Ficus #1 passes 3rd marker!

At last, this ficus, which I have been watering quite fullsomely lately, has finally gone over the third ridge in the corrugated iron of m back fence!

See previous notes re-this ficus. This is where it was up to, a month or so ago - Sept 2018 :

I have been waiting for this point for 3 years. I so want it to cover the fence, and help hold the old fence together!

I remember the garden guy at the nursery around the corner, where I purchased this vine, telling me 'woah, they need a bit of water', meaning they need A LOT of water, hence my prolific watering so far this season.

15 Nov 2018: 

23 Nov 2018: We have a lot of rain recently, and I have left the hose dripping on this plant. There is, consequently, a host of new growth, so it appears to be true that they 'like a bit of water' as the nursery man once said to me. So, in appreciation of recent rapid growth, I will keep the moisture up to it this seasons and see how much she travels across the fence.

Here are pics of different regions of the fence/plant. I love the variation in colour between the older and new light leaves.

2 April, 2019 - It has grown and spread a lot this year.

Spider-lillies this season + updates

The first spike!

HERE's them elsewhere in the garden, in the past. Now they ARE in the garden edging beds!

20 Nov 2018:

26 Nov 2018: And the demise - 

Milk on the roses

Aphids are attacking the new shoots on my pretty rose over the arch, so I sprayed it this morning with a 50/50 milk/water solution. Apparently that will deter them. They say the milk is good for the plant too, calcium and other trace nutrients. Who knew?!

It's a dull day, and rain is 30% predicted so it might be washed off, but I'll just reapply. Bloody varmints.

I love this rose - such a pretty poppy thing.

Recipe for preventing/treating black spot:
https://dengarden.com/gardening/How-to-Treat-Blackspot-Disease-on-Roses

Simon paints the pergola!

He came over at 7am. I am grateful he is willing to do it. It was a lovely shady morning for about 2 seconds before the heat hit. He left after about an hour as it was just too fierce.

I am so excited by the way it looks already, I have taken photos of the one tall pole from all different angles!

And I arrived home from work last night to this - wow! Looks so much better. I can only imagine how good it will feel to get vines (jasmine) growing over it to hide the rough edges and look so pretty. For me, this reno business is such a long process (money issues) but every bit of help is fab, and I know my ideas will work.

The 'before' look: painted is much softer.

And...the height of ugliness shot (below) - part-paint, ladders, paint cans scattered, car covered, container, orange barrier, ugly power pole, half-baked lawn and no paving. Sigh. Perhaps things have to look bad before they get better.

Tiina riding out the heat

All of this week, it has been around high 30's - 40C.

Poor cats have had a hard time of it. Here is Tiina, hazy with heat-sleep, on the threshold, making the most of breezes.

New lily up

This is as close to the 'naked ladies' lillies that I've been (wish I could find some of those bulbs!).

Very surprised and pleased to see this flower this morning. Supposed to be 40C in Ipswich today. It's already fiercesomely hot. I watered the front before I went to work, just to try to ensure their survival.

Making a garden is a long term project. I've been here 3 years and have really just begun to get things to a place where I can see the potential of shaping things, and know that new plants will grow. It's so very satisfying.

We've had a bit of rain recently, and another one came up 23 Nov 2018.

2 Dec 2018: Seeds of newest pink lily - they feel like filaments of paper. I've scattered them all over the garden bed.

A couple more came up in early Dec:

John's Garden #7 - parterre redevelopment

It's been over 3 years that I have been dithering about this part of the garden - I call it John's Garden or John's Jungle.

I have decided that I would like to use this area for some formal parterre. I'd like some ball topiary, and murraya hedges in squares, like so

I could maybe put in some more mini-murraya to make crosses, like this: 

There are trees inside the patches, but that's ok. I will need another few star-jasmine's to fill

in the spaces inside the borders. I could also have some white lavender in the spaces too, to cut down on weed growth.

Will use these white long bricks to demarcate the areas.