Hello all!

I hope you won't mind me joining you from Australia - I have a 1000sqm block in the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria, where our winters are very frosty (no snow) and keeping some of our usual favourites alive has been a challenge! I've found that UK gardening blogs and websites are the most useful for advice that works in our climate, so I'm planning to hang around here and learn what I can.

We bought our house (a dilapidated 1915 weatherboard cottage) around 3 years ago, but the garden has taken a back seat to renovations until last year and things are just starting to take shape. Kind of.

My particular passions are bulbs, fruit trees and the veggie plot, and I'm all about gardening on the cheap and working with what I've got.

I will post a few pictures of my humble plot here after work, unless I find a better spot on the forum.

Thanks.

 

@Cassie nice to have you with us as we're a friendly bunch as you'll find out joining in with the discussions

To add a bit of beauty to your garden also plus they're bee lovers and are also an Australian plant and adore heat are the Australian (Callistemon Tree) Bottle brushes plants.

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to GC Cassie

We're looking forward to seeing the pictures of your plot

 

Welcome to GC! Now I have another case of zone envy Only frost and no snow would seem tropical to me. Looking forward to your pictures

 

Welcome Cassie. It's good for us to have new friends join us from further afield. Also interesting to see what plants you grow in your region, I might need some help!

 

G`day Cassie and welcome to the forum. My family live in Tasmania, and Queensland. On a warmish summer day here in England - when they visit, they usually feel chilly

 

Thank you for the warm welcome.

That's a beautiful specimen Gail. I don't have many natives in the garden at present apart from a big gum tree, but I'm thinking about making a 'native corner' around the soon-to-be-relocated potting shed at the back of the block. Right now there is a half dead tree, a dead pot plant and a stack of old tires so it would have to be an improvement

Tetters, you have a point! Our winters are on the cold side here but the summers are quite hot, and not all of these frost-hardy plants enjoy even an occasional 40c day. A bit different to the summer I spent in Scotland.

It's horrid outside at the moment here (though we need the rain) so here are some pictures from sunnier days...

My favourite tree (crabapple) in bloom:



The view from my back window. The beds are very much a work in progress. The front left will be a herb bed, and the border to the right is a bit of an experimental zone where I'm planting some peonies, bulbs, globe artichokes and who knows what else. At the back is a little fenced orchard area with fruit trees and chickens.


The veggie patch. It looks shady here but gets full sun pretty much all day. Eventually that front section will be a gravel drive, and I'll put some kind of paving around the beds, but renovations have claimed all our time and money for now. Need to plant some kind of climber on the fence.

 

Hi...welcome to gc

 

Hi Cassie, thanks for adding the photo's ...these tree's are stunning and you seem to have your veggie patch in order also.

If you do a native corner then you won't go wrong with the bottle brushes, it broke my heart losing 7 to our bad weather but the plant coming from your country...well it's in it's element