Outsourcing the lawn

Mike and Loretta doing my lawns. I snuck a photo while I was hiding inside. 

Couldn't be bothered making the effort in this heat (36-38 C), so I asked them to come.

They have a website too http://cleancutservicesqld.com.au/

It only took them an hour between them to whipper-snip and to mow, inside and out. Takes me 3 hours when I do it myself! I have to keep stopping for drinks and small rests.

Took this photo from the car, as I was leaving to go shopping, an hour or so after they were done. It looked fine. I had asked Loretta to cut it a bit shorter this time, so it did look a bit dry but it should be right for the coming week now, when I am at work. I will probably mow again next Saturday. 

The photo does not really show how nice the garden looks, and how colorful. I feel immense satisfaction that it is looking like a garden now, with grown up plants. The colours are lovely.

A better shot - 

Fruit of the vine

Red grapes finally here! They are sweet too.

It was a year ago that this was first documented. This year - fruit!

Tidied up out the back

This really is quite a long and narrow walkway. If I wasn't so dependent on it for storage, I could make it look more attractive.

I even emptied 6 boxes of books finally - have been meaning to do it for months. They were mostly wet and rotting. Most will go in bin. Some to second-hand shop, best ones I will keep. Here they are drying in the sun and heat of midday.

Sun flowers

Small at the moment, but this creeper will go mad. It's such a pretty colour - whitey-lavender, a bit like the 'Today, Tomorrow' bushes. I quite like having a balance of colour in the garden.

Little girls

I know some little girls who are happy their Mama is home after her few days holiday at the coast. They hated being at the kennel (Imparra, at Purga), even though they were just fine there. They love to be home with Mama.

First ever flame tree flower!

After transplanting the flame tree from the pot to the ground, it shed many leaves.

There are 3 branches sticking out, and I have resisted the urge to cut two off. I'm glad I did, because although the main 'leader' branch sprouted new growth almost immediately, and is now flowering, the other two branches have new growth coming out too.

I wonder what it will look like when it's properly grown. I hope it's not weird for it to have 3 branches - most of these trees have only one.

Today (11 Jan 2018), there are no more of the old leaves left, but there IS encouraging new growth. I hope the three branches will thicken up like the large version - pic down below. It seems to be quite a fast growing plant, or maybe it's just making up for lost time, being frustrated in the pot!

Brachychiton acerifolius, commonly known as the Illawarra flame tree, is a large tree of the family Malvaceae native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia.

I suppose this old tree has more than one central branch...

Update: Latest growth - as at 21 Jan, 2018: I hesitate to suggest that perhaps I might get coverage worth of 3 trees, not just the one? if it continues it's growth like this...

Lawn just mowed

And all looks neat, for a day or so!

 The trees are really coming on, thanks to all the rain of late.