Against the odds

What are the odds that, in a region with an annual rainfall of 1200mm, it would simply stop raining for months on end? For pity's sake! We moved away from Canberra to escape this sort of nonsense. People around here are saying this is the worst "drought" experienced in this area for many decades. In places, we are keeping the little plants alive by hand watering. So, after record rainfalls that disrupted and delayed the building of this house, now that we are building the garden - no rain. Grrr.

And another thing, the car is still not fixed. It is now two weeks since its suspension died and it has been at Port Macquarie Landrover for most of that time. Chris and Robyn kindly lent us their Prado for a while, but have now taken it back. So, its pushbikes or hire something. Hmm. Hertz it is, then.

OK, that's enough whingeing. Let's look on the bright side - we were not caught in a bushfire today! An excursion to Hannam Vale for the Open Gardens day took us along dirt roads up into the forested hills near South Brother Mountain and it was a total fire ban day with extreme, hot winds. Scary. Wouldn't want to live on any of those properties, thanks all the same. A good day, though, starting with scones and coffee at Moorland Cottage ("the Best Scones on the Coast"), then some plant stalls and displays at Hannam Vale plus eight gardens to explore, of which we saw about half before bailing out.

As David is still in Cairns with Marjory, I went with Robyn and Chris, and we met up with Terry and Barb. Chris and Terry, both plant tragics, spent the day speaking fluent Botanical.

I saw a few things that I have already planted without actually knowing what they would look like - this is one of them, a native frangipani. Nice, huh?

A few brave individuals drove their antique cars around the gardens.

Warning sign on one farm gate.

Native rhododendron - have to get one of these, I think.

I've been taking photos of people's fortified vegie gardens, for design ideas. This one looks good. No such thing as unprotected produce around here. One owner was bemoaning that the parrots and wildlife eat everything, even the citrus.

Back home, the propagation efforts continue. These are germinating dichondra, a ground cover that we will plant on the dam walls, eventually.

A few days ago I went to visit the garden of someone I have met through the garden club. Lots of cuttings. Their place is an inspiration. Makes me think it is possible.

But in the meantime, this is the best I can manage in the way of cut flowers from the garden. Better than nothing!

This plant label on our candle nut tree near the back boundary shows the depradations of one of our resident rabbits. Why would you chew the label? Rather than the grass nearby? Also, they dig things up that have just been planted. Not to eat, but just because they can. What's that about? Rabbits! They are feral.