| bernieh wants you to know: |
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"I garden in a dry tropics zone in north-eastern Australia, which can be a challenging experience.
The conditions here are characterized by a very long dry spell over autumn to spring (around nine months of the year without any rain at all!) ... followed by a short wet spell during summer.
Rain is however very much a 'hit-and-miss' affair. Our average annual rainfall is around 1000mm, falling mostly during that 'wet season' November to April - unless we have a year of drought or record monsoonal rainfall!
Average daytime temperatures range between 18 degrees C in the winter to over 31 degrees C in summer. We average around 145 days of daytime temperatures above 30 degrees C and at least 300 days of bright sunshine a year. We also experience very high levels of humidity during our summer.
I live on a 3 acre property that is situated on the side on a rocky hill. There is a little poor quality soil on the site ... it is mostly bedrock ... and because we live on the side of a hill most water drains off very quickly.
Garden areas had to be built-up which required lots of soil being brought in, therefore there are only a few garden beds on this property and the look of these beds has not change much over the years - plants either survived or perished.
This is not a place for a cottage type garden filled with lots of lovely perennial flowers ... or a place where there are gorgeous borders that change with every season.
Plants have to be sun, heat, humidity and drought hardy ... and then they also have to be able to survive heavy downpours of rain if our 'wet' season eventuates. Once those plants were found ... that is what stayed.
The only garden spaces that do change a little are my courtyard garden and my greenhouse garden ... where I can have lots of potted annuals and plants that are not quite as drought, heat and sun hardy as those that grow in the outdoor garden beds.
I have two gardening blog sites, if you care to drop by for a visit.
I'm at:
//berniesgarden.blogspot.com.au/
and
//bushbernie.blogspot.com.au/" |
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"This is a photo of the flower of a native tree that grows across northern Australia and is very prevalent in the bushland around my home. The tree is rather scraggley looking but the bloom is lovely ... it can only be seen opening around 4.00 pm in the afternoon and by morning it has fallen. This tree is called Planchonia careya or commonly it is referred to as the Cocky Apple Tree." |
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| bernieh signed up on Feb 7, 2010 |
