What's Blooming This Week?

Suzanne Creighton bought a small NSW Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum) from one of the local Mudgee nurseries while she was visiting from London.

Christmas Bush grows in open forest and rainforest of New South Wales, generally east of the Great Dividing Range and is common in Sydney sandstone areas.

Suzanne's bush has been planted in a sheltered spot in the The Gully Garden and if it does well in this location then more will be added as time goes by, making this area a highlight of the festive season.

This is the Christmas Tree that Ben planted here  on Christmas Day 2005.  It was very, very small then.

The tree is at the head of the Main Axis that runs through the very centre of the Big House at The Drip, Mudgee.

One day Ben will be able to sit under the shade of this Christmas Tree here at The Drip and survey the valley below.  And he will remember the times he spent here as a boy.

Ben Explores the Gully Further

Ben Creighton has been checking out the Gully Garden.

One day he will build his Tiny House on the bank of the Gully.

And this will be Ben's front garden

Ben Creighton Builds his Garden

Ben Creighton has been staying here with grandparents Mike and Suzanne.

He planted Callistemon in the Gully Garden.

One day Ben will build himself a Tiny House next to the Gully Garden. 

Ben Braves the Flood

Ben Creighton has spent time with his grandmother Suzanne Creighton at The Drip during the floods. He planted a number of bottlebrushes in The Gully Garden and decided that this area is where he would like to build Ben's Hut one day.

He helped clean out piles of sand and debris that had washed from the gully into the watercourse near the house during the big flood.

 

And he got very wet.

Floods

This picture of the drive in front of the house is the latest from Peter Marshall showing the state of The Drip during the ongoing floods.

It is great to see that the massive earthworks we did over a period of  many years have succeeded in diverting the flow of water around the main housing compound and that we are relalativly unaffected by what would otherwise have been a catastrophic inundation.

Phew!!

Disaster Zone

Peter Marshall, Head Gardener at The Drip,  took this picture of the damage done to The Drip Lane by the  floods besetting the entire Mudgee region.  We are located at the highest point of western watershed with the Great Divide forming our back boundary and even up here the amount of runoff is vast.  The Drip has become a torrent.