. It has a delicious fragrance too. This photo doesn't show the unusual colouring.

Thanks for the rose and the seeds Zoe. You are very kind.
And speaking of orange, this orangey, pinky rose in our front middle bed is blooming it's head off.

The magnolia tree looks very sad in this photo, but in fact it has new growth on the other side.



Bill sneaked some pomegranates from Dad's tree....I wonder if he has noticed they are gone yet??? I adore the shiny red skins and curious shape of them.

While we were away I managed to cut some more squares for my granny squares quilt.....I can't wait to play with all this gorgeousness!