The Way we were... a bit later...

A fairly inadequate photograph of Melaleula Fulgens. A beautiful fairly open bush, but the flowers with their prominent golden tips on bright red brushes, are truly beautiful.

More of the native section, with Geraldton Wax on the right and Prostanthera Incisa on the left. Both have been great in the light sandy soil in that position. The prostantera is tough in all locations in the garden I have tried it including full sun and heavier soil. Both these bushes are still going strong tucked away down in that corner of the yard. Real troupers.

 Looking back from the bush garden to the rose garden and chook shed with Golden Celebration and Charles Austin flowering in front of the shed.

 A seedling iris I picked up at one of Rainbow Ridges open days at Burnt Yards out near Orange. .. with some evening primrose looking abundant and happy.

Climbing Lorraine Lee and.. I can't recall which red climber it is. Hybrid Tea at any rate.

Bearded Iris - Romantic Evening

Dianthus - Mars I think it is. Wonderful, tough and drought tolerant ground cover. It put on a wonderful display every year and I never had to touch it. Even so it always looked neat and tidy.

 The pink and white rose to the left of the red climber is Princess De Monaco.

The purple iris in this shot is Titan's Glory. A beautiful flower, but I didn't find it to be a particularly vigorous grower. The young rose, which did get much much larger was a real performer.  I have a mental block as to the name. One of the classic HTs. Totally reliable in this gentle eastern facing position but the blooms did tend to fade in the sun.

Crepuscule growing through Winter Honeysuckle. A wonderful combination as when the rose is quiet in winter, the honeysuckle flowers. This is a combination I would like to include in the garden again - though it does require a reasonable amount of space.

the rose in this shot is Pink Panther. Not much smell but it is a pretty flower. The salvia red and white in front is, I believe, lipstick salvia.. and it gets really large.  Quite a tough useful bush and pretty, but it does like to monopolise the bed if left to its own.

the dark red rose is Papa Meilland. It is being embraced by a rambler rose Alberic Barbier. this is a tough position with quite a lot of root competition from the nearby Coral Tree.

Alberic Barbier close up. This was a good year for ol' Alberic but overall the position was too tough for him and he really needed more water and food to flower well consistently.

You can just see a glimpse of Albertine there behind Alberic Barbier.

Golden Celebration above, followed by Charles Austin below.

The Wilderness. Really challenging area of the garden this. Out of sight at the right of the shot is a mature Coral tree. this is behind the old chook shed and no doubt this corner of the yard once accommodated a flock of chickens in the shade. 

This was about as good as Alberic Barbier got for me.  Great glossy healthy foliage.

The way we were.....

Ok. As I have confessed the state to which the garden has deteriorated over our demolition / construction / legal battle period.. here are some lovely photos my daughter took a few years prior to our letting the garden run away from us.. Didn't do too bad considering the garden was established in the years of drought, so not much watering going on really.

Hmm, I believe this is Dainty Bess... or might be Lavender Pinocchio but I believe Dainty Bess is more likely.

..anonymous red rose... pooossibly my fave from Bishop's Lodge

Tipsy Imperial Concubine. These are some of the first flowers she produced for me. and yes, she is not only beautiful - she has a gorgeous perfume as well - and she's pretty tough in the ground too.

Some Beauty among Chaos..

So. Here we are its feeling like spring and don't the roses know it. So frustrating this year not having been able to make any progress on the garden at all.  Its been a tough year. Definitely qualifies as our annus horribilis. Much stress and no time to boot. But that's all about to change in the coming months and hopefully we should be able to make a start on the garden. I've even had some reasonable inspiration lately on my trip to Bourke. Anyway.. down to business and here's some photos.

Gruss an Aachen is producing some lovely blooms. Probably one of my oldest bushes in the garden, it is certainly a must as far as I'm concerned as it is so lovely and pretty much trouble free for me. 

The rose at the fore of this picture is Mme Berkeley. Mrs BR Cant is behind. Both have been wonderfully drought resistant and trouble free for me. I love them both. Thjs early season display is without having received any care or feeding whatsoever for a couple of years. 

I believe this one is the David Austin rose John Clare. The colour is so rich and vibrant but I don't detect much in the way of scent.

 Looking down across the jungle.  That's poor old Gruss an Aachen nodding there just left of centre. Just behind is a powerfully frangrant gem of a rose I first got as a mislabel....this bush I bought with the name.. but mental block just now as to what it is called. 

 in the front right hand of this shot is the David Austin rose Redoute. .. hanging in there. 

This shot is taken from the opposite side of the bed to the photo above of Mme Berkeley.  This is Mrs BR Cant. Just minding her own business and doing her thing. Compeletely self sufficient and accompanied by a pretty happy looking thistle.  We have some really impressive thistles in the garden at the moment. Once I would have been concerned, but since reading Peter Andrews books, I just cannot enjoy weeding like I once did.  Now the weeds just look like additional biodiversity!

 I just cannot believe this clematis is still alive. No care and planted in a difficult position, here it is competing with the long grass and holding its own. I thought clematis were supposed to be finicky and delicate.  Pleased to find perhaps not so.

Golden Celebration. Putting up with some really hard conditions. 

This is the climbing rose Meg. And a beautiful girl she is too... and yes, the flower is indeed quite large, as it appears in this photograph.

 Looking back up to the house across what will mostly have to remain a grassy area due to our drainage arrangements.

Looking across the yard to the remants of my native garden.  The native garden was doing quite nicely but then a large tree fell down on it and remained so for a bit and the garden was pretty much destroyed.The trees are doing nicely though with all the rain we've had and even some seedling Acacia Macradenia have sprung up much to my delight.

Ah, the wilderness section complete with Persoonia Pinifolia on the right hand side of the photograph. Looking very happy indeed. It cost a fortune, but money well spent.

I feel a little guilty for not wholeheartedly attacking the Black Eyed Susan down in the far corner. We dragged it off the pomegranite tree last year,.. I have to say I do have a soft spot for this plant/weed.

And my dear old friend the Abutilon. I am not very partial to orange flowers, but I will make an exception for this abutilon.  It's so easy to strike and so tough and the brush wattle birds like it. A good bush for somewhere really quite tough and where most other things just will not thrive. As a bonus it doesn't mind some shade and is very drought tolerant.

The white dutch iris have hung in there..

Looking down to the wilderness and my pink flowering melaleuca

Charles Mallerin. Has a reputation for being difficult. I have tortured mine in a pot. I think he's put his roots down further and has produced this glorious bloom and has a vigorous new water shoot as well.  Oh if only you could smell him. Divine. Absolutely Divine. He only needs to produce one flower per year for me to keep him around, the scent and depth of colour is so good. I visited another gardenwebber one time... she had a single flower of Charles Mallerin in a bud vase in her home, it was truly spectacular in form and scent and colour. Probably the most memorable single rose bloom I've ever come across. Hmmm, I must make sure to give Charles Mallerin a you beaut spot in the garden.

Looking down the back from up against the house.  I am looking forward to seeing the view change over the next few years as we get stuck in and clean it up again.