Finally, some rain. 36 mls - enough to fill 2 of our three interconnected dams. Just a little bit more needed. The weeds of course spring to life first, but everything else is coming along nicely. I've spent a happy day pottering in the garden, digging in bag after bag of cow manure. (18) and then moving perennials into the newly enriched soil.

The imagination can always see how it will look, given more rain and plenty of sunshine.

We also had a walk in the rainforest. This moss looked rich and green all over the forest floor. The bracken fern, which used to carpet large areas has died right back (that pesky drought again) but it will soon come back as the days warm up. 

Banksia ericifolia

Stunning. Nothing else to say.

Except that we've had a bit of rain recently and now have 2 out of 3 dams full. Our little red boat, which you can see in the background, is riding high again.
Frank 

Passion

Just one of the spots of colour we have in our garden at the moment. 

Winter sun

The winter sun was at just the right angle to bring these flowers on the miscanthus to a radiant white.
Frank 

I found this little creature crawling across the floor. It had dropped off me after I had been out in the bush. We've had a little bit of rain so the leeches have woken up and are hungry!
Frank 

Here is a 360 degree panorama of the vista, lake and pavilion. It's a little small, but I hope this gives you an idea. 

Rabbit home

A little rabbit, which was bought in Singapore about a year ago, has finally found its home on the Magic Mountain. 

Camellia sasanqua "Paradise Pearl"

Camellias are tough. These have survived the drought and are now flowering proliferously. These are now 7 years old and this is the best flowering we've seen.

They're planted as a hedge around a perfumed rose garden and are coming into flower just as the roses are going to sleep for the winter. 

Chinese Pistachio

The Pistacia chinensis has beautiful red berries as you can see. The colour is looking particularly strong today as there is a misty rain that dulls our usually strong sunshine.

Unfortunately we don't get nuts from this particular cultivar.

And yes, you did read correctly. It is raining!
We haven't had enough to fiull the dams, but our water tanks are full. 

Firewheel tree

The firewheel tree is still flowering!

This particular bloom is on a twig sprouting straight from the trunk. To give you a bit of an idea of size, the flower is as big as a small closed fist and dripping with nectar, so I'm sure it feeds the little pygmy possums we have living with us. 

The Magic Mountain, Phase One, is finished!

Today I finished my major project - The Magic Mountain. It's taken over 2 years to complete.
It's next to the Pavilion on a spot that was difficult to mow and with such awful clay that nothing decent would grow there. So I get 30 tons of sandstone trucked onto the property and barrowed it over to the Mountain. The picture is of an old stree stump that I dragged into position to give a strong vertical line. The roots support it off the ground and I've planted a dwarf lillipilli between them.
Frank 

The autumn colour on the pistachio tree and the persimmon are being enhanced this year because of our severe drought. Seems like there really is a silver lining to everything. - Frank 

Roses

Christine picked this vase of roses from our garden. They looked so good in the afternoon sun in our living room I had to share them with the world. - Frank

 
This is the Cashmerian Cypress tree. I thought I'd better show what it looks like from a bit of distance. It's an absolute beauty, one of my favourite trees in the garden. This one is just a few years old but growing very well - about 4 metres tall in just a few years. 
garden

 
I am trying to learn more about cypresses. This is a gorgeous Cashmerian Cypress flowering or sending out pollen or whatever it is that it does. I have been researching on the internet but not really learning a lot. Like for instance does this tree have male and female whatevers on the same tree?
This picture is greatly magnified (aren't the new cameras wonderful?) and the first day I spotted these little thingies they were all closed up and the next they were brown and opening. What happens next? I hope to know soon but if you know then please tell me. 

 
I haven't put up any pictures for ages - just been too busy, plus there didn't seem anything good happening in the garden. We are so much in drought that I have huge cracks appearing in the lawn and I've lost some of my more tender shrubs. Even things which are supposed to be able to withstand drought, like pokers. My beautiful 'Winter Cheers' are non existent this year. I hope they have surviving roots under the ground and if it ever rains again they will pop up and surprise me.
Which reminds me. The autumn colours this year are glorious. Even my flowering peaches have managed to muster up a little red and gold to match the fiery persimmon nearby and the yellow of the liquid ambers in the background.
The swamp cypresses are a glorious orangey brown and the crepe myrtles are deep red. We don't have the sheer numbers of colourful trees like our friends in Canada but what we have is looking good.

This little insect was sitting on a rock sunning itself. When it flew away it went straight up like a miniature helicopter. and fast!. I was expecting it to fly forwards not straight up. 

Stenocarpus sinuatus

 

This is such a good picture I couldn't resist showing it off. I saw one of these flowering in Kings Cross a couple of days ago. It was being used as a street tree and was as tall as the 3 storey block of flats it was sheltering. 

Red Justicia (Odontonema strictum) looks really beautiful at the moment. It is an old fashioned shrub which is very tough so it is thriving in the present drought. I am really impressed with it. I've grown lots of new ones from cuttings and so I have quite a few. The honey eaters don't seem to be paying them much attention though which I find quite surprising

 

Walking through the bush today we came across this very delicate little native orchid. Just a stalk popped up through the grass and these lovely tiny flowers massed along the stem. I have no idea what it is but its certainly pretty. 

We've had some rain at last so fungi are popping up all over the place. These are rather beautiful examples of Coprinus niveus (I think). I consulted my A Field Guide Companion to Australian Fungi by Bruce Fuhrer and that was the closest match.

Our second driest February since 1991 but I only started keeping records in 1990. It's quite an interesting hobby keeping check on the weather, made more so when you rely totally on the rain for yourself and your garden, as we do.