Busy times ahead

Spring has sprung upon us, and the beaut rainfall we've had in the last month has things looking real good. Of course, that means the weeds are thriving too. Montpellier Broom is having a bumper year, and just coming in to flower, and the dreaded monadenia orchid is starting to think about blooming. Busy times are ahead on the property.

The big upside of spring though is the flowering plants, and this year is looking great for orchids in particular. Maybe I've just not noticed them before, but in recent weeks it seems that wherever I look, I see an orchid. Just in recent weeks I've spotted

• Mayfly orchids
• Mosquito orchids
• Banded greenhoods
• dwarf greenhoods
• veined helmet orchids
• Red beaked orchids (albeit not in flower)

(excuse the lack of scientific names, but my references are out of date - these things seem to change all the time)

For an experienced orchid lover that's probably a meagre list, but for me, just finding and identifying some of these guys for the first has been tremendously exciting. I've been out and bought the expensive new digital SLR camera (a Canon D450) and have been filling up the hard disk with photos. And the macro lens turns up tomorrow - can't wait to get out there and take some extreme close-ups.

Will post some photos soon.

Meantime, the Derwentia project continues successfully. The seedlings I raised earlier are now off at Keiran's nursey getting the type of love and attention I can't give them, but I have another few pots on the go as well - and I'm very happy to see new tiny seedlings starting to appear this week.

Kieran also gave me a large Derwentia he raised from my seed taken last year, and I'm planning to pop that into a prominent place in the front garden on the weekend.