Winter welcome

Our transition to winter has been marked by a steady 115mm of rain in the last two days. It has been wet - it is wet. Part of the highway west of here has been washed away - the road base disappeared under the constant pressure of water followed by the collapse of the bitumen on top. The hardy SES guys were out there directing traffic around the blowout. That's winter for you. The grand finale early this morning was a spectacular thunderstorm, thunder rumbling in long surges, first inland then out to the sea. A golden dawn slipped under the cloud cover, the first sunlight we'd seen for a few days. Now as I write we have brilliant blue skies, and the sunlight sparkles off the riverlets of water pouring over the supersaturated hillside. Our dam is nearly full of light brown water which is still pouring in, quite a change from the milky pale of a few days ago.

We had warm sunny weather in the last days of autumn. Here is a sample of that rich late autumn offering in my garden. The first image is of the beautiful globular flowers of the Hakea laurina x petiolaris, a shrub that grows 2-3m high. I grew these from seeds collected from our former property where I had them growing side by side in a hedge. The black cockatoos loved feeding on the seeds. It was an odd sight - the black cockies so huge swinging off the slim branches of the Hakeas, slicing open the nuts with their razor sharp bills, squarking to each other as they do between beak fulls. Here it is the honeyeaters and smaller parrots that feed on the blossom - so far.

Hakea laurina x petiolaris

I have a range of fruit trees growing here and late autumn is the time for apples, medlars, persimmons and tamarillos. I cooked up the last of our quince with some lamb the other day and it was delicious. I have been eating an apple a day, each day they get sweeter, and by the time I eat the last one I expect it to be honey sweet. I haven't used the medlars yet but have seen a few recipes that I may try now that I have a bit of time. Medlar chutney coming up.

Medlar

The persimmons are so delicately flavoured. I love them at the squishy stage best of all. Miske loves them too and will pig out on them if she gets a chance. The tree is a sight covered in rich orange globes and now the foliage is just starting to turn it will be even more brilliant. You wouldn't believe the reason I planted this tree. I saw a recipe for a frozen persimmon desert served with mascarpone and amaretto and had to try it - so in went the tree. It has been worth the wait. Here is a link to the recipe

Persimmon

Lucky last are the tamarillos. The fruit glows in the sunlight, and even if you don't eat them they are worth growing for their long lasting colour.We eat them fresh, sucking out the middle and throwing the skins away. The puppies love to play with them and I've been finding half eaten fruit all over the garden. Next year there will be tamarillo plants sprouting all over the garden. We have the same trouble with tomatoes. They appear everywhere because the fruit is raided by birds and animals alike.

Tamarillo

I try to grow enough for our household and the wildlife, but I will admit to netting most of the fruit trees. The native garden I have grown was designed especially for the birds and little animals, reptiles and frogs ( we started off with a grass paddock). I try to follow an old Papuan saying which goes something like 'there are no garden pests, only hungry animals'. So I try to keep them happy as well.