August 2020 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

It's not quite spring, but August is officially the last month of winter. It's actually one of the best times for Australian wildflowers because of the rainfall and coolth before summer turns everything to straw and dust!
Here are a few Aussie natives in our garden: Phebalium squamulosum, Grevillea lanigera and Hardbergia violacea (the white and pink forms are seedlings from a white flowering shrubby form)
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

 Hello Fermi, good to hear from you and know that you are, presumably well. I hope Will is also. Hard to know what the Dickens is going on in Victoria at present and one is almost too frightened to ask. I haven't heard from Otto in a long time but then I haven't emailed him so that's my own fault.

Spring here is also trying to creep in and people like Dave Toole have a lot of nice things out already, even a Trillium! My lot is mostly confined to some snowdrops, new ones in pots but those in the garden are still "locked down." (We've learned a whole new vocabulary or at least given known words new meanings with this darned covid thing). So crocuses and Cyclamen coum have been the best here so far. What with the Covid-19 and a postponed knee replacement surgery, my garden has become a wilderness over the winter and the retrieval is a long and quite painful process. Add to that two cataracts and deafness steadily getting worse, life is a bit problematic at present so it's really good to see some signs of approaching spring.
Anyway, keep well and as we all learned to say following the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, Kia Kaha (stay strong). It WILL get better, won't it?

[ashley]

All the very best Lesley, and enjoy the progress of spring through your garden.

Over years I've learned to enjoy whatever highlights happen without worrying unduly about 'problems' or a 'to do' list.  Admittedly more sensitive visitors may struggle to distinguish garden from wilderness but our compensation is endlessly fascinating nature.  There are compensations in everything

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley,
Well may we ask what is going on in Victoria...or Auckland! Most likely people who don't think rules apply to them
Otto is well and was on Zoom with other members of AGS Vic Group last month.
Hi Ashley,
it's a while since we visited your garden and wilderness I'd love to see it again someday.
Here's a bloom on Narcissus nivalis grown from seed you sent me.
For those who don't know the story - when I went to the 2nd Czech Conference I took some seed from our garden but inadvertently also took some small bulbs of this dwarf daff which I'd grown from seed from Rafa. Knowing that I couldn't bring them back to Australia Ashley kept them to grow on and when they flowered and set seed he was able to send seed back to me and now they are flowering here
cheers
fermi

[ashley]

Good to see Fermi
Likewise your bulbs flower regularly here & next month I'll offer some seed on the forum that otherwise would have gone to the exchange.

[Lesley Cox]

NZ thought it was all right but now is finding new cases of Covid-19 which are unrelated to any previously known cause such as homecoming travellers. We are on the verge of total lockdown again. Business people want everything opened up. Govt. is (rightly) determined to trace source of new cases and protect population. Auckland is most at risk but apparently there is some other spread as well, all in the North Island, so far.

I have a wonderful photograph which I want to post in the Wildlife thread but can't cope with the technicalities. I'll send it to my friend Dave Toole and ask him to post it within a day or two.

[Lesley Cox]

Or Maggi, are you able to lift it the photo from Facebook and put it here please? It's in a post about wax-eye birds.

The note to go with it would read -
"These 13 NZ native fantail birds were photographed in a garden shed near Dunedin in mid July (coldest part of winter here). The photographer was the outstanding Stephen Jacquiery who takes many, on every kind of subject, for Dunedin's daily newspaper, the Otago Daily Times. I was able to buy a copy of the photograph and have taken a phone photo of that."

If you're not happy with this arrangement Maggi, just delete it, thanks.

[fermi de Sousa]

Three golden stars in the winter garden:
Romulea flava
Gagea fibrosa
Nothoscordum sp (is it N. felipponei?)
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Hello Lesley, I'd be  happy  to  lift the  photo from FB for  you- if  I  could  find  it!  That's  the  trouble  with  FB -  photos  posted  to threads  do nt  always  appear  in the  lines  of their  poster- and  if I were  not a  member  of  that thread  anyway, unless  it  is  public I'd  stand  no chance  to see it.  Just  a  few  reasons  why FB may be  fun for  those  seeking  "likes" but  useless as  a  resource  to find  and  keep information!  Send  it  to  me  some how - by  email or  FB message- or  a  definitive  route  to  find  it, or  I'm stuck!

Or Maggi, are you able to lift it the photo from Facebook and put it here please? It's in a post about wax-eye birds.

The note to go with it would read -
"These 13 NZ native fantail birds were photographed in a garden shed near Dunedin in mid July (coldest part of winter here). The photographer was the outstanding Stephen Jacquiery who takes many, on every kind of subject, for Dunedin's daily newspaper, the Otago Daily Times. I was able to buy a copy of the photograph and have taken a phone photo of that."

If you're not happy with this arrangement Maggi, just delete it, thanks.

[Maggi Young]

Aha! Found  it  by  googling the  newspaper and  searching there - got  this  : www.odt.co.nz/star-news/

"A dozen fantails, and sometimes more, have started roosting in this Mosgiel shed. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
Otago Daily Times

Mosgiel livestock vet Victoria Chapman has been delighted to discover more than a dozen fantails roosting snugly together on a jasmine vine in her shed.

Chapman has recently been living elsewhere while builders undertake renovations at her Bush Rd property, and was pleased to learn from them last week that the fantails had just started roosting in the brick farm shed.

The birds began roosting at dusk, shortly after 5pm, then flew off at dawn and, through the day, also visited the builders by flying into the nearby farmhouse while they worked, she said.

An old jasmine vine had grown not only on the shed's exterior wall, but had also ventured inside and through part of the roof, a loop of vine just below roof level providing a convenient indoor perch which was warmer than alternative roosts outside, exposed to winter winds."


 (posted to the  wildlife  thread  too)

[cohan]

All the very best Lesley, and enjoy the progress of spring through your garden.

Over years I've learned to enjoy whatever highlights happen without worrying unduly about 'problems' or a 'to do' list.  Admittedly more sensitive visitors may struggle to distinguish garden from wilderness but our compensation is endlessly fascinating nature.  There are compensations in everything

Indeed! I've decided that my greatest garden satisfaction is in having provided habitat for a wealth of insect species of all sorts and they don't mind if I haven't weeded, as long as I keep a long and varied flowering season!

[cohan]

Hello Fermi, good to hear from you and know that you are, presumably well. I hope Will is also. Hard to know what the Dickens is going on in Victoria at present and one is almost too frightened to ask. I haven't heard from Otto in a long time but then I haven't emailed him so that's my own fault.

Spring here is also trying to creep in and people like Dave Toole have a lot of nice things out already, even a Trillium! My lot is mostly confined to some snowdrops, new ones in pots but those in the garden are still "locked down." (We've learned a whole new vocabulary or at least given known words new meanings with this darned covid thing). So crocuses and Cyclamen coum have been the best here so far. What with the Covid-19 and a postponed knee replacement surgery, my garden has become a wilderness over the winter and the retrieval is a long and quite painful process. Add to that two cataracts and deafness steadily getting worse, life is a bit problematic at present so it's really good to see some signs of approaching spring.
Anyway, keep well and as we all learned to say following the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, Kia Kaha (stay strong). It WILL get better, won't it?

Hope you are able to get your knee surgery and feel more able again! My friend is dealing with a knee injury-- no surgery needed in the end, but months of limited use--walker, cane, etc! not fun...

[cohan]

It's not quite spring, but August is officially the last month of winter. It's actually one of the best times for Australian wildflowers because of the rainfall and coolth before summer turns everything to straw and dust!
Here are a few Aussie natives in our garden: Phebalium squamulosum, Grevillea lanigera and Hardbergia violacea (the white and pink forms are seedlings from a white flowering shrubby form)
cheers
fermi

Always fun to see the Aus natives which we don't get that much exposure to.

[fermi de Sousa]

Not your Everage Gladdie!
Gladiolus abbreviatus
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

What a smart lady you are Maggi. I always think of the Internet as a last resort, if I think of it at all. Would always look through books first, probably the result of my maternal upbringing. A shame Dad's occupations (chartered accountant) didn't have so much effect as I'm useless at maths except simple arrithmetic and money is to be spent rather than accumulated. The more of it on plants the better!

Anyway I hope you liked the fantails. They are much loved little birds here and often come into the house if a door is open. Then they cleanup any spiders or insects on the ceilings or elsewhere so do a good job before flitting out again.