Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cordylines are boring.

So many trendy little gardens for non gardeners have rows of cordylines. Ugh, they are not vey tough in WA sun and they provide no habitat. After a few summers of them being really trendy and dying in the intense Perth summer sun, I am hopeful that this year people will plant Agaves or Yucca if they want the same look for their boring garden. At least they will survive drought and bright sunlight and need little input. Cordylines are okay in morning sun or under a canopy of other more hardy trees, but I really am not a fan of plants that support no insect or bird life.

Hoverflies across the suburbs.

Tuesday and wednesday saw a huge number of hoverlies hatch throughout the suburbs, resulting in thousands of small, hovering, yellow and black flies. They were busily seeking pollen from flowers to power the next generation. The flowering parsley plants we have in the gaqrden were especially popular. Many other gardens were also abundantly served with these lovely little beneficial insects.

A few things to do to reduce your carbon footprint.

Simple sustainability measures you can do at home.

Target 100 is looking at a group of farmers across Australia who are making changes to the way they keep their stock and farms so that soil is improved and less pollution is caused as well as a swathe of other tactics to reduce their carbon footprint.