Saturday, January 30, 2010

Walking in the Garden

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Garden Walk






 



Let's continue our walk
through the new coastal garden






  


Old dwarf date palms
form a sentry line at the lawn's edge
Phoenix Rubellini
are elegant palms







  



with beautiful notched trunks






  



but wear, 
at the base of the leaves
a nasty armour
of spines
which prick and poison
with a vengeance

I have been told
 that they were used to line Booby traps
in the Viet Nam war






  


watch your footing here
see the pink ribbon
don't trip on that buried metal stake







  



under the palms 
I have planted native Gingers







  



In my clearing 
I found this glossy graceful palm
which appears to be a cycad
remember those ancient plants 
from dinosaur days...
but a different cycad 
to the one I am familiar with







this one -
which the moths are also very familiar with
they lay their eggs in the leaf nest
and the larvae munch through the leaves
I don't like to spray
so I have left them to it...






  



the many old gardenias
that I found
gangley and metres tall
are now leafing up again
after a harsh prune







  



when I removed 
a blanketing maze of vine
from the old trees
I found a row of frangipani trees
which are deciduous here
once cleared of vine and watered
they put on a show






  



White and pink flowering varieties
coloured the gardens 









and dropped their ornamental blossoms
on the road beneath






 


the insidious vine
seemingly pretty and green
that covers my garden floor
and latches on any woody surface
to begin
its heavenward climb





  


along the road edge 
I found one of my most loved flowers
the agapanthus
so I have been filling in spaces and corners
with more pots of blue agapanthus
and lined the driveway with white ones





  



Blechnum
is a new fern to me
a native, it will grow in semi shade
to about two foot tall






 


One variety of Blechnum
has new fronds emerging in a brown tint
Unfortunately the caterpillars
love the tender new fronds
and strip them
I am hoping
they will tire of their over indulgence
soon






 


The old palms
are patterned by lichens







  


and the glorious Australian tree fern
creates a lacy shade over the rockery
The tree fern produces millions of tiny spores 
which cover my tiled deck
with a carpet of fine dust...
A small price to pay...


I can hear the water 
lapping over the edge 
of the infinity pool
which suggests to me
that it is time we took a break
and had a dip to cool off...



Happy walking...



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38 comments:

  1. I always love your posts. Have you heard of the festival of trees? i think you would enjoy it xJ

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  2. Hello there Jasmin

    I would love a festival of trees...I will look it up for further info.
    I am on a computer at last so
    I am coming over your way right now..

    Happy days

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  3. So fabulously ferny and frondy - but, yes, I'm exhausted now. A nice float in the pool and then - would there be any iced tea? Maybe with a bit of lemon?

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  4. Lush greenery to brighten my frigid winter day.

    So pleased to find your pages again, Delwyn~

    have a lovely weekend~
    Calli

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  5. I hated to see the walk end Delwyn. The new growth on the old gardenias looked very healthy. I appreciate how busy you have been, clearing and removing old vines, something i have done myself over the years here. I can just imagine the pattern of shadows the tree ferns make on the ground. The leaves are similar to the honey locust and black locust trees here.

    Enjoy your infinity pool Delwyn.
    Happy Days to you!
    Wanda

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  6. How beautiful. My plumerias (frangipangi) took a serious hit with the arctic blast we had in January. I hope they come back from the roots but just in case, I took cuttings.

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  7. Hi Ellen

    Don't they take well?
    I have some pieces that got knocked off the trees in my zealous gardening spruce up and found they have sprouted new leaves by just sitting in damp sand.
    I hope that yours will make a come back in spring. You will have to let me know.

    Happy days

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  8. Wanda

    that's interesting - I will take a look into the locust tree I think we have one...
    Lucky for you I have further garden walk to post...before I can get back to that adorable Speckled Butt...
    and then there's today's fresh walk in the park after a thunderstorm last night...

    I am getting a back log and still have to come into the office to use the computer...and would you believe it the aircon in my part of the office went on the blink...

    Happy days

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  9. Hi Ayu
    nice to see you walking again and I will visit you at home soon...

    Happy days

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  10. Oh Barb...

    we mustn't overdo it with you...please come and sit in my nest with your feet up and look out over the tree fern... lemon tea was it?

    I hope you are feeling more confident now.

    Happy days

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  11. Hi there Calli

    It's nice to have you over again..

    Happy days

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  12. Hi Delwyn, thank you for the garden tour - beautiful. exotic and as alien to Scotland as finding a dinosaur itself in the back garden. Fabulous greens, and oh, to see a flower right now...

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  13. The warmth and colour of your garden walk reminds me that spring is around the corner in the UK. Thank you for taking us through such calm surroundings. Marvellous.

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  14. Delwyn

    What a beautiful and peaceful walk.
    Thank you for sharing!

    Best
    Tarcy :)

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  15. A little walk through Paradise first thing in the morning certainly revives the spirits and enhances the soul.

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  16. Ah, plumeria trees, with the sweetest scent in the garden - lovely!

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  17. barry and i live about ninety kilometres apart so i know the weather he and i have experienced of late. this was food fr the heart, put a msile on my face. i love ferns and lichens and the improbability of flowers!!! thankyou for sharing this little part of your world delwyn. steven

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  18. I love being able to live vicariously through these walks, when my world is grey and under snow.

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  19. i am screaming No Fair! in my head. Oh you lcuky! So beautiful.

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  20. I am very, very impressed with your knowledge of species. That was a wonderful tour!

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  21. Looks like a wonderful walk. I particularly like the photos of the frangipani. The blechnum too, we have a species of blechnum over here but it looks very different!

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  22. Hello Delwyn,

    I'm drinking in the blues and greens in this post. Today we had the first bit of sun for weeks, and I had a lovely (frosty!) walk . . . but such different flora and fauna than the ones enjoyed here. In August, my purple agapanthus will bloom. (I love that flower, too.)

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  23. Hi Bee

    it's nice to have you over..I am visiting friends but not leaving calling cards as am reading from my iphone and commenting is particularly precarious from the phone...

    There is something so old fashioned about the agapanthus - remind me of my old MiL and NZ properties on the coast.

    Happy days

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  24. Hi Juliet

    That's interesting. My blechnum don't like too much sun so I am moving most of them under the shade of the large trees where they flourish into a very green lively fern.
    Frangipani often look like ceramic flowers in their beautiful shape and colour...and they are just so exotic. Ours are deciduous which leaves a very bald tree over winter but what a treasure when they flower...
    I have dug a couple of pieces out of my old home to transplant. They take very easily.

    Happy days

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  25. Hi Tom

    sorry to distress you...but you are most welcome to pop over any time and soak up some sun, mellow ocean breeze and the perfume of gardenias...

    perhaps not today...a cyclone tail is lashing the coast...lots of wind and rain...

    Happy days

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  26. Hello Tatty T

    thank you my dear...I learn through enjoying the work. It was hard when we first came to AU from NZ where the plants are a lot more temperate and English in their nature.


    Happy days

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  27. Dear Polly

    I'm glad you can enjoy a little break from the rigours of winter...
    we leave early these mornings...is 6.30 am OK for tomorrow?

    Happy days

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  28. Hi GW

    a perfume next to gardenia in sweetness do you think?
    Or maybe first equal...


    Happy days

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  29. Hello my old pal Steven

    I am happy that you can for a moment enjoy the wonders and the surprises of this little corner of the sub tropical coast...
    I do love your reciprocal samples of the beauties of a winter landscape...

    Happy days

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  30. Hello Barry

    I am getting my bell ready...for the big and loud celebtratory day...feb 16 at 4pm

    Happy days

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  31. Hello Tracy loyal and friendly follower...

    It was nice of you to pop over..

    Happy days

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  32. HI Mr Sunshine

    You must be looking forward to the bulbs and blossoms emerging after that particularlt cold spell.

    My daughter who lives in Tokyo posted blossoms on the streets there... so spring is about...


    Happy days

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  33. Titus

    how are you...
    It is good to be reminded of the floral and fauna diversity in this world of ours and to remember how we can each appreciate this better through the world of blogging.

    Happy days

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  34. 6:30's fine - as long as you feed me breakfast first, especially some of that homemade yogurt!

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  35. Well it's like this Polly

    first we walk...then we eat...Up to that?

    ...and I'll have my muesli brew too...

    and we'll sit on the deck by the tree fern listening to the ocean rolling in...surf's up today...

    Happy days

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  36. Delwyn, I came across you on my friend Maggie's new blog and then immediately afterwards on Midlife Jobhunter. It was your comment left there that resonated with me - your reference to John Powell about articulating our inner feelings. That shone a bright light on something that's puzzled me for a long time about someone I loved. Just wanted to stop by and let you know how far the ripples from your comment went. And yours is a lovely blog! I'll see you again!

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