The Start Of A New Gardening Year ... My Dry Tropics Garden Journal ... Mid-Summer ... Week 2, January 2025.

Garden Journal Entry - Week 2

Seasons:  Mid-Summer & Wet Season

Daytime Temps:  30°C - 33°C

Night Time Temps: 22°C - 24°C

Humidity Levels: between 60% & 90%

Hours of daylight:  13 hours

Rainfall:  0.4 mm

January marks the beginning of a new gardening year for me, though I know other Australian gardeners might differ in opinion.  Many consider the arrival of spring as the true start of a gardening year.  However, here in the tropical north of Australia, January - mid-summer and well into the wet and cyclone seasons - feels like a natural starting point. 

January's typical unpredictable weather often brings challenges that define the gist of what needs to happen for the rest of the year.  Preparing for the arrival of a lengthy dry season though, which typically runs from April to November, begins now.

The Unusual Weather Patterns of January 2025

This January, the weather has already been particularly peculiar. While November traditionally marks the beginning of the wet and the cyclone seasons, both of which typically last until mid-March or April, this year’s wet season seems stuck in a holding pattern. The usual monsoon trough—our “rainmaker”—has been notably absent, and the expected tropical cyclones have yet to appear.

In the first week of the year, we’ve experienced only isolated showers, amounting to a mere 1.6 mm (less than half an inch) of rain. This follows a record-breaking December rainfall total, but even then, the showers and storms last month were sporadic, hinting at the delayed onset of the monsoon trough. The absence of monsoonal rains so far into this wet season is highly unusual and has left us wondering how the rest of the 2025 monsoon and cyclone season will play out.

Garden Observations and Preparations

January’s unpredictable weather so far has reminded me of the need to adapt and prepare. Strong winds, sudden downpours, or extended dry spells can all disrupt the garden, so I’m focusing on the following tasks:

• Pruning Shrubs: Cyclone season can bring fierce winds, so it’s essential to ensure the foliage of  shrubs in exposed spaces is pruned back to reduce wind resistance.

• Soil Care: Adding organic matter to improve soil resilience in preparation for the long dry season ahead, but also to ensure the growth of strong root systems to anchor plants firmly in the ground and guard against them blowing over.

• Weed Management: The sporadic rain received so far has encouraged weed growth, so staying on top of this now will save effort later.

• Watering Regime: During the spring, a watering regime was adopted that entailed watering thoroughly, but infrequently, so the water soaked down deep into the soil to encourage the roots of plants to grow deep down into the soil.

Looking Ahead

The absence of the monsoon and cyclones is both a relief and a concern. Without these defining weather patterns, the wet season feels incomplete, and it’s uncertain how this will impact the garden in the months ahead. For now, I’ll remain vigilant and adaptable, taking each day as it comes while planning for the dry season.

It’s a strange and fascinating start to the gardening year—one that promises to be full of challenges and lessons.

On-Going Garden Projects

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Courtyard Garden

The area on one side of the steps under the pergola has undergone a significant transformation.

Previously dominated by Nephrolepis biserrata (Giant Sword Fern), Russelia and Neomarica longifolia (Yellow Walking Iris) for the past 20 years, it has been cleared entirely. 

Over the last months of last year, I slowly worked to improve this space by adding enriched soil, small rocks, and stones to create tiers and edging. With these changes came the introduction of many new plants.

This garden now has two distinct sections:

• An Upper Section which has:

• Coleus

• Begonia semperflorens

• Impatiens

• Cyathea cooperi (Australian Tree Fern)

• Blechnum (Silver Lady Fern)

• Alyssum

• A Lower Section which has:

• Dwarf  Tabernaemontana corymbosa (Dwarf Pinwheel)

• Viola hederacea (Native Violet)

• Torenia

The goal for the lower section is to encourage a wildflower-meadow-like appearance.  My hope is that the Violets will spread more, and the Torenias will self-seed everywhere, eventually creating a dense, natural-looking, vibrant and colourful patch of flowers.

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Shade House Garden

This garden space had also become overrun with Giant Sword Fern and Yellow Walking Iris.

Both were removed from the garden beds flanking the pathway and small patio.  The Giant Sword Fern, however, has been left to thrive on the rock wall that borders one side of the shade house garden.

My vision for this space is a rainforest-like ambiance, achieved by incorporating plants at varying heights, including ground plants, potted plants, and hanging baskets.

So far,

• The In-Ground Plants include:

• Dracaena reflexa (Song of India)

• Begonia semperflorens

• Dracaena marginata 'Bicolour' 

• Colocasia (Elephant Ear)

• Impatiens

• Schefflera (Dwarf Variegated Umbrella Tree)

• Evolvulus 'Blue Eyes'

• Microsorum scolopendria, synonym Phymatosorus scolopendria (Monarch Fern)

• Caladiums

• The Potted Plants include:

• Coleus

• Costus productus (Orange Spiral Ginger)

• Syngoniums (Arrowheads)

• Rex Begonia

• Alocasia amazonica

• Strobilanthes

• Davallia (Rabbits Foot Fern)

• Phyllotaenium or Xanthosoma lindenii - Caladium lindenii

• Microsorum musifolium (Crocodile Fern)

• Crossandra infundibuliformis (Firecracker Plant)

• The Hanging Baskets presently have:

• Calibrachoa

• Dianthus

The addition of colourful hanging baskets should enhance the space, introducing pops of colour to complement the lush greenery.   Over time, I'll be changing the plants in these hanging baskets to things like:  Acalypha herzogiana (Dwarf Cat's Tails), Fittonias, Streptocarpus and Dragonwing Begonias.

Hanging Baskets, set at differing heights, are part of the layered approach that I hope will gradually transform the Shade House Garden from the impenetrable jungle it had become into the serene, multi-dimensional rainforest retreat I envision.

Re-Discovering The Joy Of Gardening ... My Dry Tropics Garden Journal - Mid-Summer - Week 1, January 2025

It's been a very long time since my last blog post.  Ten years in fact, and a lot has happened in my corner of Australia between then and now!  All that aside, I'm so very happy to be back working in my garden full time now and I have every intention of re-activating my garden journal for 2025.

After a 40 year career in education, I've retired, and my time is now my own!!  I can think of nothing better for my emotional, mental, spiritual and physical health than getting back to nurturing all the garden spaces that have fallen into decline through no fault of their own.  I'm definitely in my happy place when I'm outdoors wandering around our place and tending the garden.  So ... 

Garden Journal Entry: January 4, 2025

As we step into a new year, I thought it fitting to begin this journal by looking back and reflecting on the last decade of gardening at my place. I'll keep it as concise as possible while sharing the highs and lows of the journey.

The Impact of Life's Demands

Between 2015 and 2023, my work commitments increased significantly due to changes in my role in education and a return to full-time work. Balancing these demands left little time for gardening. Family life, too, grew more complex and demanding, with children and grandchildren navigating their own challenges. Time with them became a priority whenever I wasn’t working, leaving even less room for serious garden care. As a result, the garden often took a back seat, becoming overwhelming to manage and leading to significant losses and transformations.

Losses in the Garden

The most poignant of these was the loss of two magnificent Mussaendas. The pink one in the front garden, and the stunning white one at the back of the courtyard, both gave up the ghost. These towering beauties, standing at around six feet and adorned with blooms during their prime, had been a part of my garden for two decades. Perhaps they simply reached the end of their natural lifespan, but their absence left a noticeable void.

The Tabebuias (on the left) were ripped to shreds during Cyclone Kirrly
and the Poinciana (on the right) simply fell over and crashed to the ground! 

The loss of large mature trees was another significant challenge. In 2018, we lost a 15-foot Acacia (outside the shade house garden) and a 30-foot Poinciana (at the end of the car shed), which drastically altered the light conditions in the garden spaces underneath. Many plants that had thrived in the shade of these trees struggled or perished in the new environment. 

Then came the devastating Tropical Cyclone Kirrily in 2024, which wreaked havoc on the property. Several towering trees, including two 20-foot Tabebuias, were lost, and the Durantas lining our driveway were reduced from their majestic 10-foot height to a humble three feet due to heavy pruning necessitated by storm damage.

There were also many shrubs and ground cover plants that died off

in the gravel-driveway garden beds (Hibiscus, Russelia, Cuphea), 

in the front-of-house garden beds (Galphimia, Hibiscus, Azalea) 

and the back-of-the-courtyard garden bed (Acalypha, Aralia).

The Courtyard Garden’s Decline

The courtyard garden, once the heart of my gardening efforts and a space of vibrant beauty, suffered greatly during this time. Before 2015, it boasted over 100 potted plants, each meticulously cared for. 

By last year, that number had dwindled to just 10, most of which were struggling to survive. This once-thriving sanctuary became a shadow of its former self.

The Shade House Takeover

The shade house garden experienced its own challenges. The relentless growth of the giant Sword Fern turned it into an almost impassable jungle. The fern’s dominance stifled other plants and made accessing the space a chore I rarely undertook. It felt as though the garden itself was reflecting the chaos and neglect brought on by the whirlwind of life.

Moving Forward

As I reflect on these changes, I’m reminded of the resilience of gardens and the potential for renewal. While the past decade brought significant losses and challenges, it also provides an opportunity to rebuild and re-imagine these spaces. My hope for this year is to rediscover the joy of gardening, one small step at a time, and to nurture these spaces back to life.

The End of Spring Is Nigh ... My Dry Tropics Garden Journal ... Week 48, 2015.

Date:  November 29, 2015

Season:  end of Spring, and dry season 

Our long, long dry season just keeps rolling on and our region here in north Queensland has now been declared a 'drought affected area'.   Townsville has officially had two failed wet seasons - in both 2014 and 2015 - which means the conditions during the two dry seasons that followed have been significantly intensified.  We're now going through one of our driest periods on record.  Unfortunately, 86% our our entire state of Queensland is now drought declared. 

The watering restrictions imposed by our City Council have been tightened for a second time this year, with Level 2 restrictions now in place.  Our city's dam level is now apparently just below 30% capacity, and if it falls even further to 20% we will have Level 3 watering restrictions imposed.

Sprinkler time

Level 2 restrictions means that we can now only have our sprinklers on twice a week on our allocated days, and only in the evenings between 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm.  Odd numbered houses can put out sprinklers on a Wednesday and a Sunday for two hours in the evening, whilst even numbered houses can do this on a Tuesday and a Saturday.  Any infringement results in a hefty fine.  Hand-held watering is still allowed at this point in time though.

Of course, living in the 'dry tropics' as we do, we have been through periods like this before ... and in fact, we've been through much worse.  We're now waiting to see whether or not the coming summertime is going to be as dry as predicted.  Our summertime is the time when our wet season is supposed to arrive, but it's such a hit-and-miss affair and doesn't always turn up.  If we have yet another failed wet season at the beginning of 2016, then the situation will require further restrictive measures.

There have been a few rather nasty bushfires that have flared up around Townsville in the last month or so.  Winter/Spring are amongst the driest months of the year for us, and that's our bushfire season as well.  In our particular corner of Townsville the fire danger rating is now at 'very high'.   Just a couple of weeks ago there was an enormous bushfire raging through an area not far from our suburb, across the highway.  Houses were lost and properties extensively damaged as a result.  Thankfully, we haven't had any fires close by here.

The closest bushfire we've seen here in our neighbourhood so far, is the one that's been burning across the foothills of the ranges over the last three days.

The fire is well away from us, across the creek and burning through uninhabited bushland off in the distance, but we can see the smoke from our verandah.

At the moment, my garden is still doing fairly well.  About two weeks ago, our little outlying suburb of Townsville received a wonderful short-lived downpour of rain, whilst the rest of the city and suburbs received a sprinkle.  The reverse is usually the case. About 70 ml fell in a few hours here at Alligator Crrek.  It was so unexpected and absolutely delightul.  Of course, it didn't really do all that much given the length of the dry conditions we've endured so far, but the plants did seem a lot cheerier for a while, and there has been a faint hint of green out in the front yard.

Shot taken just last week

This lovely hint of green won't last much longer as our daytime highs are now well and truly settled around the 32 deg C mark, with relative humidity levels rising to the 60% mark.  Our summertime weather has arrived and any green grass cover will die off pretty quickly in the heat and humidity.

Murraya paniculata

It was amazing though how that short, sharp downpour caused all the Murraya paniculata shrubs around here to suddenly burst into bloom a few days later.

Murraya paniculata flowers

The perfume in the air was intoxicating as I took my early morning or early evening walks around the place.  Yes, I know the Murraya is classified as an environmental weed and it does pop up quite regularly in various spots.  I have removed most of them since we moved in here over 14 years ago, but I have also left just a couple here and there so I can enjoy the beautiful perfume from these gorgeous white flowers.

Gardenia

Another shrub throwing out beautiful perfumed flowers right now is the Gardenia shrub that grows in the front-of-house garden bed.  That was a well-established garden bed when we moved in, but the Gardenia has rarely bloomed over the years.

Granted, that poor Gardenia shrub is in an impoverished spot that rarely receives attention from me apart from the occasional watering, so I am part of the problem!  Anyway, for some inexplicable reason that shrub has suddenly thrown out several blooms in the last couple of weeks.

 

Gardenia

It's been wonderful experiencing the Gardenia perfume wafting in through the lounge room doors of a late afternoon when I arrive home from work and throw open the doors at the front of the house.   The house is quite hot inside when I get home, and to have a lovely perfume steal inside when I open up to try and catch a breeze certainly gladdens the spirit.  It's also such fun watching the flowers turn from stark white to a creamy gold colour.

There have been a couple of things happening around our place lately that have had the potential to bring down our spirits.  As some readers would know from my last garden journal post, wallabies had ravaged and voraciously munched their way through so many plants through the winter and early spring that our place was looking decidedly ugly, compounded by the fact that we've had such a dry year.  

Well, then we discovered that the two sets of wooden stairs - at the side and the front of our house - had rotted almost completely through in parts.  Originally my husband thought he would just have to rip out a few of the treads and some of the railings, but the problem was much worse.  Neither sets of stairs could be deemed safe any more, so they have to be demolished and re-built.

Demolition in progress

This of course means another massive job that my darling husband had to undertake, with its accompanying mess. He's never built a set of wooden stairs before.  He never trained to be a carpenter or had any huge woodworking experience, but he's always prepared to give anything a go.

He's been making such great progress on the side stairs.  They're starting to look like stairs once more.

Unfortunately, with the side and front stairs out of action, I only have one way down to the laundry which is underneath the house.  I have to walk out through the courtyard and go down the cement driveway that winds downhill to the workshop and laundry that both sit underneath one side of our house.  Now that's usually a fairly easy thing to do ... until now.

Yes folks, that's the way into the laundry!  Usually the cement driveway is clear and not covered by piles of leaves.  However, we've had a pair of scrub turkeys build their nest in the raised garden bed at the back of the courtyard.  You can see the raised garden bed off to the right in the photo above.

The male scrub turkey scratched up every single leaf in that garden bed first in order to form a mound for the nest.  But he didn't stop there!  For some unknown reason, the male has been scratching up loads and loads and loads of leaves from a section of the yard downhill from the driveway.  Off to the left of the above photo, the land dips down to a little gully-like section, and the male has literally spent days and days scratching leaves uphill from there onto the cement driveway, and then spent hours scratching them up to the rock wall that surrounds the raised garden bed!

There are calf-deep piles in some spots next to the garden bed!  I mistakenly cleared off the first huge carpet of leaves over a week ago, but the male wasn't impressed with that and came back to do a bigger, better job!  It makes for a fun excursion to the laundry every day!

Another little hiccup that's happened around here is the demise of our oldest and largest Poinciana tree at the front of the property.

U - huh!  That's what we came home to just last week. The Poinciana had toppled over out of the ground and was only really being held up by branches on the other Poinciana saplings in our neighbour's yard.

We think the problem was a fungi that we had noticed growing around the base of the tree earlier in the year around April.  Ganoderma?  Obviously it wasn't a good-guy fungi.  We now know it's a wood-decaying fungi.

It certainly did a good job in just a few months.  It seems to have gobbled up pretty much all of the inside of the base of the tree and its root system.

Anyway, now my poor darling husband has another massive job on his hands.  He's already begun the chopping down phase, but his little chainsaw can only do so much.  I don't think he's quite worked out how to get that massive stump out of the way.  It's going to be a big enough job just getting rid of all the branches that have been cut down so far.

Well ... this is post has been a long, long tale of woe hasn't it!!!!  I think it's time to move on to some brighter notes from the garden.

Let's see what's blooming despite the recent wallaby ravaging, and the horrid summertime temps., and the ever-so-dry weather we've had this year.

Delonix regia, or Poinciana

First of all, the other Delonix regias, or Poincianas, are all in bloom.  They're always a cheerful sight towards the end of a long, dry season.  Those brilliant splashes of red and orange really do brighten up the dreary landscape.

I love looking out for the lone flower in the spray with the white speckled petal.

Lagerstroemia speciosa or Queen's Myrtle

One of my Lagerstroemia speciosa, or Queen's Myrtle, has begun blooming and showing off its pretty purple flowers.

Tabebuia pallida or Pink Trumpet Tree

Whilst the tall Tabebuia pallidas have been covered in its pale pink flowers for several weeks now,

providing delicious nectar for the Sunbirds.

My Plumeria rubra and Plumeria obtusa have been in bloom for weeks and weeks as well,

Planchonia careya, or Cocky Apple

as have the native Planchonia careyas, or Cocky Apples.

It's lovely walking around the place and noticing the fallen blooms scattered here and there.  Nature's art work.

Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose'

The Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose' is showing off its bracts and yellow flowers and providing some much needed colour out in the front garden bed.

In the courtyard garden,

Cycas revoluta 'break'

the other Cycas revoluta has thrown up a new 'break'.

In the new garden bed under the Triangular Palm,

Scaxodus multiflorus or Blood Lily

the Scadoxus multiflorus has popped up from its slumber and is beginning to bloom once more,

Alpinia zerumbet 'Variegata' or Variegated Shell Ginger.

whilst the Alpinia zerumbet 'Variegata' has begun blooming for the very first time.

Adenium obesum or Desert Rose

In the driveway garden bed and the tiered garden bed, there are a couple of Adeniums in bloom, 

Garden visitors over the last month have included ...

Blue-banded bees feasting on the nectar of Salvias.

 Yellow Honeyeaters feasting on Salvia nectar.

A Short-beaked Echidna looking for ants,

and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos feasting on the Cadaghi Gum nuts.

Right, I think I really should finish off this post now.  That was round-up for the month of November, our last month of Spring.  It's now time to get ready for the approaching Summer.