I think I killed that Lilly Pilly

I think a dry spring caught me. I went away for a weekend training camp and this lovely six year old Lilly Pilly was all fresh and flush with new season's growth.

When I returned it was BupBowww. I knew that my decision to allocate more brain tine to skydiving was going to have its casualties. Apparently this nice little plant is one of them.

We'll see. Sometimes there's a Lazarus.

And sometimes there's a Lazarus

And this Hardenbergia "Happy Wanderer" I put in a few months ago. Died off when I pruned something else giving this too much sun, unexpectedly. But it's back. That's nice.

Stuff dies, life goes on

Gardening helps me see this clearly. I heard it once about farming "if you've got livestock,  you also get deadstock" and it happens in the garden too.

I've had a bougainvillea in for a few years now in a pot. It works fine in Singapore - they just water them every day and it's all fine. Last year I lost one about this time, and this year I'm seeing the leaves wilt on the remaining one. I'm pretty sure the roots get a fungus in the cold and that's it.

And when I've had these self seeded passionfruit marigold (tagetes lemonii) they get to a foot tall in a pot and then just die. Second time now. Rootbound perhaps.

Things die, life goes on.

Stone fruit, pruned

A slight sense of satisfaction to have my fruit trees pruned for the winter. Roses done, too, and I'll do grape vines soon.

"Made with love" beats any of the alternatives.

My boy Jonah is having a birthday party today. Instead of buying a cake, his sister agreed to make one. My mother would be proud - it beats any of the alternatives.

Pickled Chillies

Very nice. They lose a lot of their heat this way but they keep for well over a year.

Autumn falls

I like this moment in the season.  It's still warm - 20C this morning - but the leaves have seriously started falling. It's getting to be time to hunker down..