Sunny day so out in the garden!

Today spent the day in the garden, and really had a major tidy up- and i have to say the garden looks 100% better than it did before if i do say so myself! I planted a purple cordyline tat had been living in a pot for about a year, into the sunny bed to replace a Phyllostachys Shangahi 3 bamboo which did not seem to do very well there- probably lack of moisture (ie me watering!).

The photo above shows just part of the view that looks out over the new grass border and onto the butterfly border in front of the palms in the bed behind. The whole bed where the butterfly border will be was dug over and manure added, and 2 yuccas were taken out that didnt deserve their prime position! The Butia palm in the bed in the centre of the photo almost was dug up today as it has never settled in even in 3 years and its new leaves always came out browned- i assumed frost damage but it should easily have coped with the winters we have had. I have given it 1 more year to prove its place as this winter it has put up 2 new leaves but both seem damaged- there is just something that the plant doesnt like about its new home.

The Acacia is in full bloom and looks and smells beautiful! Will have to cut it back after flowering as it is a huge tree already about 20ft tall! And its only been in the ground 2 summers! I wonder if Acacias reshoot from bare branches after being cut back (pollarded) or does there have to be a bud/branch already there? Will have to do some research.

We are up to 4 lots of frogspawn in the wildlife pond! :) I wonder how many more we will get?- its only a small pond! I counted roughly 200 eggs in one lump of spawn. I managed to catch the white goldfish that is in the pond as he would definately look at the tadpoles as lunch! I left the Golden Minnow in the pond as I hope his mouth is fairly small! Although may take him out and put him back once the tadpoles are out of danger in a month or so.

This little plant above is an Orchid. Dendrobium kingianum. Now its only a small plant about 4" tall but has beautiful sprays of pink flowers in spring. This little plant has proved to be prefectly happy outside over winter on my window ledge. I was surprised how well it has coped. It prefers growing in shade and fingers crossed for some flowers soon!

Lastly a photo of Susie having a drink from the wildlife pond. Am getting increasingly twitchy about whether the chooks are going to have free range in the garden for much longer- i guess there is going to be a period in the spring when all the new shoots are emerging that will be particularly prone to chicken attack so will just have to keep a close eye on them when they are out.