How the grounds first looked

...when I moved in. Ghastly. These were taken on September 8, 2015. We've come a long way in 4 months.

The Google shots - taken soon after all the trees were cut down :

And shortly after...slightly greener...pot in place....

Bougainvillea No. 1

From a tiny leaf or two on a twig, bought from Bunnings reject plants for $4 in the winter of  2015. Then, the leaves fell off and there were just two sticks. I despaired, but kept it, on Mum's suggestion. you never know what's going on under ground.

Mum spotted the change first - suddenly, there were buds as the weather grew warmer! and then... flowers, and lo! we have a growing baby plant. I'm so pleased.

I transferred it from the lovely red pot into the ground during early January 2016. So far so good.

And with her new mulch collar, as of 19 Jan 2016, to try to keep the roots moist during the end of summer.

Mulch collars

The planties look much more 'protected', or something!

Rissons sells these big bags of sugar cane mulch for less than Bunnings does! Whilst it wasn't the one I used for the above photos, I bought one of these today 13 Feb 2016, to refresh what had already been put down (but which the chooks have scratched away! I suppose it's almost a month since the first lot went down, so time for renewal?).

Le Honeysuckle

18 Jan 2016

My honeysuckle has buds and flowers!

I might call this Le Max, in honour of Max the StumpGrinder - he's a sweet guy.

2 Feb 2016 - and it's looking pretty good (below), with flowers! I hope that means a whole lot of new climbing growth. Henrietta (left) and Dorothea (right) scratching around for wormies.