I suppose this is not really a garden in its own right but actually items or plants that are in the whole garden area.

I became aware of a discrepancy in my logging the different gardens or compartments that make up ‘my/our little empire’ at approx 3:30 am while I waited for sleep to come and claim me. I have these little patches in my life when I lie awake either due to an over-active mind or a sore back – or a combination of both. This is when my imagination squirrels around and all sorts of wild schemes manifest themselves.

Fortunately most of these schemes have vanished by the time I arise or are laughable in daylight but this idea about ‘B&B’ remained and so I intend giving it a fly. Please let me know if it is uncalled for or doesn’t fit the genre.

So, right, let’s see what we have:

a quince tree;
an olive tree;
The Walk; (see separate The Walk Garden)
a shade house/potting shed;
another quince tree (outside the property on Crown land – shhhh!)
The Stump.

Well, the quince tree speaks for itself and its description is included in the Flickr comments.

I am infatuated with this tree and its fruit – not this particular tree or even this variety but with quinces as a whole. We bottle them, stew them, poach them, make quince strap, quince jelly, quince jam and quince honey. I love leaving freshly picked fruit in a bowl on the kitchen table so its perfume permeates the whole house – even makes our pups smell sweeter!

Just for the record this variety, ‘Champion’, bears large golden-yellow pear-shaped fruit and seems more or less impervious to disease and pests – excepting the human and feathered kinds.

I have been interested in olive trees for a number of years and, 20 years ago, there wasn’t a lot of knowledge available on growing or the varieties obtainable even in established books. Now, however, things are different/better and we are more aware of the olive tree.

This variety is marketed in Australia as ‘Kalimata’ which might very well be an attempt to get around the PDO restrictions as Google calls it up as ‘Kalamata’ same as the Greek city.

“The Shadehouse/Potting”: shed is sometimes unkindly referred to as ‘Fort Courage’. I am not sure whether it is a reference to the tv series ‘F Troop’ or whether courage is what is required to venture within. It shares a wall of ranch-style planking with the BBQ garden and the shade is provided by a Banksia and the remnants of an old wattle.

The other quince tree (outside) is on its own rootstock – it is not grafted – and so has a great tendency to send up suckers. This could be very nice if one had the room and the inclination, that is why I planted it outside although I do mow or chop off any suckers that appear. I have had several harvests from it but cockies and passersby have occasionally harvested the fruit before I was ready to pick. That is why I have planted another one inside. I have no idea what variety this quince is but it has the same shape as the Champion variety so maybe it is.

“The Stump”: is all that is left of a lofty ironbark that was threatening to split asunder. I was very sorry to see it come to what you now see as it housed a resident possum family and was a lookout for magpies and rosellas. It now has two creepers growing up and over it – a hardenbergia and a potato vine. The hardenbergia flowers winter-spring while the potato vine flowers summer-autumn.