Time of year

I love this time of year for the beauty the garden generates. I have two ponga trees that we left, poking through two squares in the flooring, when the front deck was erected. Whilst they are small and get in the way of anyone using the ranch slider, I know that one day, they will be tall and it will only be two slender trunks that one will have to negotiate upon entering or exiting. But there is a bonus for their shortened height. At this time of year, they are sending up their fronds for their new season’s leaves and with the setting sun as a backdrop, I am able to use these fronds in photos. If the trees were taller, they would be out of reach. Some of my favourite photos have been taken from these two trees. I attempted more last night and will include one with this blog, even though it is not the magical picture I was after. But I do know there will be plenty of opportunities for more pics as these fronds unfold over the next few weeks.

In front of these ponga, as one comes up the driveway, there is an array of beautiful flowering daisies and arctotis, providing a colourful display on the clay bank. This will soon be over but it has been lovely the past few weeks. Across the drive, the pansies are in full flower in their pot and the watsonias are just starting to open their buds. Sitting at over a metre high, these received a hammering from the wind, but fortunately, the worst of that ended a couple of days ago.  

I know these flowers will come to an end. I am not sure about the seeds I planted earlier. I have transplanted most of these now but they appear stunted and may not develop into the beautiful flowers I was anticipating. But if they do, they will provide a colourful display until the hibiscus take over in the new year.

I have plans to build steps from the ponga deck. It is just a matter of using the trailer to pick up some railway sleepers. There has been an abundance of these since the Northland train track started getting upgraded, but I don’t think the price reflects this, not from the bigger corporations where I will be buying them from, anyway. When we built the other deck, we used a couple of these sleepers for the steps there. I like their rustic look.

The front area of the house has always looked untidy but bit by bit, I can see a neater area taking shape. It certainly helped painting the garage, which we completed earlier this year. Down by the letterbox we used some old posts to contain the spindly garden and the hay I had spread around it. Again, an aesthetic improvement. And the steps I made from the front of the house to the garage are looking like they belong. For these, I used pavers and old bags of cement that had set before we were able to use them, perfect for their new job.

And speaking of the time of year, I really need to get myself back into that sunshine, something I love even more than the flowers.