Gardeners and Garden Gems

Sometimes the dogs want to give more help in the garden than is actually useful!!

Kiki:

Ruby (now with her second ear up!!) .... who has been pruning my kiwi vines whether I like it or not!!:

And some 'shots' of colour around the garden, blue star flowers - several clumps amongst the roses:

Some lovely little daffs, a bit bashed by dogs!!:

The daphne a riot of blooms again this year - star!!  And heavenly perfume :)

The flowering quince, tons of flowers and ignored by the crimson rosellas this year... maybe thanks to the dogs?

Have been looking around the shops for a red japonica, since the flowering quince is doing so well, but then I found I already had one!!  Not very big yet, but very pretty :)

A couple of pockets of grape Hyacinths looking lovely :)

And not to be forgotten the natives are also doing well, the grevillias are in full swing:

 Jonquils, nearly past it:

And just 2 flowers so far on the prunus, small but perfectly formed!

The Garden and the Boys

Not much flowering at present, a very late agapanthus, some May = Mothers Day = Chrysanthemums and some very early jonquils!!  Very grateful for a few splashes of colour!!

Carter and Totem are doing a stint in the driveway/Jennie Craig paddock.  Carter is learning to cope with life, with sight in one eye only after an accident a couple of weeks ago.  We've had to clean it up twice and give him antibiotic injections, but it seems to be healing OK.

Totem with his best 'did you bring treats?' look!

He's a very handsome boy as you can see from this very hard to obtain profile shot!

Kiki and the Garden

Its the end of July, and while I need to touch wood while I say it, there have been some very cold days, but overall its been quite a mild winter.  The garden is positively bursting with signs of an approaching spring.

The wattle is about to burst forth, just looking at it sends my heyfever into overdrive!!

The violets are out in force, mostly white but some pale blue as well, all very pretty :)

The prunus is about to provide another spectacular display.

Only have one hellebore, all the way from Tathra, and this one looks like it could be about to say 'FEED ME, Seymour, FEED ME!!' LOL!!

The jonquils are putting on a fine show.

The grevillias are at 'P-O-P' (point of pop)!

The hardenbergia is making the gum tree look very flashy.

The humble Hebe struggled through the intense summer, but is coming back now.

Flowering Quince, looking forward to these gorgeous blooms.

The daphne, huge and loaded with flowers and scent, that even with a heavy cold I can smell and enjoy.

Cape Daisies, not a big fan, but they are survivors!!

Kiki keeps herself trim, taut, terrific - well at least the pug version of that - by chasing birds around and around and around the orchard!

Still Nothing Doing!

Sweet Pea still hasnt popped!!  She was first in the queue for brekky as per usual, and wasted no time getting on the ouside of her bowl of camelid museli!!  Today - with her best 'what are you staring at?' pose:

Sweet Pea has taken a very strong dislike to Cleo, who cannot put a foot right as far as SP is concerned, and for every foot wrong there is a spit waiting for her!!

With no baby llama to photograph I've turned the camera to the garden.  The flowering quince is getting more and more coral pink as the flowers age - not a bad thing in my book!

The irises are starting, not huge blooms but gorgeous colour, another nice surprise in this inherited garden.

As is this double jonquil.

The garden is full of red brow finches - see!!  OK not the best pic, but trust me there are dozens and dozens of them!!

And the swallows are back!