Focus on some positives of our Country's weather

After a lot of the "Bad", some brighter news from Down-under

This Jacaranda in our garden has blossomed a month later than usual and with huge clusters of flowers, better than I've ever seen. A tree which I grew from seed, it's a great sight to enjoy after such a terrible year of weather and news.




Being a big place, Oz has a very diverse range of climates and weather to go with them. Unlike other places I've lived the weather patterns can produce amazing differences year on year and 2019-20 has been an extreme case in point.

I live in Melbourne, renowned for being able to deliver 4 seasons' weather in one day. Here we are in late January after devastating bush-fires on all sides, a record drought just about everywhere, record meat and vegetable prices etc. but all is not doom.

Tropical weather events, cyclones from the NW Coast and N Queensland have delivered lots of welcome rain as far South as us, 3000-3500km away. After record low rainfall of 550mm here in 2019 (my records from 2001- avg 762mm), we've had over 100mm in January. Everywhere is green, my garden has never looked better and brown coloured lawns have turned a lush deep green and needing weekly mows! My water tanks are full after siphoning out the bottoms of the barrels less than a month ago. 
 
Of course the rain so far is just a hopeful start and many in bush fire affected areas will be struggling to recover for years. At least some farmers here are feeling a bit more optimistic than they were 2 or 3 months ago.   



PS the Figs are looking very promising as well!

 

Hi Colin,

Beautiful Jacaranda. Here in Sydney they flowered in November.
We also have had a drop of rain but far more needed - they are talking about level 3 water restrictions for Sydney and NSW is still 100% drought declared.

That's a fabulous tree Colin.

It is indeed bizarre - the same species (although probably different varieties) flowering in November Sydney and January in Melbourne………..  By Australian standards, those two cities are not that far apart - certainly not the 3500 km distance the cyclone induced weather managed to jump.

Here in France, the seasons appear to be "slipping" within the year;  We do still have summer weather in summer but, over the last 2 or 3 years, it seems to have arrived later and not lasted as long before autumn influences the maximum highs and minimum lows.  Winter seems to be warmer and wetter than previously expected.

I've just checked how far apart these two cities are and it's further than I'd thought.  About the same distance as I am from the English Channel - around 700 kms or so.

At that distance, I can imagine the weather is quite different - certainly we get vastly different weather to Normandy, for example.

Liz is currently in Brisbane and/or Noosa and it's interesting comparing weather notes when I speak to her daily.  There's even a noticeable difference between Brisbane and Noosa - only 60 kms north although the latter is on the coast.  

Fear not - for us, spring and summer are next - for you, it's autumn and winter !!!

ahhhh yes Peter winter is coming - bring on the 19 degree heat wave and the 9 degree lows! 
Melbourne will probably get the sleet, whilst Sydney gets the heat - and Brisbane, well it will just be the same.

Just a "normal" winter on Oz

btw Colin that's a magnificent Jacaranda!  ;-)

[user=2187]Phat Controller[/user] wrote: 

winter is coming - bring on the 19 degree heat wave and the 9 degree lows! 
can't agree more…
btw Colin that's a magnificent Jacaranda!  ;-) very nice indeed

Thanks for the kind words about the Jacaranda, AFAIK it's the same variety as seen further north in Oz because the plant I originally bought was generic rather than some named variety. Coming from Tropical and Sub-tropical regions we might well be nearing its southern limits here in Melbourne.

Pls excuse the ramble: It is a plant of many merits, not the least it's very easy to grow if you start from seed. Transplanting pot specimens seems to be a hit and miss affair if you disrupt the tap root but I get volunteer seedlings popping up all over my patch, all from my original planted 30 years ago (now ~ 10m tall). Another great feature is it attracts bees to the garden in mid summer.

Despite our cool/ cold winter (but no SLEET, ever) it survives and with style. The leaves are bipinnate (Prof. Google says so) and as the individual units are tiny/ fine, the overall effect is fern-like. At the end of Autumn / early winter they slowly turn a golden yellow but only fall very slowly, gradually thinning out so the tree remains in colour thru much of winter. So no pesky raking up, they just blow away elsewhere! The tree then remains totally bare all Spring!

Depending on tree age and location, the flowers can fill the tree before new leaves appear in late spring. Grafton has it's own festival to celebrate this in early November. Here my trees flower starting from Christmas up to now, depending on their location in my garden.

I think you are correct about Melbourne being near the most southerly area for Jacarandas to flourish. There is one in my street that produces a good crop of flowers too, but normally Melbourne is too wet for them to lose their leaves as well, which is why the display in Brisbane (for example) is just that bit more spectacular: the entire tree becomes a mass of purple with little or no green.

Up in Brisbane we have avenues of the Jacarandas, Wynnum on the east side is one example and New Farm Park being another. They are certainly a pretty tree, but turn the road into a skid pan when the flowers drop.  :)
The poinciana is another nice tree with it's flame red flowers. We have one opposite our house here on Bribie Island and it's beautiful when it flowers.
On the other hand, I still miss things like a silver Birch wood with Bluebells and lot's of other plant's and trees: Autumn in England too with all the lovely colours that it brings.

The Laugh's on Sydney - This time anyway

Bushfire Relief Charity Cricket match with some former greats including a certain B Lara was scheduled for Sydney last weekend.

Had to be shifted at short notice to Melbourne because of……. torrential rain in Sydney and a fair bit of fire affected NSW. The Harbour city got some 250mm or so dumped on it in one day. Now there's a laugh when they dare to criticise our weather!

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

Up in Brisbane we have avenues of the Jacarandas, Wynnum on the east side is one example and New Farm Park being another. They are certainly a pretty tree, but turn the road into a skid pan when the flowers drop.  :)
The poinciana is another nice tree with it's flame red flowers. We have one opposite our house here on Bribie Island and it's beautiful when it flowers.
On the other hand, I still miss things like a silver Birch wood with Bluebells and lot's of other plant's and trees: Autumn in England too with all the lovely colours that it brings.

The Jacarandas not only create that skid pan, if you make the mistake of parking under them, the flowers are very acidic, and DON'T do wonders for your paintwork! 

When I lived in Paddington for a while, I used to drive to Auchenflower station and park there … under the Jacarandas (no choice there!).

I agree with you regarding both the Poinciana (we had one in the front garden of our Bulimba house), and the Birch woods (and Ash and Beech too) and carpets of Bluebells.

:)

[user=2170]Colin W[/user] wrote:

The Laugh's on Sydney - This time anyway

Bushfire Relief Charity Cricket match with some former greats including a certain B Lara was scheduled for Sydney last weekend.

Had to be shifted at short notice to Melbourne because of……. torrential rain in Sydney and a fair bit of fire affected NSW. The Harbour city got some 250mm or so dumped on it in one day. Now there's a laugh when they dare to criticise our weather!

 

Update according to tonight's news:

Sydney 390+mm over 4 Days. The biggest Sydney Resevoir went from 40% to 63% capacity over the same period. That's more rain than Melbourne recorded last year (a very dry year to be fair)

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/extraordinary-drenching-as-sydney-weathers-highest-multi-day-rainfall-since-1990


 

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

Up in Brisbane we have avenues of the Jacarandas, Wynnum on the east side is one example and New Farm Park being another. They are certainly a pretty tree, but turn the road into a skid pan when the flowers drop.  :)
The poinciana is another nice tree with it's flame red flowers. We have one opposite our house here on Bribie Island and it's beautiful when it flowers.
On the other hand, I still miss things like a silver Birch wood with Bluebells and lot's of other plant's and trees: Autumn in England too with all the lovely colours that it brings.

The Jacarandas not only create that skid pan, if you make the mistake of parking under them, the flowers are very acidic, and DON'T do wonders for your paintwork! 

When I lived in Paddington for a while, I used to drive to Auchenflower station and park there … under the Jacarandas (no choice there!).

I agree with you regarding both the Poinciana (we had one in the front garden of our Bulimba house), and the Birch woods (and Ash and Beech too) and carpets of Bluebells.

:)

When we first arrived here in '74 we lived with my parents for a month or two and then moved in to a flat on the corner of Henderson St and Apollo Rd at Bulimba, before buying our first house at Wynnum. Small world eh.

After a very wet late winter & early start to our spring - our main river in Oz is in full flood ( google Renmark floods) ; here in Adelaide South Australia, after passing the equinox, our next few days gave Celsius temps of 32 for Christmas day followed by 37, 40, 32 then 25.

Of course many parts of Oz have had storms of quite ferocious results - we had one in Adelaide a few weeks ago & Melbourne copped it a couple of nights ago.

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

After a very wet late winter & early start to our spring - our main river in Oz is in full flood ( google Renmark floods) ; here in Adelaide South Australia, after passing the equinox, our next few days gave Celsius temps of 32 for Christmas day followed by 37, 40, 32 then 25.

Of course many parts of Oz have had storms of quite ferocious results - we had one in Adelaide a few weeks ago & Melbourne copped it a couple of nights ago.

Oddly enough, where I am in the middle of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, we got a lot of thunder and a brief downpour then a lot of light rain and drizzle, while over where the airport is they copped it very badly indeed. Some other northern suburbs were white from the hail.

We usually get the leftovers of Adelaide's weather a day or two later, so our scorchers are due on Boxing Day and beyond.

I hope you'll forgive me if I decide not to tempt fate. So far, So good. there you are, I've done it. 60 foot waves and sea monsters coming to Bribie soon.

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

After a very wet late winter & early start to our spring - our main river in Oz is in full flood ( google Renmark floods) ; here in Adelaide South Australia, after passing the equinox, our next few days gave Celsius temps of 32 for Christmas day followed by 37, 40, 32 then 25.

Of course many parts of Oz have had storms of quite ferocious results - we had one in Adelaide a few weeks ago & Melbourne copped it a couple of nights ago.

Oddly enough, where I am in the middle of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, we got a lot of thunder and a brief downpour then a lot of light rain and drizzle, while over where the airport is they copped it very badly indeed. Some other northern suburbs were white from the hail.

We usually get the leftovers of Adelaide's weather a day or two later, so our scorchers are due on Boxing Day and beyond.

Likewise, our little corner of Doncaster East, 20km East of the city escaped with just a few mm.  As we're near to clocking 900mm for 2022 we didn't need any more, thank you.

I see I started this topic almost three years ago and for us that marks the beginning and (likely) end of the wettest 3 year period since I started my rain records in 2001. In 3 years some 2700mm in aggregate but then Sydney managed almost that much just this year.

Now, who said Australia was dry???

A land of Fire and Flood.