Africanaussie

About six weeks ago we had the lychee tree pruned again - this time we had the top lopped off. that was what should have happened last time.  Now it should be easier to maintain the tree at a manageable height. Of course this meant that the entire middle section of the tree had no leaves for shading my lovely tropical shade loving plants!  There were definitely some sunburn issues, even death in some cases.  I have had some shades cloths and umbrellas over the vulnerable areas. but new leaves are sprouting and at long last the intense summer heat seems to be waning.  The area with my umbrella palms can stand out now as a feature, instead of hiding away behind the lychee tree branches.  This area was not affected, even though it now gets more light.  The golden candles definitely is enjoying the sunshine, and I love the purple of the geisha girl together with the yellow.  This is a favourite area for the sunbirds and honey-eaters.   They are...

The little section which I think of as my fan palm forest is coming along nicely.   I wanted to be able to look out and not see any fence.  I also wanted to look up and see the sun shining through the beautiful shapes of the fan palm leaves.  One of the most beautiful tropical sights in my book. I also have a fluted fan palm.  They both seem to have shot up this last year. I purchased this plant at one of the orchid shows, and it has multiplied and I need to reduce it in size once more. The foliage is so interesting. It does get some yellow flowers right at the base, but the interest is in the leaves. Of course my favourite bit of colour at the moment is the lady slipper orchid - sorry if you are getting tired of seeing this from every angle.....  the sunbirds are always flocking around sipping nectar from these flowers and often get a bit rough and I find these little flowers scattered like confettiti under the tree. The vine is climb...

" It is when you stop wanting things out of your control ........... that you can be truly happy "  I read this in an article, and then went back and read it again,  and again.    I will never have one of those huge gardens with a water feature, or rows of concrete arches repeating one after another to create a wonderful symmetry.  Heck no, I hardly have room for more than one or two of anything.  Planning and planting this garden was fun and kept me busy and gave me reasons to post on my blog every couple of days. That creativity kept me on a gardening high, but now the work has plateaued, now is the time to just step back and enjoy the fruits of my labour. I have my little rainforesty area, just a couple of fan palms and a tree fern, but it is a forest in its own way. the fluted fan palm loves its location against the fence  and I never tire of watching the tree fern fronds unfold, they start as a furry round ball at the base of the...