More Garden Critters..

A Classic I thought I wonder how the Noisy Miners head is..



Monarch Butterfly



Wrong Lens too far away so I cropped it.



The Noisy Miners popped in for their afternoon bath..



It wonderful to just sit and watch..



The birds enjoy themselves so much me too it so calming...

Those Noisy Miners certainly are characters... love watching them.

Me too Gail its a great way to spend some time ...

MA that lily pond tub you have ,do you hav a rock in it for the birds to stand on or do the just perch on the rim.

Forgot to ask , those crucifix orchids , do the flower only in full sun.

I have four terracotta pots sitting on two bricks each in there Gwen, one has a Louisiana Iris in it on top of the water level the others have waterlilies in them the birds sure have made a mess of them waterlilies. They prefer the rim

I have lots of Crucifix Orchids Gwen, they are growing in tree branches, on tree trunks in the ground in full sun, full shade and dappled shade I don't have any trouble growing them anywhere on this block they tend to pop up everywhere as their very fine dust like seeds gets blown all over the garden once the pod opens...

The crucifix don't flower in too much shade though - I have just moved most of mine into more sun as, even though they were nice big healthy looking plants, I hadn't had any flowers for years - now they are covered in bud. So far only the purple one has flowered and the dark red is nearly out - I have no idea what other colours I've got as they haven't flowered since I bought them.

Different garden and positions mine thrive against the tree trunks best where its shadier as its a trifle warm there on the North /West side of the block. I have none growing on the South /East side of the block..

Twice a year I have to pull them up and bin them that's another plant that gets to be on the weedy side, except the white one, its wont kick on at all.

MA next time you get the urge to bin Crucifix plants . let me know and I' ll send a pre paid post bag and you can bin some up to me , The 3 you sent me are in the shade against a tree , growing very well but no flowers . I think I 'm going to have to try them in a sunny spot.

Mine grew so big and lush looking in the shade but only the couple that got a little sun flowered (only about an hour of sun a day). The others were in full shade though with no sun at all, I think they need some filtered sun at least.

Gwen they are coming into flower now I have heaps of buds on mine so maybe they flower better as the weather warms up, they do like light though.. Anytime for that bag Gwen as its best I do it as the flowers open so I don't send you too many of the same colour then again I suppose I can put a coloured tag on them. I honestly don't have any problem with them flowering in the shade Gwen and Gail.. Gwen maybe your plants are not old enough yet just a thought

Gwen If you post me the 3kg size I will put in the big yellow daylily as well..

Thank You MA I will get Faye to put a pre paid bag in the post to you .

No Problem Gwen..

Mary-Anne, your shade might be brighter like under tall gum trees which allow more light in especially from the sides. A lot of our shade is under poincianas and shrubs/small trees which are lower growing and produce a heavier shade with less light from the sides. Even early morning or late afternoon sun doesn't reach them.

Yes you are probably right Gail our trees are very tall 20-25 mts .

MA I think Gail's shade is like mine , Shade means no sun penetrating ,semi shade means light filtered sun, full sun means means no shade at all. Your tall trres would still give you a lot of indirect light.

I will go out and take a pic of some of them in the shade.

Goodness I got waylaid by my lovely neighbour she wanted to chat and now my cuppa has gone cold and the top of my sandwich is drying out..

Plenty of shade all day.. Though plenty of light..



Pink and red here in front of that tree trunk

Yours is a lot brighter under that tree. We have to trim our trees sometimes to be able to walk under them so a lot lower. A lot of the time my camera wants the flash to go off when I take photos in the garden so I can't take them on auto and have to change settings when I don't want the flash. Not so bad at this time of year when some of the trees have lost a few leaves but when in full leaf in summer the shade is a lot heavier.

Yes it is, it hardly ever gets Sun its in shade all day but as the weather gets warmer the sun will move different and the neighbours trees will not give it so much shade very late into the afternoon like around 5-6pm then it will get filtered light.

Gail I have to change the settings nearly every time I take a photo I never use Auto this was taken on WB Cloudy and ISO 640..

I can't be bothered mucking around with different settings on the camera unless it is for special things... that's why I like this one... have a choice... especially as many of my pics are spur of the moment types... 99% are taken on the different auto settings.

I have a choice too Gail.

I just meant I have a choice whether I want to use auto or bother with different settings... I know you have a choice too and you like photography so prefer to do it manually. I like taking photos but it's not a hobby to me, just a way to remember things of our life so I just prefer to use auto. If I had to change settings to suit each pic I probably wouldn't bother taking many photos.

Of course Gail we are both different.