Melaleuca linariifolia

  • Woozy Weather Threatens To Turn Paw Show Into Poor Performance

    Our kangaroo paw are starting to bloom, but they’re coming into their own just as the rainy season starts, hinting that we might not get a grand show. Kangaroo paw are Western Australian plants, so like bright, dry and sunny conditions. We have had a cool, dark and wet spring and early summer. This time last year, our kangaroo paw were resplendant. They’re only just making their way now. The flowers don’t like humidity, and the Tokyo summer is known for its steamy conditions, which is about as bad as it gets for kangaoo paw. We’ll just have to wait and hope for the best. In the meantime, we’re getting…

  • Kangaroo Paw Finally Hopping Into Action

    My heart-wrenching kangaroo paw plants have finally started to flower, bringing some joy, but a little bit of sadness, too. Perhaps the best lesson they’re teaching me at the moment is not to get too attached to anything. I’ve always wanted to have kangaroo paw in the garden. They’re one of the few Australian flowers I’ve always known about. I consider them iconic Australian flora. They have a connection to the theme of this website. Most of the kangaroo paw I have in our garden have a connection to my hometown. Apart from one plant, I grew all our kangaroo paw from seed I bought in Belgrave, where I grew…

  • Why Is It Snowing, It’s Supposed To Be Summer?

    It’s cold and wet, and we’re three days into summer. As I mentioned the other day, the snow in the summer in our garden is supposed to be because of its resemblance to the phenomena, not its materialization. It’s less than 20 degrees. The sky is dark and bleak. It has not stopped raining since the very early morning. Instead of basking in the summer sun, the flowers’ snow-like appearance seems to have adjusted the season around them. Other flowers are starting to feel the pinch. It has been raining for weeks, and the rainy season (which typically lasts four to six weeks) hasn’t even officially started yet. Some of…

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    Snow In The Summer Is Only Supposed To Be A Name

    In an uncustomary May I was absolutely delighted to poke my head out of our backdoor and see a lovely little white blossom greeting me. The flower was on our melaleuca linariifolia, a tree generally known as the snow in the summer. It gets that name because it blooms when the sun shines hardest, so my astonishment arose as this month has been dark and wet for the most part, as it is again today. The weather’s been so bad I wouldn’t be surprised to see us get a fair dinkum dose of snow. The melaleuca are part of the mrytle family, and we have another tree in the garden…

  • Whetted for Wet

    Rain is falling pretty steadily and though the rainy season in Japan gets me down, on the verge of its start, the precipitation has whetted the garden’s appetite for the wet; at least for the onset of the season, which could go on for months, or not happen at all, as was the case last year. Snow in the summer is starting to bloom, greeting our large lounge room window with a view of dainty white flowers. Proteas, which had started with a bang in March then appeared to go dormant, have started to show signs of blooming, which would be bloomin’ marvelous, indeed, if they were to do so….