Baby Orchids

A new shoot on another of my orchids. This is one that I bought some years back from the local orchid society, but I have lost the tag as to it's name. It comes out in spikes of tiny pink flowers in late winter, early spring. Last year when I was looking for another different orchid to buy, the lady said that these shoots were new little plants & could be planted out on their own. I have experimented with this one earlier this year, but as yet nothing much has happened. There are a few other bumps appearing on this orchid as well, which I am hoping will be flower spikes. Time will tell.

Spent Orchid Bulbs

Some years ago, someone so proudly showed me an orchid flower that they had grown from a "dead" bulb. I think that perhaps the term is "spent" bulb. When I split up my orchids earlier this year, I had heaps of spent bulbs & decided to keep one just for an experiment. This pic is the result, and if I wait long enough I am sure I will get a flower spike too. I might also add that I gave a bag of spent bulbs away, & the lucky recipient has lots of shooting bulbs. So maybe it is not so hard to get flower spikes from spent bulbs. After all, if I can do it, anyone can. I wonder how long before I get a flower spike on this one.

An Orchid Spike

New growth happening on one of my orchids. I am watching, waiting & hoping that this is a flower spike. I have four others happening as well. A little dissapointing as I have had up to ten in the past. May have something to do with the fact that I split them up & gave lots away.

Cool day in Sydney yesterday. It reached a top of only 15 C, the coldest day so far this year.

A Final Showing

We have had some decent falls of rain back in April & again just recently. This has made my roses make one last effort to bloom before the winter pruning.

Loving The Rain

A sparaxis plant has sprung up in the garden, ready to flower when the weather warms in spring. The garden has been loving the rain that we have had this past week, about 3 1/2" in all. The ground is now soft & makes weeding much easier.

The rain that we have had here in Sydney is not nearly as much as the NSW North Coast where it has been flooding yet again, the third time this year. As an ex local to this part of the world, I remember floods every year, but not three in a few weeks. However, I have been talking with another ex local who does remember it flooding three times in a year, just not for a very long time.

Exploring Sydney - Circular Quay to Woolloomooloo

Walking from Circular Quay to Wooloomooloo is not only good exercise, but great inspiration as well. Magnificent fig trees edge the pathway around Farm Cove on the edges of The Royal Botanic Gardens.

Spiders make fabulous webs in amongst the trees if we care to look.

On the eastern side of Farm Cove is Mrs Macquaries Point and Mrs Macquaries Chair, where if we take the time to stop & look west, we will see postcard views like these.

The city.

The Sydney Opera House sitting on the end of Bennalong Point, backdropped by The Sydney Harbour Bridge. Who would think that there is a bustling Circular Quay between the two, full of ferries, busckers, locals & tourists from around the world.

Exploring Sydney - Parramatta River

Although I have lived in Sydney for quite some years now, there is still a lot of this city & surrounds that I have not seen. So last weekend we took the rivercat from Parramatta to Circular Quay. The mangroves & the birds line the upper reaches, in between the industries at Rose Hill & Silverwater,

then give way to housing with million dollar views from Rhodes all the way down to the city & beyond.

The views of the city are vastly different looking from west to east, and at some point the name changes from Parramatta River to Sydney Harbour.

About an hour later the rivercat docked at Circular Quay, where with local ferries, train station, & overseas terminal we can go any where. But who would want to when the harbour looks like this?

Autumn Roses

The rain that we had back in April has brought out a few more buds on the roses. So there should be a few more blooms before pruning begins in a few weeks.

Up Close & Personal - Pt 2

One double jonquil flower fully open. I wish we had PCs with smelling capabilies. The perfume of just one of these will fill a whole room.

Up Close & Personal - Pt 1

One double jonquil flower about to open.

Double Jonquils

My double jonquils are out. The flower heads get so many flowers with so many petals that they get very heavy & fall over. This is usually when I pick them & take them inside.I have to be very careful though how many I pick & where I put them as the perfume is so stong I can end up with sinus. Usually only one in a small vase is enough to perfume the whole room.

The Bug World

Ant bites hurt at the best of times, so I am glad this fellow left me alone. I spotted him crawling all over my climing rose. It is easy to see his size compared to the size of the rose leaf he is crawling on. He was at least an inch long.

I wonder how he liked out 5 degree moring this morning!

Bye Bye Birdie

There are only so many camera clicks a bird can take.

Play Time

After hearing a rucus going on in the front garden, I found these Noisy Miners playing in my new frangipanni tree. This tree is a pink frangipanni that has been in a pot for a few years, and when we planted it we staked it, & tied some fabric strips around to hold it in place. As you can see the birds are playing with some of the fabric threads. The weather is a bit too cool for nesting, so they must have been just having fun.

Slimey Things

The slimey things are back.

Garlic Chives

Who would have thought that garlic chives could have such a pretty flower? Nearly pretty enough to put in a vase. Take it easy on the chives in food prep though. These garlic chives are very strong & only one leaf is necessary to flavour anything.

Spectacular Show

This bush in my back yard has really appreciated the rain that we had a few weeks back. It is now just a mass of blooms. I think this is where the stick insect was hiding. I want to prune it as it has gone crazy right in front of the garden shed. I'll wait a bit though & see how long it flowers. DH gave it a hair cut last year & it took off like a weed. Maybe it likes to be pruned. After much reaserch, I still do not know what it is.

A New Bromeliad

One of my stitching groups is a great source of new plants. We bring each other cuttings, bulbs, etc & swap plants gallore. The lady who has been bring me the orchids also brought in a few bromeliads to give away. L.... already had this one picked out for me. I have never grown these type of plants before, so I have just potted it in some orchid mix that I had. It's an interesting plant, but not one of my favourites. I'll give it a go though & see what happens.