...and now there's only one tree fern left. These have always struggled against their giant neighbors (silver birch and elm trees), and now it seems the drought has delivered the final blow.
Fortunately the birds nest ferns, ginger and hibiscus are still doing well, just adjacent to the remaining tree fern.
Recently in a guest post on Stu's Gardening Tips 'n Ideas blog I had photos of some of the water harvesting things we've installed in the garden. One we've had to replace already, it just wasn't robust enough, and for $7.50, what did we expect. So here's the replacement, which takes water from our washing machine out to the garden. We have switched to an enviro-friendly eucalyptus based washing powder (makes the laundry smell great!), and move the hose around to different plants.
Today is, aesthetically speaking, a beautiful autumnal day in Melbourne, but we would all give anything for it to be bucketing down with rain now.
9 comments:
Our tree ferns are still alive ... just !! Need to cut off some brown fronds, but they are still uncurling new ones !!
Like your water diverter thingy ... what a great idea.
Hope you have a fabulous week.
Take care, Meow
Hi Val, it's truly a small world... Stu is one of my son Marcus' best friends in Busselton WA. where they both live, I met him briefly at an evening by the jetty where we all gathered to welcome the cool of evening.
Hi Val ~~ My tree ferns are awful too, but are slowly coming back when I water them from the top with the hose. Your birds nest ferns and ginger plants are doing well. I saw
the water thingy on Stu's blog.
Good idea. We need more rain. Glad you enjoyed the Kid's Christian answers. I liked Eve told Adam to eat the apple best. Take care, Val, Love, Merle. Soon be footy season!!
As we move to further into water restrictions and witness gardens dying I echo your thoughts to wish for rain.
As I drive out into the country past Wonga Park I have never seen the fields laid so bone dry, pastures srivvled and dams almost emptied. As I was sitting here at my computer the other night I heard rain on the roof and splattering against the windows, what a wonderful sound it makes, but it soon passed, but there has been some decent falls elsewhere.
Your garden still looks inviting.
Its amazing how many of the trees around here are blossoming, an attempt I understand to regenerate their gene pool as they are highly stressed by the drought!!
Thankgoodness the summer heatwave appears to be over.
Best wishes
Val, I had no idea you coped with water restriction that much, the eucaliptus powder is new to me, I think my country should start following some water harvesting techniques if we want to have abundant water in years from now. Thanks for sharing!
Nice 'name-dropping' Peter. For those who don't know (as I do some 'name-dropping' of my own) Peter is the owner of Holties House a recent Bloggies finalist - and it was great to meet you too.
Val, I'm so sorry to hear about your tree ferns. If you're losing them in your garden then I'm guessing that some of the state's forests will be losing some of theirs as well. What a sad, sad state of affairs. I hope you get rain soon...
Hi Val
Your ferns look like there surviving, and we all could do with some good soaking rain. now the weathers cooling down and the little rain were getting will help green everything up.
I'm glad to see pictures of your plants Val, and very glad that some things are still surviving. My mom grew these same ferns and I've always loved them.
I sincerely hope you get some good rainfall soon.
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