bulbine bulbosa byebye

I am going away for a week so thought I'd do a quick bulbine post.  I have just returned from deadheading the bulbines at The Gatehouse, my garden away from home.

All the ones in the foreground are self-sown and I have been indulged by my council co-workers to let them stay because I believe they can become 'a host of golden bulbines'.  It looks as though it may work.

It's a joy to watch them develop buds and flowerheads.

Here's the experimental patch in my own garden.  I'm trying to merge my veggie garden with native Tasmanian foods.

I'm also trying them out in pots.  It they work, we can sell them from the Gatehouse produce stall.

Nicky from the school currently has pumpkin and zucchini seedlings for sale.  She also reworked the board with the most golden pumpkin yellow chalk.

These are very clean leeks from Mel's garden.  They inspired me to make Welsh Rarebit for tea last night.  One day I'll have a go at making it with the bulbine bulbs.  I have read that they have a mild onion flavour.

Springish

Lovely cards from lovely friends set the scene.

Yesterday we had the first sausage sizzle of the season.

And I am basking in this book, savouring the Corfu delights and Durrell's observations of fascinating animal behaviour.

Then I have Gerald's sister's book - a lesser known Durrell.  I got so enchanted with the Spring weather today I inadvertently closed the Gatehouse early.  The sun must have got to me.  24 degrees Celsius.  Perfect.

a garden that sounds interesting

The Floosie has commented that my garden sounds interesting.  And, having said that, shoots off to Mediterranean climes.  Very few people who have visited my garden would notice much difference.  But I have a plan, and I think it is starting to take shape.  Slowly.  And very subtly...

Hopefully more will become apparent as the weather warms.  The mornings can still be very frosty.

I'm hoping the wind will not blow away the apricot blossom as it did last year.  No apricots.

I've had a beautiful display of hellebores, sometimes looking good enough to eat.

Here is one new thing, but not particularly exciting yet for the viewer.  This is the garden bed under the carport - east facing, then devoid of sun.  I am gradually getting daffodils to grow here and have just planted that tiny clump of green, which is a daphne bush.  There is a daphne at the school that has been flowering for at least 2 months and is an absolute visual and olfactory delight.  May I be so blessed.

I have been blessed by this daffodil which has flowered for the first time this year.  I didn't even know it was a daffodil previously, suspecting it to be a snowflake, but when I returned from Adelaide there it was greeting me in all its glory.  May it thrive and prosper.

The other day I was disturbed by the sound of a chainsaw.  Eventually I traced the source to a chap cutting branches off this pine tree in the caravan park.  My first response was horror, of course,

but thinking logically, its demise would allow a lot more sunlight into our garden.  It is to the north-east and casts a long shadow.  I had no sooner thought this through with a rising sense of anticipation, when the wretch downed tools and has not been seen since.