louisiana growers

Hi again from the sunny (real) south!
 
Well it is 10.30 pm at present, but it WAS a sunny day!  I have read the comments of you all over the last week since I joined up to the Iris-talk group and must say that I have found the topics interesting, diverse and sometimes delightfully perverse!  I don't want to think about what a vole on steroids would do to my garden - especially when it is nearly bed time.  How you north american folk cope with all the vaguaries of your native wildlife has become a constant source of amazement to me. 
 
It is mid winter here and our Sydney garden is full of Camellia Japonica and Reticulata in full bloom.  During the day I have watched our native parrots feasting on them.  Their antics are most enchanting - especially when they hang upside down to gobble up the nectar!  If I tried that I would need a chiropractor soonafter!  Our garden is a bulb paradise as both Bernard and I share a passion for daffodils, snowdrops, freesias, ixias as well as Iris.  The last of our hibiscus are also blooming  - which makes a funny combination with the Camellias, but believe me - it works in our garden. 
 
Out at our iris patch we have counted over twenty different types of birds present during one year.  We have befriended a family of kookaburras who are "renting" a small hole in one of the ancient radiata pines that border our iris garden.  They are quite active at present with their new chicks about to arrive on the scene.  Last year we were in hysterics watching mum and dad kookaburra trying to entice the babies out of the nest for their first flight.  When you are only six inches long and looking out of a hole in a tree that is thirty feet off the ground and your folks are expecting you to jump, that first leap is certainly one of faith!! 
 
More recently we have had the pleasure of seeing a growing family of rare eastern australia black cokatoos take up residence in the general area.  Their mournful cry as they fly overhead is a bit like the call of the north american loon - once heard, never forgotten.  So many gardens in our area are spring-dominated and while we accept that we are a great contributor to that cause with our Iris I do believe that our winter garden gives us the most pleasure. 
 
We have a wonderful daphne odorata planted near our back door (it was a birthday gift from my friend and fellow Irisarian Ann Hordern) and the perfume just fills the entire garden.  I feel for you all suffering with the summer heat in the northern climes at present, but remember that autumn will soon be with you all, and the heat of summer will be a distant memory then...
 
Cheers and goodnight from the Land of Oz.    
Heather Pryor    i*@pip.com.au
 
 
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