The House(s) of Fran_mart

 We seem to have some nice flowers around the hacienda at the moment. A Magnolia flower earnt a pic with a mass of fallen stamens. All of those flowers were at the front of the house.  There are also some out the back.  These photos were actually taken to record the New Holland Honeyeaters! And stretching the meaning of "flowers" , but I wanted to record our first multiple fruit pick of tomatoes.  This year we are well endowed with Grosse Lissies!

I had hoped to do a post today about colourful insects but they are not around at the moment.  I'm a bit surprised about this as there are lots of insectivorous birds (Rufous Whistlers, Dusky Woodswallows, White-winged Trillers amongst others) around at the moment. So you get some photos from a trip to Bungendore instead.  After visiting the tip my first stop was the sewage treatment works.  As I drove in I noticed a Spoonbill on one of the banks.  Looking more closely it was a Royal Spoonbill, which is the common species around here.  that will be bird of the Day. I then noticed 23 Plumed Whistling Ducks standing on the banks or swimming.  As the Trucking Yard Lane dams were empty (see below) I assume these are the birds that have been there for the past year. 3 Bin Chooks (aka Australian White Ibis) were also evident. I next headed up to  Lake Rd to check the Big Dam.  The main section of it was completely dry ... ... and very lit...

Over the years that we have been in Carwoola Frances has taken many cuttings of Pelargoniums and potted them up.  This year they are looking particularly good so earn a post. I'll start by noting that for many years, when growing up in the UK, I called these "Geraniums" which is actually a separate genus within the family  Geraniaceae .  Interestingly, when we were studying in Sienna they were a common window box plant called "Geranio".  For both countries the plants are pretty new, being endemic to South Africa, from whence they came in 1631.  The split into two genera was apparently made in 1789 so should have had plenty of time to filter from taxonomy into the vernacular. Enough text.  To the pretties!  The biggest collection is on the deck on the North facing side of the house (the South side is the haunt of Fuschias - watch this space). Most of this lot are fairly plain coloured flowers. Another group of fancier coloured flowers ha...

Although this is a November update you'll be reading this in December so here is a seasonal photo of a Christmas cactus (Zygocactus - or Schlumbergia). .According to Yates they flower in the periods of long dark nights (ie Xmas in the N hemisphere) so this one is flowering now is a mystery - but a pretty mystery! As well as the usual set of  updates you may have missed I will note here that I bought a case of Cernovar Dark Lager when visiting Plonk recently. They offered the pale and dark lagers but the words on the boxes "Cerne" and "Svelte" were unhelpful as I don't speak Czech.  (The hint of dark and light coloured boxes wasn't immediately picked up!)  Sorted that and a very nice nutty drop it is: perhaps more like a medium brown ale than a lager, but tasty.   Subsequently we decided that this might be hard to get in the future so a second case was acquired. On that trip it was amusing that the serving person couldn't remember which was w...

This post is to give Northern Hemisphere readers - especially any under 5 feet of snow in the area East of the Great Lakes - something to look forward to in Spring. I'll begin with a couple of Astrolomerias.  Frances has planted 4 of these and after a few years they're beginning to spread.  This honeysuckle needs no encouragement to spread!  (In fact I have sprayed a couple of outbreaks up the block to stop it invading.)  It is pretty and has a great aroma. Again after several years, we are getting a good show from some Acanthus.  I will try to get a decent close-up and add it later. The Asiatic Lillies have begun to do their stuff . This Euphorbia is going great guns in a garden bed and has got a few mates planted nearby! The rest of these images are of various succulents in pots on the verandah.

Despite the appalling weather and the grazing pressure from the locals, we are still getting a few interesting flowers around the block. Before getting to photos of flowers I will comment that on taking the small dog out for a pit stop at about 1:00am on 1 February our lawn was decorated by 4 Eastern Grey Kangaroos; 2 Rabbits and 1 Common Wombat.  In the afternoon of that day it appeared that the order Aves were contributing to natural lawn mowing, with Australian Wood Ducks at point. Here's Mum ...  ... and Dad. Now we get to plants with the hit-rate improving Naked Ladies!  A form of lily which grows without any obvious leaves, which is explained in a wikipedia article .  The article also states " Strong winds shake loose the seeds, which fall to ground and immediately start to germinate, aided by the first winter rains."  I do hope we get some rain before Winter! A friend gave us some Tiger Lilies which have brightened up both the garden and ...

Happy New Year! Additions and amendments to published witter in the back end of 2013. This Blog Some additions and corrections to the Tallaganda post . More fuschias have flowered and thus been added As expected the insects have been both interesting and numerous. There has been much more detail added about the ID of the Fairy Moth (as well as several additional images. Other blogs A couple of posts dealing with birds of interest have added to Carwoola Birds Weed control is back on the agenda in the top paddock.

I have included photos of the garden plants and the native plants around the property.  This post will hold those around the house.  Actually, the fuschias are on the Southern side - pelargoniums (pelargonia?) are the main game on the Northern side.  See a later post for them when they start to flower. There isn't a great deal of text, just pretty pictures.  I expect to add more as the flowers emerge. This one came from a nursery at Berrima. Although not evident from the image this one is tiny! This next one has a name which I can remember: La Rosita! Another named variety: Dancing Flame. As well as the Fuschias Frances has potted up some succulents that are doing a pretty good job of being interesting. This is Zygocactus sp .  In the UK it is called the Christmas Cactus because it usually flowers (indoors) at Christmas.  It is either a month early or, allowing for the shift in hemispheres, 5 months late....