As I remarked in yesterday’s blog post, I did not volunteer at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) last week. Alas. However, I thought that blog followers might want to see something –so here are a selection of photos taken around my own garden over past days. At least you can see how I have been benefiting from my experiences in the RTBG.

Not being able to go last Thursday made me look, that morning, at Mt Wellington wistfully knowing that the RTBG was about half way between me and the mountain.  And you can see in the next photo,t last Thursday was another gorgeous day as all Thursdays are when volunteering in the Food Garden is on offer.

First up I want to show you my Yakon; the new leaves are sprouting from a tuberous root that was not needed when we pruned the Food Garden’s Yakon dramatically earlier this year.  In a previous post I have written about how refreshingly juicy the root is to eat. My fledgling plant makes me super excited; seeing that it is happy to grow, on the western side at the bottom of my sloping garden with two five foot fences situated close by on either side, is a relief.  I rooted out a very vigorous Buddleia bush to give this piece of Yakon a place.  The amount of direct sunlight it gets is minimal so I expect it will stretch strong arms to the light in coming weeks. I often forget to water down in that part of the garden but any watering that my neighbours do in their gardens will probably be sufficient.After learning how to plant garlic in my early days working in the Food Garden, I purchased some ‘proper’ garlic, brought the bulbs home, and planted some cloves: a few in a pot and a few in the ground. All are growing so well that next year I will plant sufficient to last me through many months.

After admiring the early flowering pears near warm walls in the RTBG over the past weeks, I am delighted that my espaliered pear tree (grafted with two varieties – one of which never flowers) is now in flower.  The bees are buzzing happily pollinating along the way – auguring well for a good crop (if windy weather doesn’t blow off small developing fruits). 

Some flowers are colouring my espaliered apple tree (grafted with Pink Lady and Granny Smith varieties).The cherry is another tree that has started to blossom. The red plum has lost its blossom and gained a full coat of green leaves and new growth.The greengage tree has started to leaf up and many blossoms petals are beginning to float away. The wisteria is gorgeously lilac.A pair of azalea bushes are flourishing;  luxurious in their flower coverage. One a single and the other a double flower.A row of Freesias, grown from bulbs I purchased at the Tuesday plant sales offered earlier this year by the RTBG, are strongly perfumed.  How much I like the natural scents; reminds me how much I baulk at synthetic scents.A couple of black passionfruit vines have new tendrils twining.

My Persimmon looks so healthy – must be the feed of blood and bone I gave it.The avocado is the big surprise. Grown accidentally from kitchen scraps thrown out and into the mulch, this plant has survived four winters without any help from me and it continues to grow slowly.  But it seems healthy.My new fig has fresh leaves.  I hope to see substantial growth over the next twelve months.Each of my three citrus trees (lemon, orange and mandarin) have flowers. The orange tree still has a few fruit hanging. Should I cut them off?  Enjoyed one juicy piece for breakfast this morning.  The two blue berry bushes are in flower. The currants and gooseberries are full of leaf but no flower. 

Mostly I am weeding, weeding and then weeding some more. ‘Weed Girl’ that I am.

Everywhere. Every day. Everything in the garden is flowering if it can or leafing up.  Pleasure. Joy. Delight. A wondrous world.

Okay. I must stop extending this blog post; there are so many more plants I could show.  But enough is enough. Surely. However I believe that those blog followers who do not live in Tasmania will be happy to see that Spring has truly sprung and the natural world is doing well in this part of the earthly globe.