Saturday, February 6, 2016

White seeds and tiny purple flowers



But wait, there's more...

Well, this has grown with all the rain...

Now


Before


Update 20 March 2016 - much fuller growth now.




Back fence

John began painting the corrugated fence white several months ago, and I have not yet continued it. The white definitely makes it look cleaner, and reflects light (and heat). That's part of the reason why I've not yet got back to it - summer heat. Will continue in the autumn.



Flit # 6 - Thanks to Trixie, Les, Kirsty and Ivan

All from BIRO Qld.


Flit #5 - Flit's fruit smash


Almost exclusively a fruit eater, Flit eats a mash of nectarine, banana, and pear, or sometimes blueberries, or mango, depending on what I have in the kitchen. Apparently they don't do apple, but other fruits are ok.

So I try to keep it natural for him, and mash up fresh fruits. Sometimes I 'anchor' the fruit with a little crumbs, or dog-meat roll scraping, or dog chow biscuit (1-3) soaked in water, so they are soft and mushy.

At times, I add a drop or three of water, especially with the chow or meat, so that there is plenty of fluid getting into his system.

I feed this to him with a tiny plastic spoon. The curved bottom I face towards the back of his head, so it would be like his mother's head pushing the food into his gullet. It seems to work - the little reverse-forked piece on his tongue seems to 'scrape' the smooth plastic of the spoon clean of food, and into his gullet, as it leaves his beak.

As I start work on Monday, he will go to another wildlife carer, to live with other figbirds, from tomorrow.

I hope he continues to thrive.

Second pink coral cutting

Let there be growth!

Looks like it's off to a good start, thanks to all the recent rain (including today).


This cutting also comes from Mum's garden (like the previous one, pictured, gone mad, below). I can only hope this one does the same, on the other fence side of the mailbox!


UPDATE 12 Feb 2016 - Here's how the second coral cutting looks now...it has definitely 'taken' (with tendrils winding their way around the fence) but not growing as fast as I had hoped. Maybe because the weather has cooled some?






John's Garden

It started as this:


and, as of Feb 6th, 2016, it looks like this:


John wants to cover it in black plastic, and then bark. I agree - so I don't have to mow it!

The hoya's going mad!

Very heartened to photograph the hoya this morning. It was so stable for such a long time, and they can take a long time to grow. I don't know what colour this one is yet. I bought it cheaply from the Sunday Market, and I love the waxy flowers they get, with a sweet perfume. I am thrilled to notice today these new sprigs of growth.





I wired up the creeper

Again, wanting it to creep along the fence and cover it. They've grown enough to climb up the initial wire on the fence support, so that's a good start.






When one considers that, initially, there was nothing there at all (below)....I think it's all looking much better...more...verdant. No?


I wired up the honeysuckle

The plan is for it to cover the colorbond fence. It may need some serious wire to attach to, as it grows and spreads.




Growth

I forget what this is called, but whatever - it's growing and flowering!


And look at my other lovely girl...


Flit the bird #4 - first outside adventure

It's a cool day and lots of birds around, so I thought I would put Flit outside on the grass, so that his kind can find him, hopefully.

He doesn't look too happy about it!