The Actual Garden

GARDEN THEMES AROUND THE HOUSE:
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Drainage Ponds Around the House: These fluctuate over time with being full water after a lot of rain and dry mud in dryer periods. They have been designed so that the house level on the northern side, cuts into the gently south sloping contour of our land by a slope of two metres. At a later stage, the pond system of four major ponds were cut out.

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There are three major ponds on the northern side of the house. The first one receives water which runs off on the side from our graded earth driveway ….see above. This first pond is so levelled that it runs off to the east and overflows into pond two which is the background to the lawn terrace out from the house. When full, this pond then overflows down to a lower pond on the level with the parking area and shed. This pond is surrounded by huge granite boulders which were left from an old landscape construction job many years ago. See photos below.

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Pond 4 …. Outside the Master Bedroom: is kept full of water by seepage that comes out of the sand / clay layer about a metre above the water level. We have had much rain in the last few months. We have about 2.00 metres of very sandy soil on our land (from original sandstone) then it becomes very clayey soil. Any subsoil moisture from any rain seeps down through the sandy soil to sit on the clay. Being a sloping block, any subsoil moisture slowly percolates down the slope and emerges at any cut in the slope. The ponds are slowly and continually filled apart from immediate runoff.

The blue flowered waterlilies grow from dormant seed in the dry mud in the ponds when the area is very dry. I planted some lilies years ago from a nearby waterlily area. When they flower they always set seed in future times when the ponds fill with water.

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Log Sculpture Garden: Now surrounds Pond no. 4 at the parking and shed area. The photos below show vertical logs before the pond was dug.

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Australian Bush Garden:

….. Melaleleca nodosa (Prickly Paperbark) …..

….. Xanthorrhea australis (Australian Grasstree) ……

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Cottage Garden:

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……. Storm Lilies >>>>> On some of the garden edges I had planted an informal line of storm lily bulbs that would give spontaneous colour with the flowering of lilies after storms. This was characterised in recent times when we had two very big thunderstorms which was a refreshing change to our dry Australian bush and garden for this time of year at our property at Chambers Flat. Within a few days, the numerous dormant storm lilies around the garden began to throw up new pink flower stems out the nest of drab green straplike leaves. Over a few days, the swelling pink bulbous end of the stalks began to swell further to reveal a rolled tubular flower that suddenly unfurled in a day to a soft pink trumpet like flower of indescribable beauty. Six soft pointed petals are expanded towards the sun with varying shades of soft pink and soft white. Each petal was softly streaked with pink from point petal to a whiter centre. A cluster of yellow stamens is at the centre of the corona of petals ……

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Pots in the Garden:

…. In subtropical Queensland we can get tulips from bulbs to grow very sucessfully in June / July …..

…. Tulips thrive in colder climates as they need a winter period to produce bulbs …..

….. You can get them to grow sucessfully after being kept in the crisper for a few months and then being planted out in April. These are planted in an old wooden pig trough we retrieved ….

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· …… Agapanthus are very hardy in Brisbane ….. whether full size in the ground or the dwarf variety in pots …….

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Permaculture Garden:

……… Paw paws come up from seed in the compost and

then can be planted in the garden …..

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…… Pineapples are so easy to grow …… when you use one, you

just cut the plant off ….. leave it by the backdoor and when you are ready,

just plant the head into the ground with a little compost underneath ….

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….. Old Horse drawn Potato Digger …..

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Rainforest Garden:

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General Front Garden:

Old Horse drawn Plough

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….. Old Cast Iron Handpump with water in a Clay Bowl …..

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Courtyard Garden:

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Hanging Pots:

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Wildlife in the Garden:

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Features in the Garden:

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The Amphitheatre …… Used in Winter time:

The Amphitheatre …… is used in winter time when it very cold at night. A bonfire is lit periodically and the amphitheatre can seat around fifty people in a big group.