Another Visitor

On the way back from walking Kobe this morning we saw "our" Bearded Dragon sunning itself on the driveway.  It is very tame and I could approach within a couple of metres and it didn't move.

Spotted Marsh Frog

I heard frogs callong from my yard this evening, and armed with flashlight and camera found a couple of Spotted Marsh Frogs.

Odds and Ends

This post is a mixed bag of photos from the last couple of weeks. I went to the hills to check out the Square-tailed Kite nest from last year. A bird was on the nest, but there was no sign of the other one. Fingers crossed for another successful breeding event this year. A couple of nice flowers there too, Twining Fringed Lily and one that I cannot identify even with my new plant book! Another day we went to Parra Wirra Recreation Park where this Emu (and a couple of mates) wandered through the picnic area. We also spotted this Shingleback, our first lizard of the summer. The same day, I spotted this small mantid in the garden, I am not sure, but I think it may be a Brown Mantis. It was quite difficult to get close as it stayed between some netting and the fence. I love the shadow on the third photo. Lastly, we took a walk this morning at Henley Beach where this White-faced Heron was very confiding.

Sturt's Desert Pea

Things have been very quiet here, so I have nothing current to post so I thought I'd show you one of our gardening exploits. Over the summer, we tried to grow some Sturt's Desert Peas. The state flower of South Australia, this stunning flower grows in the desert, but only if conditions are right. It is very short lived, and grows, flowers, goes to seed and then dies in just a few days, with the seeds then staying dormant until the right conditions happen again. this may be a month later, a year later or in extreme times maybe a decade later! Ours flowered over a weekend, and not expecting things to happen quite so quickly, I missed the buds only photo!! On the Sunday morning, the first red started showing. By Sunday evening the flowers were opening And on Monday morning the flowers were fully open

Our Garden

Maryann and I have been working hard on our garden, and have finally finished our raised garden bed. The last plants went in today, so we thought we'd share it with you. We have tried to make it as waterwise as we can, mixing succulents with some hardy annuals. Maryann loves roses, so we have a couple of creeping miniature roses in the bed. Snapdragons remind me of my parents old garden in back in England Here are a couple of close-ups. A rose. Lobelia Snapdragon