Oh my your climate does sound to be changing India...while ours clearly is in a state of flux, from one extreme to the other and with 35 and counting years here now (37 this year since we touched down), on average it's in the year after good rain that things die. The temperatures are up significantly from those early days, that's for sure, and I blame much of that on the sprawl...the roofs and roads where once there were trees, bush and grasslands. We've lost a couple of good trees this year and another one looks to be on the turn - always the ones that are 'drought tolerant' - the ones you'd think most sensible to plant here...but they sure can't tolerate big wets which is understandable. Swings and roundabouts...and as for bore water...the results are stark when it's not mixed with rainwater...
Oh my...such sadness is always somewhere in our midst Sally...what a beautiful gift you gathered lift your neighbour's spirits. You're way ahead of me in the Dahlia stakes - one orange has opened but this weekend I actually covered them with hessian to shade as they were getting badly scorched even before the heatwave conditions. Glad you have some reading to do! And the Pineapple Lily just gets better and better...the tight buds are beginning to open now, one at a time. Keep cool Sally. Mx
Deeply envious that your Jude is still blooming…mine seems to give it a burst in spring and then sulk for months. Clearly my plant hasn’t heard of the 56 day rule! But then I can’t really blame it, having to survive in this increasingly arid climate and drink bore water that’s been through one of those magnetic desalination thingies. Summers here are far hotter and drier than they used to be and this year there are hardly even gum blossoms. South Australian bees are finding themselves in a bit of a pickle. Luckily we have a wild hive living in a collapsed red gum with a water trough nearby, heavens only knows what they’re finding to eat though. All of my annual meadow flowers succumbed to the north wind early in December. Sigh.
How beautiful is that Pineapple Lily, and The Garden Against Time is on my bookshelf waiting to be read, as is Mr and Mrs Gould and A French Christmas . Jude the Obscure, how delicious does it look. I don’t pick the Magnolias as in the past when I did I couldn’t stand the smell, but they are magnificent blooms. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may 2025 bring all you could wish for. Our Dahlias are blooming, the first to come were the Cafe au Lait for which I was happy as I could give them together with some Margaret Merrill roses to a dear neighbour whose sister passed away prior to Christmas. Her sister is in England and our neighbour wasn’t planning to go for the funeral. I don’t think I could do that, no matter the cost or how far.Looking forward to joining you in 2025 💐
Oh my your climate does sound to be changing India...while ours clearly is in a state of flux, from one extreme to the other and with 35 and counting years here now (37 this year since we touched down), on average it's in the year after good rain that things die. The temperatures are up significantly from those early days, that's for sure, and I blame much of that on the sprawl...the roofs and roads where once there were trees, bush and grasslands. We've lost a couple of good trees this year and another one looks to be on the turn - always the ones that are 'drought tolerant' - the ones you'd think most sensible to plant here...but they sure can't tolerate big wets which is understandable. Swings and roundabouts...and as for bore water...the results are stark when it's not mixed with rainwater...
Oh my...such sadness is always somewhere in our midst Sally...what a beautiful gift you gathered lift your neighbour's spirits. You're way ahead of me in the Dahlia stakes - one orange has opened but this weekend I actually covered them with hessian to shade as they were getting badly scorched even before the heatwave conditions. Glad you have some reading to do! And the Pineapple Lily just gets better and better...the tight buds are beginning to open now, one at a time. Keep cool Sally. Mx
Deeply envious that your Jude is still blooming…mine seems to give it a burst in spring and then sulk for months. Clearly my plant hasn’t heard of the 56 day rule! But then I can’t really blame it, having to survive in this increasingly arid climate and drink bore water that’s been through one of those magnetic desalination thingies. Summers here are far hotter and drier than they used to be and this year there are hardly even gum blossoms. South Australian bees are finding themselves in a bit of a pickle. Luckily we have a wild hive living in a collapsed red gum with a water trough nearby, heavens only knows what they’re finding to eat though. All of my annual meadow flowers succumbed to the north wind early in December. Sigh.
How beautiful is that Pineapple Lily, and The Garden Against Time is on my bookshelf waiting to be read, as is Mr and Mrs Gould and A French Christmas . Jude the Obscure, how delicious does it look. I don’t pick the Magnolias as in the past when I did I couldn’t stand the smell, but they are magnificent blooms. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may 2025 bring all you could wish for. Our Dahlias are blooming, the first to come were the Cafe au Lait for which I was happy as I could give them together with some Margaret Merrill roses to a dear neighbour whose sister passed away prior to Christmas. Her sister is in England and our neighbour wasn’t planning to go for the funeral. I don’t think I could do that, no matter the cost or how far.Looking forward to joining you in 2025 💐