Our Tropical Wintertime Draws To A Close ... My Dry Tropics Journal ... End-of-Winter, Week 33, August 2025

Garden Journal Entry - Week 33

This week's weather:

Seasons:  end-of-Winter & Dry Season
Daytime Temps:  20°C - 29°C            
Night Time Temps:  8°C - 19°C
Humidity Levels: around 70%     
Hours of daylight:  11 1/2 hours
Rainfall:  0 mm (0 inches)

🌿 August in the Tropics

As we approach the close of winter, August has delivered the gentle rhythm of tropical late-winter weather that we've come to expect.  Nights have mostly hovered around the average for the month, with an occasional cooler evening reminding us that winter still lingers.  Daytime temperatures have been steady, mostly typical for August, though a refreshing cool day of 20°C and a few warmer touches of 28°C have provided some variety.

☀️ Weather Watch

The past weeks have been a dance between bright, sunny days and the occasional overcast spell.  Some days shift from cheerful sunshine to dreary clouds in a matter of hours.

Unfortunately, these grey spells have brought no rain, leaving the garden to contend with the drying effects of blustery winds and extended hours of sun.  Consistent deep watering has therefore become an essential part of weekly gardening routines. 

Even so, the occasional overcast day offers a quiet reprieve - a perfect opportunity to spend hours outdoors, tending to the garden and giving the new plantings a healthy start.

🌱 New Garden Projects Settling In

Both of the new garden spaces are now fully planted, mulched, and beginning to flourish.  (See the last post to discover why I began creating these new spaces: New Gardening Projects ) Adjustments to the dry season watering schedule have been necessary to ensure the newcomers thrive until the wet season arrives at the end of the year.

The new garden space at the end of the driveway

The new rock garden space near the old chook pen

🌱 Old Garden Project Progressing Nicely

Pergola Rock Garden - Phase Two

The back section of the rock garden space under the pergola has entered its second phase.  Some original Coleus, that were planted in the ground, struggled with frequent mealy bug infestations and were ultimately removed.  The area now features the addition of potted Coleus and potted Begonias adding renewed colour and vibrancy.  Having these plants potted, instead of planted in the ground, means possible future treatment and/or removal will be a whole lot easier for me.

I'm finding the transformation far more pleasing, with the pergola garden now looking lush and lively.

🌼 Shade House Blossoms

Recently I've been very busy revamping the hanging baskets in my shade house garden - adding fresh coir linings, replenishing the potting mix and planting new flowering plants - in preparation for a springtime show.

• Fifteen new hanging baskets have been planted up with new babies and will soon brighten the shade house garden space.
• Most baskets are filled with Impatiens hawkeri  (New Guinea Impatiens).  

Newly planted hanging baskets in the shade house garden

These vibrant plants are a perfect match for Townsville's warm, humid climate.  Thriving in partial shade, they bring a splash of colour among the greenery of the ferns, and their moderate water needs make them ideal for our dry tropics conditions.  I can't wait to see them mature and fill out the baskets.

🐝 Life in the Garden

Even in these drier winter days, the garden buzzes with life.  Native bees, butterflies and other insects flit from flower to flower, keeping the ecosystem balanced and healthy.  Their presence is a beautiful reminder of how interconnected garden life really is.

😟 Ecological Threat

Meanwhile, on-going efforts to manage Anoplolepis gracilipes (Yellow Crazy Ants) here in the southern suburbs continue to be a critical biosecurity priority for our Townsville City Council.  Treatment programs, running since October last year, use helicopters, drones and ground crews to distribute bait, designed to be taken back to the colony by worker ants in order to target the queen, and ultimately the entire colony.

According to the flyer distributed to all households last year:  "Yellow Crazy Ants form super-colonies consisting of multiple queens supporting multiple nests and millions of workers.  

They out-compete other ants and spray formic acid on other prey, decimating biodiversity."  

Our City Council considers that multiple treatments will be needed over several years to control each of the infestations, so we will be getting very used to the sound of helicopters and drones in our area every month for the foreseeable future.

Over the past two weeks, our area has witnessed yet more aerial and ground treatments, reminding us that vigilance is needed to preserve local biodiversity.

There was a helicopter buzzing around last week, dropping baits, 

and then this week a drone carried on with more targeted bait dropping.  Members of the Yellow Crazy Ant program ground crew also visited our place yesterday to further continue the treatment.  

🌸 Highlights Around The Garden:

• Agave Bloom:  I've been delighted to see one of the large Agaves blooming this year.  It was the first in the group to bloom and right now there are loads of little pups (bulbils) forming along the flower spike.  The mother plant is dying and throwing out lots of new little babies to take her place.  I'm just letting them fall to the ground to see if any of them will survive the dry season and grow roots before our harsh summer rolls around at the end of the year.  Given that this section of the garden only survives on rain from Mother Nature, it will be interesting to see if any of the pups will take off.

• Splashes of Colour:  There's a bit of pink splashed here and there in various garden spaces - Adenium obesum (Desert Rose), Calliandra surinamensis (Powderpuff), Ixora and Kalanchoe.

• Birdwatcing:  One of the things I love most about my place in the world is the variety of birdlife I'm privileged to see almost on a daily basis.  This past week I've noticed a few beautiful visitors during my wanderings around the place - 

Top row L - R:  A Coracina papuensis (White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike), and a Lichenostomus flavus (Yellow Honeyeater)
Bottom row L - R:  a female Sphecotheres viridis (Australasian Figbird) and Dacelo novaeguineae (Laughing Kookaburra).

🌿 Looking Ahead

This end-of-winter period is a time of quiet growth and preparation.  The garden continues to show resilience, and the new plantings promise vibrant colour and life as we move closer to spring.  

Until next time,
🌸 Happy gardening from the dry tropics!

Time To Wander Around.

It's been a while since I did my last video diary, so I thought it was about time I caught up with this aspect of my blog.  Right now it's our first Winter month and the beginning of our 'dry' season.  The potted plants out in both the courtyard and the shadehouse have had time to recover from the 'wet' and most are therefore looking a lot happier and healthier.

I took a stroll around the Courtyard Garden, and then continued on into the Shadehouse Garden today at around midday.  It was a glorious early Winter's day ... blue skies, fluffy white clouds and lots of bird song in the background.  It was the perfect opportunity to catch up and see what the state of play is out in the garden spaces located right beside my house.

So, here goes ... first of all you will need to scroll right down to the bottom of the page and stop the playlist music from playing ....  then get ready for the Aussie drawl! 

First I take a wander around my Courtyard Garden ....

... and now I wander on through my Shadehouse Garden.

So, that's it ... a warts-and-all look at what's going on in my favourite garden spaces.

Wandering Time ... A Tuesday Tropical Garden Tour.

Autumn through to early Spring is the best time of the gardening year for this north Aussie gardener.  That's the time when many of the garden areas are looking pretty darn good. This year, however, is slightly different.  The prolonged 'wet' season and the unwelcome arrival of a cyclone means things have not gone exactly to plan.

My favourite spot ... the Courtyard Garden ... is usually full of terrific potted annuals by now, providing splashes of colour in almost every corner.  Potting up my annuals seedlings has been delayed this year ... thanks to the prolonged 'wet'.  Many of the existing plants have been craving sunshine which was rather rare in the early part of the year.  As a result, many of the year-round flowering plants are not exactly looking their best right now.

Out in the Shadehouse Garden, despite the recent clean-up and trim back, the ferns have starting taking over once again with the relentless rain that continued last month.  Some of the hanging plants really need a trim back once again as well.  It's not exactly as neat and tidy as I'd like.

Regardless, I've taken a quick wander around these garden spots, avoiding all the other areas that were stripped and damaged by the destructive winds, to record just how things are this mid-Autumn.

This is amateur video making, warts and all stuff.  It's just me wandering around making observations about what's happening ... there's no script ... there are noisy birds in the background and you'll probably hear the corrugated iron roof popping as it expands and contracts as the sun becomes more intense.  The zoom on my camera is also rather noisy, but that's just how it is.  This is more for my own record keeping than anything else, as I use these recordings to really sit down and pay close attention to what needs to be done.

So, starting with a front garden bed and wandering through the shadehouse ...



... then moving out onto the courtyard.



I've already made a couple of decisions immediately following these wanders ...
... the beautiful perfume emanating from that white Ginger needs to be part of my shadehouse environment
... there needs to be a drift of that hardy purple Salvia farinacea in the tiered garden bed
... the hanging plants in wire baskets out in the shadehouse all need to have the coir lining replaced and potted up with new compost and water saving crystals
... it's definitely time to pot up the annuals for the courtyard
... the Blechnum gibbums need to be moved to a more shaded spot in the courtyard
... and I need to move more of my Cordylines out next to those Golden Cane Palms in the courtyard.


Are there any other gardeners out there who've got videos to share?  I'd love to take a guided tour of others' gardens ... listening to the gardener's observations and thoughts.

A Mid-Winter Wander Around my little Courtyard Garden.

The other garden areas on my property are all rather boring and drab ... there are lots of palms, ferns, hibiscus and duranta repens shrubs, acalyphas and some crotons, but these areas don't change much at all during the year ... remaining, for the most part, various shades of green with a little colour here and there throughout all the seasons. 

There are no great expanses of lush green lawn.  There are no lovely borders full of stunning perennials.  There are just a few trees that bloom at different times of the year ... but that's the full extent of any seasonal change in colour.

The Courtyard Garden however, is my sanctuary where I can have other colours.  So here's a look at how all the potted plants are progressing as we approach Spring.  July in this part of the world is mid-Winter ... and my location in Australia means it's always a mild winter (similar to Summer in other parts of the northern hemisphere!)

Just an extra little note:  prepare yourself for the dulcet tones of my Aussie accent on the video!!

The Courtyard Garden - late Autumn, 2010. Another video diary to keep track of the progress.

Adding potted plants to my Courtyard Garden was a project I began at the beginning of last year.  I had grown very tired of the whole area ... it was drab and boring!  It was surrounded with garden beds full of green plants.  I craved other colours... and flowers!

This is a photo showing an early attempt at adding some colour ...

Whilst there are a few flowering shrubs ... mostly hibiscus shrubs with red blooms ... and a couple of flowering trees ... the blooms tend to be very, very high up!!!!!   My garden beds are certainly not flower-filled!  So, I decided to start a potted garden in my favourite garden space ... the garden that is the closest to our house and the space we spend a lot of time in.

Last year I added quite a few potted annuals and gradually started adding other great plants such as cordylines and coleus.  I was very pleased with the whole area by the end of winter and the beginning of spring.   Then came the summer ... and our 'wet' season.  Things did not go well.  I certainly learned a lot of valuable lessons ...
Pelargoniums don't like being wet.
Torenias don't like endless overcast days.
Nor do Aralias.
The hordes of grasshoppers that come with the rains love to eat Cordylines.
Calibrachoa hates both heat and humidity.  They're not all that keen about lots of heavy rain either.
There's some sort of pest that hovers in my garden and loves to wipe out any Verbena that comes close!!!

Well ... lessons learned ... and time to start anew.  So ... after a rather long period of rain and endless cloudy overcast days, I've finished potting up lots of new plants ready for another go! Now I can't wait for the blooms to appear!  The following videos are my record of the potted plants out in the courtyard at the end of Autumn.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3: