Jewels In The Garden

No, I haven't struck it rich, not in monetary terms anyway, but I have noticed these gorgeous shiny beetles fossicking around on the wax flowers. I am calling them jewel beetles, though I'm not totally sure that is right. After some research on the matter, I was not able to find anything the same pictured. There are 1200 species of jewel beetles so perhaps it's not surprising that 'my' beetles were not pictured in my insect identification book or on a number of internet sites I visited. If anyone knows any different, I'd love to know, but for me, for now, they are jewel beetles glowing in the sun among the white flowers.

Much more prolific are the bees buzzing around the same bushes. They don't look like jewels, but they are worth their weight in precious gems for the invaluable pollination job they do. Did you know that about a third of all the food we eat is pollinated by bees? How can you put a value on that? I'm very happy to see so many around my garden because they pollinate my fruit and vegetable crops while collecting pollen and nectar for their own purposes.

As I trawled the internet finding out about jewel beetles, I was amazed at the diversity and beauty to be found in the beetle world and astonished to find that you can buy earrings made from beetles and framed beetles to hang on your wall. I think I'll stick with admiring them where they belong, in the garden.

Welcome Cheerfulness

The colour in the garden this month is predominantly yellow. All the wattles are in flower and the calendulas are in full golden bloom, though they do flower for most of the year. All this yellow makes the fence art feature, with its yellow background, even more noticeable. The vibrant colour of the wattles with the fresh spring green of foliage and grass can't help but bring a smile. It's cheeerfulness after gloomy winter weather is very welcome. Enough words, here are some photos to cheer up your day.

Inspiration Is Everywhere

Sometimes inspiration for a new garden bed or structure comes from odd places. Something catches your eye and you start to think about how you can adapt it to your own situation. It might be a while before the inspiration clicks and the finished product might not look too much like the original, but the link is there.

One very unlikely inspiration came from a section of freeway architecture. Travelling to Melbourne from the north, along the Hume Freeway, when you get close to the city there is a section of road lined by very large, blue rectangular poles surrounded by low-growing shrubs. I used to look at it admiringly (Melbourne has the best freeway archecture around) and ponder on how I could adapt the idea to a very small garden scale. Eventually, rectangular blue pots edging a section of garden bed emerged. I wish I had a photo of the original freeway architecture to post here, but anyone who has travelled that section will know it.

Another inspiration came from the Cranbourne Botanic Garden. We saw a black wall-type structure, reminiscent of the old-fashioned shadow boxes. It had coloured glass in some sections and ornamental features in others. Fortunately, both Rodney and I liked it and he was more than willing to translate the idea into our own feature wall edging the deck.

Officially Excited

Writing a book and getting it published is a long and complex process, or series of processes. The intrepid author goes through a range of emotions: uncertainty, anticipation, frustration, impatience, excitement, anxiety, apprehension, and that delicious euphoria when the words are flowing as you want and all your facts are clicking into place, are all part of the mix at various stages, sometimes all in the one day.

Today I received an advance copy of my new book, Gardens For All Seasons. It looks and feels great. The production team has done a wonderful job and I am officially excited.