A visit by a friendly King Parrot and a visit to Gareth's orchard

My Aunty Trish read my blog and she said there was too much work going on ...and it made her feel exhausted reading the blog - so this blog entry hopefully will be a little less full of work! Thanks for the feedback Aunty!

The garden is all red this month with an impressive red epiphyllum or orchid cactus that is growing up a Jacaranda tree.

and there are also mass plantings of double red hippiastrum bulbs blooming in all the garden beds.


I  have nicknamed the visiting King Parrot 'Cheeky' as he is incredibly bold and friendly especially when he wants some bird seed. The males of the Australian King Parrots have brilliant red head, red belly and green wings. He usually visits in the morning with his family and late afternoon and if I have forgotten to leave birdseed out near the kitchen herb garden, I will notice his flashes of red colour as he flies through the property trying to locate me and attract my attention with his whistling. I'm a bit concerned he is a 'stalker'

Barbara and Phil were visiting recently and 'Cheeky' ever curious visited them alot. He prefers the sunflower seeds the best of all the seeds! It was a delight reconnecting with Barbara and Phil and hearing their recent travel stories. They are both so adventurous!

My dear friend and neighbour Gareth has the best orchard with neat beds and rows of fresh home grown produce. I am more than happy to swap home baked cookies and cakes for some of his locally grown produce.

Kel took some photos of his purple broccoli and cabbage which I am happy to share and showcase.

Anyway I can't forget to mention the great gardening work that Lynn and Andre have done in working impressively, removing the weeds and restoring the top garden. The final results show  refreshed and renewed garden beds. They have both got great garden knowledge to share - thanks so much.

On a creative note I visited the art exhibition of Julian Meagher at the Edwina Corlette Gallery in Brisbane. Check out his website as he has some great images of orchids!