Veronika Wild

The maidenly blush of new blossom has almost gone, though a what miracle it was after that long winter. Now it is a new season which ought to have a special name and be celebrated in its own right. It is in Europe of course, where its equivalent falls in May. It’s that time in mid – spring when the trees hastily cover their naked branches in flamboyant green. The rich fat smell of hawthorn fills the air, the chestnut puts out its white candles and the bees are busy.   A lazy bird of prey rides on the wind. The chestnut The oakleaves At the Railway Roundabout The elms In the gardens Though I love the steadfast evergreens and enduring eucalypts, the annual renewal of deciduous trees still fills me with delight. If autumn colour brings intimations of mortality and thinking of times past and loves lost, this flush of green is a kind of quickening that makes me yearn for new adventures and do new things before the harsher sun of sum...

It’s the first day of Spring and is starting to look like it. Soon it will be cherry blossom time in the Huon, Tulip time at Table Cape and Poppy time all over the state. If you can catch a bit of good weather, it’s a lovely time to be here. The bush too is getting ready to burst into flower. Though the fungi are almost gone, I have seen my very first orchids – some nodding greenhoods, and will be looking out for more.  Happy Spring Everyone -warmer days are coming, uless you happen to be living in the Northern Hemisphere - fond memories perhaps or something to look forward to. Many thanks to the lovely Kay and her dog who drove me back to my car after I followed the Nature Trail in the Peter Murrell Reserve from Howden all the way to Huntingfield

Season’s Greetings from Melbourne Airport Between Worlds Into the cool green embrace of Tasmania It was 34oC when I left Perth and it's 18oC when I arrive in Tasmania. I'll be complaining about the cold next. The little girls and their Mum arrive two days later.  When they wake up in the morning, there's snow on the mountain.They are positively thrilled. I don't think the youngest, aged five, has ever seen it. They play in it, they taste it and come back red -cheeked and very excited. It could be a white Christmas yet. So little snow - so much excitement Youngest son has decided to delay his departure until after Christmas and the oldest, with his little family, will be arriving tomorrow.  For a few days the house will be crowded with music, laughter and chaos. Strange that. I always thought it was a bit like Brigadoon for my mother -in -law when the whole family descended for a day or two and then scattered again to lead their separate...

Possibly a type of Casuarina - these are not so much flowers  as excrescences Have no idea what this tree is either but it has little yellow star flowers like a Jasmine   In Western Australia the season of flowering trees continues -not just the Jacarandas, stunning as they are, but also those above, several types of ti -tree and the first of the flowering gums, a spectacular pink one. (Sorry no photo, I was in someone else's car on the way to dinner).The bright red calistemons, usually one of my favourites because they come out at Christmas time and provide a seasonally appropriate splash of colour, came out much earlier this year and during a particularly hot spell, making them go into almost immediate decline before the flower heads had fully developed. Calistemon - usually prolific at this time of year, but few and far between this time Sadly, most of them look like this - dying off before they are fully in bloom Though I wasn't sorry to be l...