So there I was on the Monday night saying to Patricia “I wish I had a month to catch up on all the work we have over at Dreamland.” Next thing, on the Tuesday at about midday, I get the “private room talk” that my role on our current project had to wrap up on the Thursday... So you may see burst of real work at Dreamland while there is no project work to pay the bills!

Avocados

First project was to plant two new avocado types we’re going to try in a very protected area in Dreamland – namely a Wurtz and a Reed, both A-types. Two young but strong little trees – let’s hope they handle the harsh Victoria weather!

We still need some B-types to complement these, like a Bacon (which seems to work well in our area), a Sheppard or maybe a Pinkerton, but everyone seems to be out of stock at the moment…

Beautyberry

Next were two beautyberries (Callicarpa americana) that I sourced from Lou’s bloomin’ garden in Queensland. Louise is a retired lady that grows and sells the most amazing plants on EBay – definitely worth a look! The two berries she sent me were such nice strong little plants, and so well packaged too. Anyway, compounds in the beautyberry leaves apparently form a natural mosquito repellent, which is of particular interest to me, having a condition that is seriously aggravated by mosquito bites.

Entrance to secret garden

There is a section of Dreamland which forms a natural secluded little room, with terraces on either side of the entrance. On these a planted a wide variety of hardy Australian natives like Correo (various types), Greyvillea (various types), Boronia (various types), as well as a variety of other natives – all bird and bee attracting plants with different coloured flowers at different times of the year, including autumn and winter. I can’t wait for this little display to full out and keep on flowering!

I also completed the archway over the entrance and planted a Wisteria on either side – one with white flowers on the one side and one with purple flowers on the other side, that will hopefully meet in a colour cascade in the middle one day.

Lessons learnt

It’s been a wonderful day doing real work, so in this section I can just quote two expressions:

• “Be careful what you wish for…”
• “Make hay while the sun shines!”