A Sad Farewell to the Wonga Wonga

I have loved the beautiful Wonga Wonga vine that I planted as a baby only five years ago. I planted it where I thought it would get knocked back by the frosts each year as it is an Australian native and therefore (according to the blurb) frost tender. I know how big these things get unchecked, hence deliberately sabotaging its growth.

Unfortunately, the vine decided that it likes the climate here - frost or no frost - and has grown to the point where it's thick woody growth is now threatening to tear apart the shed hidden behind it (you can catch just a glimps of the red through parts of the vine).

It is now in full flower, and sadly it will be the last time for this vine. I will then become an axe murderer and end it's reign of beauty, as pruning only makes it grow faster and stronger.

Just beginning to flower



Half open

In full splendour . Clover is starting to dominate in my lawn, I see. The lawn that is starting to resemble a paddock. It is only one week since it was mowed - it grows fast at this time of year.

Such pretty cream bells with soft yellow throats

Now I will have to get used to looking at the particularly ugly tin fence that it has been doing such a beautiful job of hiding, while I wait for something else to grow in its place.

It's been such a long, dreary and WET winter that my garden is looking horribly neglected. I think it has rained on every day off that I have had for months. With the sudden onset of milder temperatures, the grass has suddenly started growing at twice its normal rate. Unfortunately, so have the weeds.



The feijoa bush has lots of new growth which will provide lots of fruit

The new leaves on the Indigo Bush, another Australian native which I thought I had lost when it dropped all its leaves with the first winter frost. You can barely see them against the WEEDS!

Red spring growth on the gaura, one of my favourite plants

 

Unnamed Chinese Lantern hybrid

I can't remember the name of this weed, but it is incredibly invasive and grows very fast. This wasn't there a week ago.

Borage - the bane of my life. I planted one plant several years ago and I've been pulling out seedlings ever since.

More borage, muscling in next to the budding "Cherry Pie" heliotrope

I'd love to know how those freesias got into the pot with the succulent, because I didn't put them in there. (And can you see more sneaky borage?)

I desperately need to get out into the garden and pull some of those weeds (and borage). I will try tomorrow, but the forecast is for - you guessed it - more rain, this time with strong winds thrown in for good measure.

Maybe I will stay inside and start re-organising the house instead. My daughter has decided to return home to live from the city where she has been for the past two years. I had filled the gaps she had left, and now have to create new gaps. This will involve an awful lot of work. I am also trying to get quotes and organise a furniture carrier and dates and her packing from a distance of 500 kilometers. All in little windows of time between my job and sleeping. I'm feeling overwhelmed and under-motivated right at this moment.

Maybe I will have a piece of Jim Beam fudge. This and a box of Ferrero Roche chocolates are gifts that were given to me last Christmas. They have been patiently waiting for me to be in the right mood for them. Well, tonight is definitely a Jim Beam Fudge night.

And yes, my monitor is sitting on a pathophysiology book and a book on horse breeds. Doesn't everyones'?