Corner of the shade house garden

Everything looks so lush in your garden Bushbernie.

All the greens are gorgeous BB! with the contrasting leaves of the pink plant, it's a smashing photo..

Thanks Klahanie and Janey. The bushland that surrounds our place is bleak, brown, dry and dreary for around nine months of the year so my pergola, courtyard and shade house garden areas are an antidote for that.

It looks really healthy and good for the wildlife too.

Yes Linda, I see lots of butterflies, bees, wasps, and little birds like the Sunbirds in there. I've also been seeing lots of grasshoppers as well but thankfully they're the small ones.

I won't mention the snakes!

Sounds good to me, and you are helping the wildlife survive too. I like snakes Bushbernie. What ones do you get in your garden?

Linda we see a lot of tree snakes - both the Green Tree Snake and the Brown Tree Snake - which are non-venomous.

We also see Pythons - the smaller Carpet Pythons and Spotted Pythons, and also the massive Amethystine Python which is Australia's largest snake. All Pythons are non-venomous constrictors.

On two occasions (in the 20 years we've been here) we've also seen the highly venomous Coastal Taipan. They are nasty, very aggressive snakes and the two we saw were not very polite or interested in leaving the house or workshop where we found them. They both had a swift end!!!

What a selection of snakes. When we lived on the Isle of Wight we used to see slow worms, and had a grass snake in the garden living in the compost heap. We saw an adder once near to the golf course next to our allotment.

Yes I'm afraid we do have a number of different snakes here in Oz. I've never had a bad encounter with one where I've been bitten.

As a kid, you get used to stomping around the garden and in the bush when you're out and about. It's a way of letting snakes know you're coming and they usually move on.

I had to look up "slow worms" and found out they are legless lizards. We also get a type of legless lizard here.

I also looked up the adders on the Isle of Wight and they look a little more serious given they are poisonous.

Is the pink Syngonium and Philodendrons growing up a pole?

I have a green, orange, red tinged leaf philodendron growing up my shade structure pole and Philodendron ‘Brasil’ growing down another, but I just read it prefers to trail up.

Yes, they both love growing up the poles that support the shade house structure. I've even planted them both in pots out there but they will still send out new vines in search of the poles!

Wow! I think that’s the way they grow in nature. I know once established Philodendrons can take over and get very huge.

My philodendron ‘Brasil’ hits the ground then grows up the house, while sticking to the house wall like ivy. Ugh! It’s been doing this since 2010. I always cut it way back.
I think I’ve finally gotten smart 😂, and am going to move the pot to the ground and have it trail up the pole.

I have to continually pull off sections once the growing tips reach the shadecloth roof of the shade house. Otherwise they will push up and through the shade cloth.

I've given away a lot of these sections to other gardeners.

Yes, as long as they receive water they will grow like crazy.

That’s very generous of you. I do the same. Most of the time I don’t have the heart to throw the cuttings in the yard waste bin.

No, I also find it very hard to throw away cuttings. I always remember how generous people were to me when I first started my own garden. It would have been very bare without the free gifts from others.

Plant people are very good and generous. That’s been my experience.

Yes, my experience too.

I was reading the comments about snakes. Yikes!

I’m so glad I don’t see snakes in my back or front gardens. I see big skinks and sometimes think they’re snakes (they’re long and skinny like snakes). San Diego has lot and lots of snakes, especially rattlesnakes. They’re venemous snakes, too.

Snakes are around our place all the time, but we don't see them every day. I stomp around a lot when I'm outdoors as that warns the snake that there's someone around. You learn strategies like that so we can live in the same space.

Sounds like a good strategy.