Under a hotter Sun; The making of the Garden;

The garden;

I have started to establish my Gardens. One for vegetables and one for ornamental plants.
P... has made a fence so the cattle can't come in and eat up the plants. The soil looks poor and is very hard to dig and it does not hold the water. The garden needs an awful lot of improvement with the soil. First I planted Australian native bushes with brilliant flowers. Melaleucas, called "Robin Redbreast". It has tiny bottlebrush flowers in a vivid orange. I planted lots of Callistemon, usually just called Bottlebrushes, in different reds, some are overlaid with gossamer gold. They come in lots of colours. Dark purple, pink, very long white brushes and even a very light yellow colours. The fantastic Banksia comes in different hues of yellow with slim and tall or fat and squat flower heads. Different leaves too, but always tough and hard to touch. I try to plant the ones from the region. I have tried some from West Australia but have never been completely successful at one stage or the other they have succumbed to the wrong conditions.

The garden takes on shape. We have planted Orange, Mandarin, Tangello and Lemon trees. They bear their fruits in winter when they are very welcome. The flowers are very sweetly scented and perfume the whole garden...it is the most agreeable scent a little bit like lilies of the valley..”Mister Dior” eat your heart out!
We have also planted Persimmon and Mango trees. A small orchard is emerging around the house.
I have dug a lot of pathways and Peter has filled them with pebbly concrete. I have marked out many beds. One after the other is going to be planted out. I get a lot of cuttings from everywhere especially from Jean Barnier, she loves gardening like I do.
Her mother loves gardening too and she has a beautiful garden. She also gave me lots of cuttings which I strike and most of them take quite easily. She gave me a rare and special cutting from a flower called commonly “Blue Ginger” its Latin name is Dichorisandra thyrisflora, quite a mouthful, no wonder we all use the “common names”! I have planted also some rosebushes. Summer is probably to hot for them to do really well. As long as I can cut some for the vases I am happy. I have planted many miniature roses they seem to do alright for the time being.
In front of our house we build a small pool to bolster the local frog community. When raining it is a truly beautiful feature its rim planted with bog loving plants, our croaking friends, who usually send their love calls in the middle of the night, cherish it. Dear people from Switzerland who spend some time with us were driven crazy by the noise; Karli went out armed with a broom and a flashlight to disperse the noisiest
lovers. He had not much luck in his endeavour as the frogs went into hiding as soon as the beam of light hit them. Resigned he went back in to his bed his ears plugged with cottonwool.
In midsummer it is a marathon to keep the pond filled with water. The water disappears through cracks in the clay soil as soon as it is filled. Until the next big thunderstorm I fill a dish with water so the frogs can have a little dip to cool their sensitive skin.
Big, brilliant green creatures with a dreamy expression take advantage of any cool and moist spot. They wander into bathrooms and occupy toilets, sit in pipes and gutters. From time to time they call each other with raucous croaking.
There are also very tiny frogs some only two to three centimetres. I find them huddled in lettuce leaves. Carefully I transport them back in to the garden.
I love to watch the dragonflies flitting above the pond. In the German language they have such a lovely name “Libelle” it sort of describes their ethereal beauty. Many take advantage of our small water feature. The plantings of Bamboo and Papyrus gives them shelter. They are the most elegant ballerinas clad in deep sky blue, emerald green, dark wine red and many other colours. Some have dark spots and patterns on their gossamer fine wings. They are verily the most gracious of insects.

Summer can unleash torrents of rain and fierce, horrendous storms. Lightening, eerie non-stop illuminates and fissures the sky. Thunder explodes, torn from the deepest abyss. It is a frightening experience. On a hot afternoon, a storm was brewing. Dark clouds chased each other expanded swiftly and piled up a grey-black menace to threaten people and animals alike. The cattle retreated into the bush to get some shelter there. Thunder and lightening cracked the heavy dark blue and black chaos without end and created supernatural pictures.
Lilli and I were alone at home looking out of the kitchen window towards the front paddock. Thunder and lightening attacked the heavens furiously, when suddenly a horrendous thunderclap made us jump and the next moment lightening struck a tree not twenty metres from us. It was a show we will never forget. Lightening zigzagging into the tree and setting the tree alight, green frogs were catapulted into the air and fell down dead. The tree was partly hollow and dried out. Frogs that made it their home didn’t expect such a terrible expulsion. Then the rain was released in a tremendous, solid sheet of water. It pounded and crushed earth and plants and I thought they would never recover from such an onslaught.

In midsummer the vegetable garden grandly named “Le Potager” planted in spring with a lot of enthusiasm looks limp and uninspiring. Most of it we ate, some we had to share with the creatures that harvest but don’t sow. The King Parrots, marvellous birds, wearing everyday their Sunday best in green and bright red, love tomatoes as much as we do.
The sun triumphant sends out its fieriness to wither the rest of plants. Lettuces quickly grow to towers producing trillions of seeds spreading them on fluffy wings all over the garden. In autumn they will emerge as tiny plants which I can then just transplant, how ingenious.
Then comes a time when it is just absolutely to hot to work in the garden. The
vegetables don't like it either. Most things have succumbed to the heat, lost their vigor like myself. Cucumbers and Melons have withered from mildew and if this heat goes on I will wither too. So, I am waiting for kinder days in autumn.