sequel to possum post

A recent post was about my success in rehousing a possum couple. The nest stayed empty so it seemed that the possums had settled in their new home. The pittosporums were getting thin and spindly. It was time to trim them radically.

As Greg climbed a ladder and waved his loppers he suddenly shouted: "There's a possum in this nest!" It was another possum, an unfamiliar possum, brown and looking a bit like a koala bear. The poor thing panicked and ran into the trees. It was a bright sunny day, much easier to get a clear shot than in the night.

the garden continues

There are still bushfires and hot days but the nights are cooler and autumn officially starts tomorrow. There still has been no rain.

The first garden job was that of review: a tally of what has survived and what hasn’t. Most has survived, and especially the basic structure. The main area that needs major redesign is the area where the cubby was. My image is that of a paved area surrounded on all sides by greenery. I don’t do paving, so I am enlisting the help of my wonderful garden buddies Judy and Greg.

Next job: pruning, removing burned dead bits of plants, removing whole burned dead plants, then another review. 'Review' is probably too mild a word, 'obsessing' would describe the process better. Fellow garden-holics will understand what this is like.

Next job: re-arranging the garden, which means moving things from one place to another. (The last time I moved an itinerant smoke bush, I swear I heard a gentle resigned sigh coming out of the earth.) This re-arranging is very exciting for me. It is SO satisfying when you move something and it just looks as if it belongs to that spot. On the other hand, it often looks as if it doesn't belong, so onward it goes in an endless search for perfect beauty.

There are no rules to help me in this re-arranging but there are guidelines. I aim for repetition but also do one-off features like this prominent dogwood on the upper right side of the photo.



There needs to be an identifiable structure, but predictable symmetrical plantings are outlawed.



Another job which is ongoing and enjoyable is digging out the compost and spreading it over the garden, preferably while it is still chunky. I realized the other day that my wornout slippers were not biodegradable after all.



After this, in a few weeks or earlier depending on my patience level, I will visit my two staple nurseries to buy a few new things. By then I will be reasonably clear in my mind about what I need for a particular spot, so the shopping will be purposeful, or at least impulse buying will be minimized - hopefully ... Although I must say the best things in the garden (as in life) probably come about through serendipity.

My two staple nurseries are Kuranga Native Nursery for Australian native plants, and Diggers Club for a good range of drought resistant plants. Both have a good mail order service, but I prefer to drive the distance despite feelings of carbon guilt.

So the garden continues.

a rash committment?

Some months ago, when the weather was balmy, the garden looking dreamy, and I was feeling uncharacteristically confident, I applied to Australia's Open Garden Scheme to open my garden to the public. I didn’t hear from them until a few days ago.

Someone phoned, asking to come and see the garden and to meet me. “It’s too late, the garden’s ruined,” I said. “I’d like to see it anyway”, she said.

She came, she looked, she liked it! So I have committed myself. It’s a new garden project. I’m giving myself just over a year to restore the garden, not to its former soft delicate beauty, but to a design that pleases me and incorporates plants that will survive our increasingly harsh climatic conditions without added water.

And of course I will describe the process as I go. This is what it looks like today.

new home for possums

In a previous post I wrote about the not-very-bright ringtail possum which has been living in my garden since it was a baby. From the start I felt that this possum was in need of protection. It has been living in a nest in a pittosporum bush near the house. I can easily see the nest and its occupants when I stand on tiptoes.

Recently I spotted 2 long curved tails with white ends, so it has found a mate. Unfortunately the nest has been slowly disintegrating, to the point that I was afraid the possums would get sunburnt.

Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary aims to protect wildlife in the suburbs. Certain mammals and birds frequently come into urban areas to feed from native trees planted in suburban gardens. However they are unable to breed due to the lack of sufficient nesting hollows.

So I acquired a nesting box specially designed for ringtail possums, nailed it to the large tree near the compost and hoped they would make it their new home. Every day I looked at the nest. The possums were still inside. Today, Day 4, the nest was empty.



I assume they are safe and secure in the nesting box. I am so happy I have helped them. And now I can trim the pittosporums which are getting straggly like the abandoned nest.

once upon a time there was a cubby

Once upon a time there was a cubby. It was meant to be a tree house, and at its best, could barely be seen - hidden within thick foliage.

Over time the children grew up. The tree enfolding the cubby got eaten by possums and died. As the climate got warmer and drier the kiwifruit climbing over the cubby also died.

The cubby no longer looked so inviting, soft or romantic. But visiting children still played in it.

Over time the cubby lost its solidity. The wood warped and there was concern that the cubby was unsafe.

A painful decision was made. The cubby was to go.






So far nothing replaces the cubby, the memories and the soft shade it provided.

bushfires and gardening

This is an interesting and ambiguous cartoon by Ron Tanberg, published on the gardening page of yesterday’s The Age newspaper and discussed by Denise Gadd.

To Denise the cartoon means that “gardeners are a selfish lot who, while towns burn, continue watering their gardens.” But she goes on to argue that we are saving the environment from becoming a dust bowl, and should not be criticized for using water. Gadd believes that other interests, such as preparations for an upcoming motor racing event, use much more water, and this cannot be justified.

To me, however, the cartoon does not implicitly say this. It juxtaposes two realities: the tragic bushfires on the one hand, and the attempt to maintain a small private garden on the other. The difference in the scale and importance of these two scenarios is so great that it makes me feel uncomfortable and defensive to identify with the second picture.

But these scenes do coexist. Both represent the current struggle to live with nature - not to control it because that is impossible, but also not to be overwhelmed by its destructive force.

important information about koala picture

The photo posted below was taken on a mobile phone by Mark Pardew, a volunteer firefighter. It was published in the Melbourne newspaper The Herald Sun.

The Herald Sun is selling copies of the now famous photograph for $20 with all proceeds going to the Country Fire Authority.

To buy your copy call 1300 306 107 or order online http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/shop

Help for a bushfire survivor

Countless birds and animals have also suffered in the tragic bushfire disaster. I love this photo so much. To me it shows that we can live in harmony and respectfully with our non human neighbours.

bushfires - how you can help

Thank you again for the concern expressed by so many people all over the globe.

For those who would like to help, here is the link to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

bushfires

By now everybody has heard about the horrendous bushfires in Victoria. At the moment the death count is 182, and expected to increase greatly as more bodies are found. And the fires are still burning.

The fires are in rural areas, or else at the fringe of the city, outer suburbs that border the bush. So thank you, all you blogging friends from other parts of the world, who have kindly asked if I am OK. People like me, in urban or inner suburban areas, are generally safe from bushfire.

The government will review bushfire strategies and policies. But this event, like the floods in Queensland, is of a different order to past natural disasters. Most informed people here believe that climate change is a significant cause of the fires. It is also due to arsonists, which is difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to know how to respond.

This year summer temperatures got hotter and hotter. The land and its vegetation got drier and drier, enabling and leading to fires of uncontrollable intensity.

What does this mean for our relationship with nature?

This is a question the planned Royal Commission into the bushfires will ask. It is relevant for thinking about whether and how the destroyed communities should be rebuilt. And it is also a question for gardeners, including suburban ones like me.

a new garden vision

Now that summers can be so hot and dry a new gardening aesthetic and practice is needed.

The garden style or design I aspire to can be thought of as mock–wild. Since I am situated in Australia, my notions of wild came partly from our English colonial roots – green, leafy, shady – and partly from our indigenous landscape – gum trees, other flowering trees and shrubs of various shapes and sizes, and spiky grasses as contrast. But the use of indigenous plants was still used in a cottage garden style: densely planted, pretty and varied plantings.

In Australia there exists an extremely wide range of ecosystems. I have been basing my garden on mild temperate climatic conditions. Now I am thinking about using a desert template. On a hot summer day I think a lush green garden looks decadent, out of place, even a bit silly.

About a year ago I had a camping holiday in central Australia. This was a wildness that got under my skin and into my heart.

When I got back I changed my nature strip from lawn to granitic sand, with the odd rock and a couple of tough indigenous plants. I love the look of it and it is easy to maintain.



Maybe this will be the dominant influence in the next stage of my evolving garden. Despite this extremely challenging summer I have regained hope and have an exciting new garden vision.