MID WINTER IN THE GARDEN

 These are just a few of the flowers blooming in our Mid winter garden.

Lachenalia is lovely and bright and pops up in a few parts of the garden.

I don't know the name of this succulent but it does well and I must get around to getting some cuttings so I can spread it along the front of the bed.

I never know whether these are "yellow red hot pokers" or "yellow hot pokers" but they are doing well.  A very small clump was given to me by a friend. I must get some red ones.

Bergenia - the bottom one I bought at the Quarry Gardens and the top one was from a friend.

This marigold came from a packet of seeds I bought on line.  I sowed them among the vegies and they are coming up all over.  I will plant some out in the flower garden when the weather improves enough to do some proper gardening.

Mexican Marigold.  A few years ago we got a couple of bare cuttings from the Monarch Butterfly Society.  When we pruned it back we have stuck cuttings in all over the garden.  The Monarchs love it and it provides a nice splash of winter colour.

and we have another banana flower. There are 4 bunches and now this 5th flower.  

And last snowdrops. A lady in the next street asked for some Lachenalia bulbs and in exchange asked if I would like some snowdrops and bluebells.  I was thrilled as I always thought we were too far north (not cold enough) for snowdrops. 

Not bad considering all the rain we have had.

RAINFALL

It has, obviously, been a very wet year here. NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) has just released the figures for the first half of 2023. 

They list 11 areas that have had more than the yearly average in the first six months of the year and we are included with 1526 mm of rain.  

Kaikohe which is 87 km from us has had an amazing 2140 mm which is 130% of its normal annual rainfall in the first six months

It is raining again today.  Hopefully the  La Nina weather pattern is going to change to El Nino and the weather should improve.

NEW WALK

 Whangarei is a volcanic area so when the first settlers arrived they built rock walls with the rocks they cleared from the land.  Our walk on Monday was to a subdivision built on what was one of these farms and the rock walls have been kept and more built.  This was the start of the walk and took us to a path that led to the subdivision.  

Below is a path that only some of the group walked as it went up 33 steps.  The view was wonderful but, in spite of the blue sky, the wind was icy with snow further south.

More areas that a still to be subdivided.

The photo below shows the beginning of the native bush that goes for several miles along the west of the town.

Once again, we were lucky with the weather as the rain held off until the afternoon. It was a lovely walk and there are others here as well so we will be back.

HATEA RIVER

This morning we walked the middle section alongside the river.  The first time since the walk was closed due to Cyclone Gabrielle making a mess of it.  There were lots of trees that had fallen across the walkway and had been cleared.  Luckily the rain held off for us and we really enjoyed getting out in nature.

This is where the bridge had been demolished by the strength of the water.

The tracks up Mt. Parihaka are still closed and likely to remain that way for some time apparently

Most of the path was like this - back to normal.

With the bush and the sound of the river alongside us it was very relaxing.  

LILY

 A few weeks ago (well it may be a bit more than that) I bought a small Lily in a pot and left it in the back porch.  Last night I was surprised to see that it is in flower, in spite of the weather, so brought it indoors today.

I had thought it was just a plain colour but it is gorgeous.

PAINTING

Doug has not been doing as much painting lately as we seem to be constantly busy but, hopefully, he will get back to it this week.

This is his latest painting roughly based on a photo he took at Gibbs Farm a few years ago.

We were lucky with our walk this morning.  Just along the shared pathway but the rain kept away and several of us went on a second walk to check it out for next week.  It is in a new subdivision.  Hopefully some photos next week if I remember.

Once we got home the heavens opened again. 

SHORTEST DAY

It is good to have the shortest day out of the way.  I know we have the majority of winter still to come but at least it will start to get lighter in the mornings.  

We seem to have been particularly busy lately with something on every day of the week. Last Friday I had to have YAG laser treatment on my right eye as my vision had become blurred.  I had the left one done last August.  Unfortunately, the night before my cellphone had given up the ghost so it was in to town to buy a new phone which took an hour then it took another hour to transfer everything from the old phone to the new so we went to have my eye done and then went back to collect it.  Of course, it took me most of the rest of the day to sort the phone out with various passwords needing to be added.

Generally things have been going well though.  Last Monday our Parkinson walk was from A.H. Reed Park to the Whangarei Falls.  The path was a bit muddy in places as we have had a lot of rain but everyone enjoyed the walk.

These, growing on a tree near the falls, looked like tiny mushrooms

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Looking back up the river from the Falls

The Mexican Marigold that we purchased a couple of years ago provides some much needed colour in our winter garden.  It grows easily from cuttings so we have it all over the place.