WHAT A STAR! I have the gentle climber Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminodes ) growing all around my garden (ten plants at last count). It is extremely hardy, and survives our Blue Mountains frosts and snowfalls without the slightest problem. In the photo below it is tumbling down
Read more →
My beloved Blue Mountains village of Blackheath has long been the butt of jokes regarding its chilly location. Bleakheath, Lackheat…..yes yes, we deal with these corruptions of our name with good natured humour. But remember…we are closer to heaven than our neighbours down the hill!
Read more →
Cinnamon Bells is the common name of a very strange orchid in my Blackeath garden. Its botanical name is Gastrodia procera. This leafless, Australian native has been dubbed the Potato Orchid, as the tubers the plants grow from were roasted and eaten by Aborigines (particularly the Wurundjeri
Read more →
It has taken over 200 years for we Aussies to start shifting away from a European style Christmas, with its heavy roast dinners and plum puddings. Mind you, there was a push for something more suitable leading up to Federation, when our national spirit was on the rise.
Read more →
Hello, Well my guardian Pauline Conolly and I have been documenting the life of a satin bowerbird. It lives in Memorial Park, Blackheath, here in the Blue Mountains. I’ve become quite friendly with him. Sometimes I take him a blue treasure, because he collects them to impress
Read more →
Sometimes you see another person’s garden and think, ‘Oh my word, I think I’ll rip all my stuff out and create something like this …well try to anyway.’ This is how I feel about Helen Chadwick’s garden, just up the road from me. It is a little piece
Read more →
Whimsy warning…..read no further if you are a sensible soul. ‘Could we please go somewhere without Des, Pauline?’ This pathetic plea came from Milly, who lives in the shade of her famous boyfriend, Editor Des. ‘Well of course we can Darling’, I said. I decided she might
Read more →
Hello, Editor Des here. Well it’s springtime where I live in the Blue Mountains. All the flowers are out and the birds start singing so early they wake me up while I’m still dreamin’. I thought it might be a nice time to go on a little
Read more →
Like most people, I have a garden full of plants given to me by friends and neighbours. They are all very special. Some years ago I went on an outing to the home of the late Laurel Phillips, a life-member of our local garden club at Blackheath,
Read more →
There were some special (feathered) visitors at Blackheath recently, stepping off the Cherry Blossom Express from Sydney. And goodness me, what a sight greeted them! A misty day, but utterly lovely nevertheless. Oh the joy of burying one’s beak in those blossoms by the platform. Just
Read more →