Blooming Bush

For the last five years I’ve tended my garden. (It’s the first home of my own, with a garden, I’ve had.) Although five winters and four springs have passed, never has the bush beside my back balcony bloomed. So what a surprise to return from a few weeks away to find it flowering –its delicate blossom a soft shade of pink.

This morning, looking out at the blooming bush through the kitchen window, a wattle bird suddenly flew in and perched on one of the plant’s branches. It then dipped its beak into the flower’s nectar in a rhymic, repetitive motion. It stayed there, then skipped onto nearby branches, and continued its ritual, dipping and sipping.

Now, I’m left wondering what plant it is. A grevillea I suspect, but I’m not sure.

If you happen to have any ideas, please let me know.

Five Fabulous Little Gumnuts

Five Fabulous Little Gumnuts

I’ve been away for a few weeks. Western Australia is the perfect place to escape a Melbourne winter: swimming with whale sharks, camping under a magnificant sparkly night sky at an old sheep station, and flying out to the Abrolhos Islands where we snorkelled on a spectacular coral reef few people seem to know about.

Now, however, I’m back home in chilly Melbourne.

At first glance the garden looked so sad. The dafney looked to be lamenting, the grass forlorn, and trees so bare. But nature always has a surpise in store. And once again, by looking up, I found something special. Five fabulous gumnuts which were so much bigger than when we went away. The tree, the last gift my mother gave me, three years ago, is now billowing upwards, replete with gumnuts, inching its way ever closer to the overhead power lines.