Gardening in Australia!

Gardening in Australia.... 


This borgeous flower blooms for just 1 day from a vine that grows in our tree.

Well what an adventure I've had the last couple of days with my garden here in Springwood NSW.  I figured that anyone with half a brain can garden in Australia since the weather is moist and the vegetation is so diverse.  Plants, ferns, vines (and even plants growing on the side of other plants) surround us so I needed to figure out how I could make my garden better without really knowing the plants.

It looked like a forrest and just totally covered with vines and ivy and all kinds of things so maybe that's how I should keep it, but then I realized that if I could clean out the leaves at least, I could either get rid of the snakes living under there, or duke it out with them!

The big tree in our backyard.

I realized I am (was) really scared to go out there.  Locals have advised me to be careful working in the garden.  After living in Wyoming where we don't have poisonous snakes and very little insects and no spiders I am afraid of everything and think all insects, spiders etc could be poisonous!  I didn't want David, Cullen or anyone else to think I was a wuss, but I was.

Now that I've faced my fears I can admit it all.  Overcoming my fears all started with finding the right boots at the right price. Thank goodness we stumbled on some boots that were somehow not purchased by the early birders at the garage sales.  For $2, I could feel good about getting in the garden.



My great boots!


Starting slow at picking at the leaves and all went well.  Jumping at every sound and buzz and movement made gardening vvveeeeeerrrrrryyyyy slow at first, but as I became more focused on the garden and less annoyed by them, it just didn't seem so bad.  I was ripping out grass and old ivy in no time (with the safety of my dishwashing gloves and my new boots). 

Seeing my progress made me enjoy it all even more!  I could see the ground and was uncovering some amazing plants!  I discarded the plants I didn't like (might get me in trouble later with the landlord) and tried to focus on the pretty plants that needed some attention.  Finally, a spider tried to get away from me but when I tried to look at him closer he just closed up like a piece of dirt and wouldn't let me see him (so much for aggressive spiders taking over my yard). 



Pulled out grass and lots of ivy.  Concrete pots and breathing room for the other plants.




The big tree in our front yard with so many ferns and plants all around it.

Just a couple of these in the backyard.



This tree is blooming in our yard and are seen often... so cool!

Pulled out the grass that was smothering these cool plants

After getting rid of the random grass, overwhelming ivy and trimming down the excess, the garden looks like something I could walk through one of these days.  I'll put some of my concrete pots out there and voila!
More work to do but as long as I have on my comfy boots.... now I just have to figure out how to work the irrigation system but at least I've found the water hoses:)