Typical Sydney houses

The garden is settling in to winter-mode and it means I can take a break from the big projects I've done over summer. It's a nice break. So today I'm taking a break from the garden to show you something else that I really enjoy - architecture, especially anything heritage and historic. I really want to talk a little about the typical Sydney terrace house because there doesn't seem to be any blogs talking about them and I want to show visitors from abroad how we live here. Oh and I almost forgot - I live in one and they are really great!

Most houses within a 4 kilometre radius from the Sydney CBD are terrace houses. They look like this:

Note the balcony balustrade is what we call "iron lace". The eaves are also decorated with a line of (smaller) iron lace.

Some have rear lane access, but for those that don't, there are practical considerations, namely "where can I keep my garbage bins?"

On the footpath, of course

  Single-storey terrace versions (and these are considered fairly wide - double windows!)

This morning Mr. J. and I decided to inspect an open house not far from ours. It is the second from the right in the photo below:

 

Inside, there were a lot of features typical of Sydney terraces, such as fireplaces..

 

Beautiful archways with ornate moldings (if you look close enough they are bunches of grapes, actually)

Old light switches with VJ walls and more iron fences

The rear of the property.You can see at least 5 other properties in this photo.

These houses were built in the late 1800s house mainly for poor workers. They were often crowded and soon became known as 'slums'. Attempts were made to demolish most of them (in fact after 1900 terrace houses were banned from being built) but due to their superior construction (double brick) and desirable locations, most have survived today. Actually not only have they survived, they have become Sydney's most desired and most expensive homes. 

Australians from outside Sydney (along with foreigners) often wonder why the new settlers, surrounded by some much space, decided to build houses that were so narrow (many range in width from 3.7m to 5.5m). Back then transport wasn't readily available and people needed to live close to where they worked, and these houses took up little space.

On that point, here is the outline from the house we saw today, which is pretty typical of terrace design (this one is 3.7m wide):

There's something almost obscene about paying close to and over $1million for places that were once two-room slums. But that's the Sydney property market. The terrace house is unique in Sydney (few exist elsewhere in Australia) and it oozes charm with its ornate, 1800s Victorian-features. A very typically 'Sydney' way of living.

Hope you enjoy seeing the local architecture!

Mother's Day Blooms

Some late Autumn blooms in the garden...

Hibiscus 'Apple Blossom' is an old-fashioned favorite which flowers all year

The ground-cover Calliandra has bright red puffy flowers, much brighter than the shrub version

Another red flower, the Firespike Plant by night:

 

by day:

Golden Candles:

 

 

What's flowering in your garden at the moment?

Happy Gardening!

Palm Paradise

Today I visited a nursery which (thankfully) had a wide variety of palms for sale. They had many of them planted on the grounds so you could see what they would eventually look like. First was a very impressive Bismark Palm with its bright, silver foliage:

 

There were plenty of Foxtails, one of our native palms:

Triangle Palms were a bit smaller

Cycads aren't really palms but look very similar. If you've noticed, they cost a fortune because they are incredibly slow growing.

And of course my very favorite palms, the stately Cuban Royals were there in all their glory too:

The Cuban Royal palm is one of the giants of the palm world - their fronds alone can weigh up to 30K! Consequently, as backyards shrink and Councils take risk-adversion to new heights, they have fallen out of favor somewhat. Not one to succumb to gardening trends easily, they are still very welcome in my garden.

An interesting note - in Cuba (where this palm is from, obviously), it is referred to as "La Yagua" - "Yagua" being the original indigenous word for "beautiful".

Alexandra Palms (another native) in the background and mystery palms in the foreground:

There were plenty of Clustered Fishtail Palms about, too:

If you look closely you will notice their leaves are divided several times - the only palms in the world to have such a feature.

Of course, I could not leave empty handed and left with a very large, very pot bound but very cheap Clustered Fishtail Palm for the garden:

If you were to look at the average Sydney street, you would think the only palms that grow here are Alexandras and Cocos (Queen Palms) as well as Kentias. I often wonder why our choices here are so limited, when really the climate allows you to grow most palms around. Are those three types the cheapest for nurseries to produce? Do producers up north (where most plants sold in Sydney are grown) not know our climate well? I suspect the latter. Whenever I talk to them they tend to lump Sydney & Melbourne together in terms of climate (both are southern cities) but the two have very different climatic conditions. Sydney is located just where the subtropics end, so we are more influenced by those conditions (lots of rain and humidity) whereas Melbourne is completely different (and cold!). 

 Hmm - maybe this blog will change those misconceptions.

Happy Gardening!

A yummy treat to come...

My Cavendish bananas are now fruiting.

I planted a small sucker just over a year ago. It flourished and a little while ago pushed out a long stalk..
 

You can see the newly formed bananas above are straight. As the individual bananas grow bigger, they turn upwards towards the light. That is why the bananas we buy in the shop are curved.

Here is a close up of the banana flowers. They drip with nectar and attract many birds. As they die, they become the little brown stumps we see at the end of bananas in the shops

The bunch is fattening up by the day. In a few months they will turn yellow and be ready to eat. Bunches of bananas don't turn yellow one by one, but rather the whole stalk goes ripe at the same time. In order to avoid a glut of bananas, I take a 'hand' of fully formed but still green bananas (usually 5 or 6) and place them in a paper bag with a ripe apple. The apple releases ethylene gas which ripens the bananas (this is the same gas that professional growers use in warehouses to ripen store bananas). Otherwise, I'll end up with hundreds of bananas going ripe at once!

Banana growing (even for home gardeners) is extremely regulated and restricted in Australia. There are many diseases which attack the plants and the government therefore restricts their cultivation to certain species and numbers. I am fortunate enough to live outside the restricted areas but close enough to them to have a warm climate conducive to growing bananas. They are one of my favourite plants, and look beautiful and decorative when when not fruiting.

Happy Gardening!

Mid-Autumn in the garden

This has been a crazy time in the garden. Everything is going wild and I have been pulling my hair out trying to work out how to deal with it all. I've been spending so much time in the garden that blogging has taken a back seat for a little while, unfortunately. Meanwhile the weather is beautiful; warm sunny days with nights just cool enough for a blanket. Very mild and comfortable.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics of what is happening in the garden at the moment

             The coleus add welcome colour along the path. Unfortunately they grow too big and overtake it

 The Brazilian Red Cloak and Costus are blooming

 My Heliconia psittacorum 'Daintree' is very happy. Its flowers last months on the plant; when I cut them they last about a week in a vase

 As always, the very pretty Thunbergia grandiflora (Bengali clock vine) is in flower. It is in perpetual bloom and always adds colour to the yard

Also as per usual, Seb and Milton hang out in the garden together, watching what I do and hoping that my digging will unearth a plethora of weird and wonderful insects for them to hunt and play with.

It's a really nice time of the year to be outdoors. 

Happy Gardening!

Mystery Heliconia

I really like this Heliconia. It is small and has a cute flower. I took a bit from my old garden (where it grew everywhere but for some reason it never flowered). Before today, I have never seen it flower. I am sure it is a Psittacorum, but does anyone know which type?

 

(I found it a bit hard to photograph)

Happy Gardening!

More "Bunga Raya"

This morning was so beautiful. Misty, cool, with strands of sunlight peeking through foliage. I also spotted this beauty and thought of my friends in Malaysia:

 (I like the effect of this slightly out-of-focus pic, it looks like one of those 60s Hawaiian retro prints)

 This is what it looked like yesterday evening before I came in

 The flowers are great picked; they can be placed around the house (no need for water) and will not wilt. However, they only last a day each.

Happy Gardening!