My summer garden has plenty of bee flowers - allissium that comes up everywhere, including the cracks in the path, roses, queen anns lace, herbs including sage, borage, comphry,hyssop and lavender . There are citrus also, with their divinely smelling blossom scenting the garden and a rather wide feijoa bush absolutely smothered in flowers,( see previous post) that has been pollinated largely by blackbirds and starlings ! it is the first time I have seen birds all over a fruit tree when in flower, they actually peck at the flowers so hope I get fruit !
The hollyhocks this year are amazing ! Dark and light pink saucer shaped blooms starting from the bottom of the stem, taller then I am and having to be tied back from falling all over the path.
Tucked away between the Italian garden and gardens yet to be completed, is the Te Parapara Maori garden, an example of pre-European native bush and kumera ( sweet potato) patch. This would have existed here on the banks of the Waikato river before European settlers and millitary arrived in the 1860`s, and driving most of the Maori iwi ( tribe) further south before claiming the land as `theirs` !
One of the many carved faces around the garden, all protective and very important symbols belonging to Tainui, the main tribe from this area.
The small fenced off open-sided building at the entrance to the enclosed area, after walking through a bush path lined with NZ native trees that would have grown here, and many still do - Kanuka, Manuka, ferns, Kumarahoe, Kahikatea, Makomako ( wineberry), Oleria and Renga renga with native clematis and jasmine climbing the punga fencing. This area was planted 2 yrs ago now reaching high and eventually will become a real piece of bush.
My precious new granddaughter, Mia Ann Maree was born on the 2nd Dec, the second child for my lovely son Cameron and his beautiful wife, Carly. I think this photo sums it all up really - a loving family . . . Jackson (2yrs) loves his `baby sister` and has planted kisses on her head !
Wax comb from my TopBar hive - isn`t it the most beautiful creation ? I kept this out of the hive last summer so I can use it in my talks, plus it gives my house a delicious scent.. In the TB hive the comb is made completely by the bees, no head start with foundation sheets that have the size of the cells just a tiny bit bigger, hopefully breeding a bigger bee = more honey ! The bees know what they are doing, they don`t need mans interference or manipulation, which is one of the reasons I am only keeping my bees in a TopBar hive now. I am encouraging others to do the same ! Check out my new blog, kiwitopbarhive.blogspot.com where I will be putting my TB beekeeping news and info on. I am also in the process of starting a NZ based group for people keen on using this type of hive for their bees.
My Dad, Thomas Brian Meehan dipping sheep on the farm `Patunga` in the late 1950`s. I can clearly remember him doing this smelly job on hot summer days - pushing the sheep under the thick yellow concoction with a hooked pole. My biggest dread was that I might fall in, as it not only smelt bad, but consisted of sulphur and other nasty chemicals - there is Dad, dressed in shorts, socks and boots, no protection at all, not like today . . .
This photo of moi and pet romney lamb ( can`t recall the name) was taken on a kiwi icon event, Calf Club Day, usually in summer at every country school, ( Te Whakarae, now closed down) in 1950`s and still running. I would have been around 8 or 9 so the year would be early 1960`s. he/she was an obedient lamb by the look of things - leading very nicely ! Growing up on a remote sheep and cattle farm through the 50`s and 60`s was an idyllic life for a child, the tiny country school with 2 rooms and husband and wife teachers never had any more then 20 children, so all classes were in the same room. I will dig out a picture of the school, lots of fond memories. . .
Two of my favorite quirky fruit flowers, Passionfruit, Passiflora edulis, with beautiful purple tassles and ovaries containing all those seeds ! A native of Brazil, this vine grows really well in NZ, sometimes to well, it can climb and attach with it`s tendrils to just about anything, but the fruit is so worth it - scooped out and piled over icecream, topping on a pavalova - all those kiwi traditions, or just eaten out of the crinkly,purple skin. It is extremely good for you also, has no colestrol, with high amounts of Vitamin A and C, plus potassium. It gets it`s name from Spanish clergymen who thought the flowers resembled religious figures.
I love looking at the intricate flower arrangement, a very inviting landing pad for a bee !
My vine here was only planted last year, has been fairly neglected but has covered the trellis and is searching for more things to cling to ! It is covered in flowers and fruit already - it never ceases to amaze me at how marvelous a miracle it is - from a tiny seed to flower to fruit, all with the help of our honey bees. . . .
A real winter treat in NZ, by the end of the season I am always totaly `feijoa`d out ! Another native plant of South America, Feijoa, Acca sellowiana grows extremely well here. I have 2 small trees which are covered in buds and flowers, the fruit is ready from March onwards and you can`t give them away by June ! Eaten raw, stewed, cakes, muffins, jam, frozen for later - you name it, we do it ! The smell of this fruit is one you never forget, aromatic and strong. My English son-in-law hadn`t seen them before coming here and wasn`t that keen as the fruit is highly scented. This plant makes a great hedge, bees and birds love the flowers (and fruit), another kiwi icon.
Star burst flowers, quite similar at a quick glance to our native Rata and Pohutukawa flowers, they all belong to the same family, Myrtaceae . The thick green leaves with their tomentum covered backs are very much the same as the NZ natives. Great plants to have in a coastal garden as that white c0vering on the leaves protects them from salt spray.
Kia ora fellow sepias` and others, welcome on this spring day to my family. Not an old pic but none the less, a black and white study of my 4 children taken to celebrate my 40th birthday in 1993.
This is one of my favorite photos, Ellena was my late bloom and totally loved by the older ones, in fact, she was a tad spoilt, but thats ok, it didn`t ruin her.
My 2 gorgeous older daughters, Meg, 18 at the time and Pip, 11 yrs - both lovely young women, different as chalk and cheese, wonderful, caring Mothers now - this is one very proud Mum of all 4 - I consider them my biggest achievement - I have been a `single` Mum since Ellena was 3 - who says children from one parent homes miss out, not these ones, I made sure of that !
A group of scary scarecrows are hanging out in the walled vegetable garden down at the Hamilton Gardens this week. All made by school children and pre-school kidlets, with some families involved also, there was a competition organized by `The Friends of Hamilton Gardens` which saw some very inventive scarecrows ! Below is the line-up of blokes !
Mr and Mrs Bloom were my favorites, colorfully made with old clothes, a mask, pots, all sorts.
I liked this scarecrow also, made from old grape vines, raffia basket, seed pods, all natural bits and pieces. The fact that it is lying on its side added to the `look`.
This is the 3rd year the scarecrow competition has been run in the Gardens, it becomes more successful each year, with quite afew more `figures` adorning the walls this year. People are clever you know, everything used had to be recycled and the creativity was astounding ! The walled garden is the ideal place for these shows, the weather has been perfect - it has certainly brought a smile to the faces of everyone I have seen wandering through the vege patch . . .
Sepia Saturday again - where has the week gone ?? The pics this week are of my maternal Great grand parents, Dorothy ( driving the huge Clydesdale horses) and Arthur Andrews ( see post acouple of weeks ago), my Grand mother, Phylis Gwendoline ( bottom left) and her young brother Marcus, on top of the hay stack on the wagon with his Dad. This photo was taken around 1923 in their orchard at Greenhithe just north of Auckland. It was in the country in those days, now is a suburb of our biggest city Ak.
-The family are getting their winter supply of hay ready to build into stacks - there is a real art in building them to last the winter, I was talking about it with one of my `old darlings` I care for in my 2nd job recently, he is 94 and full of wonderful stories. He told me how the hay stacks were built, if done properly, the stack would stay up and dry inside through all weather , it was all in the angle of the stacking, important not to `over stack` the bundles - very hot and dusty work !
Ti Kouka is so photograph-able, it is most probably the plant I have taken hundreds of pics of. This tall, up to 17m New Zealand icon holds a special piece of all our hearts, instantly recognized and now grown in many gardens overseas.
This special emblem of Aotearoa can be found growing throughout the country. Ti Kouka or Cordyline australis is a tall palm-like tree with dark green strappy leaves that blow in the wind like a wild woman`s hair, then drop to the ground becoming the bain of every NZ child`s lawn mowing days as they ( the leaves) have a habit of stopping the mower if run over !
This plant is not a tree, it belongs to the Lomandraceae family, is often called a Tree Lily with its tall trunk, not a woody trunk but one with phloem and xylem, no cambium, a monocot. The leaves are large and long-lived, with many parallel veins and a broad leaf base that wraps around the stem. Ti will grow in most places, often creating a dense forest in swampy areas or to be seen as a lonely figure growing in a paddock, its companions cut down or dead. Called Cabbage Tree by early settlers as the white `heart` of the plant can be cooked and eaten, tastes similar to cabbage apparently. Maori believe that a large early flowering means a long summer ahead. Old Ti are often hollow with one specimen growing up north large enough to house a gum digger, chimney and all !
My Father, Thomas Brian Meehan, aged 33yrs old in 1956 at` Patunga`, the sheep farm he eventually managed for ten years, on his trusty steed. At this stage we were living in the little cottage in the background, moving to the main homestead ( which deserves a post of it`s own) 2 yrs later.
I collected this small swarm from a friend`s place last Sunday, in the rain - poor wee bees were wrapped up tightly under the ferny branches of a weeping maple. It being only acouple of handfuls of bees I am wondering if it has a queen, it may have been a secondary swarm. They have busily started making comb from the top of the nuc box, I am giving them to a friend who has a new TopBar hive all waiting and ready. I have noticed over the last few years that swarms really get stuck into collecting pollen and nectar and making wax very quickly, they build up to a decent size hive in a short while - must be that urge to bring in food for the young and build a proper home !
I drove home, rain pouring down and thankful the bees were safe and dry - it is always an interesting trip with a box of bees on the back seat, not going to fast to have them fall off and break out, and not so slow you draw attention to yourself ! At least I didn`t have my bee suit on, that always gets some weird stares - I just wave . .
I don`t know if it is just me or not, but is this spring an especially beautiful one ?? I seem to be so much more aware of the new growth all around me. . Above is the bud of our native clematis, C.paniculata , it is deciduous and when in flower covers a fence or the top of trees with a brilliant white mass of flowers - in it`s native place, our NZ bush, it always heralds spring - I love it.
Above the flowers and new seeds on a Red Maple Acer rubra shine in the morning sun. Maple have small flowers often hard to find, when seen really close up they are intricate and beautiful. It is always the first maple to flower and leaf up around here. Acers are not native to NZ, we have very few deciduous native trees, NZ is a temperate country and doesn`t get cold enough in most places for plants to go into dormancy over winter.
New leaves on a not very tall Rhododendron - the leaves actually seem far to large for the tree. Once the leaves are older they droop down and make a distinctive skirt. The pale purple flowers are not much to write home about, but the leaves make up for that ! I must try and find out what its botanical name is as it could be grown in a city section.
