I believe July is the month when the rain really arrives.

Believe me this is true about this part of the world at this time. After one of the driest months of June on record there has been an amazing beginning to July 2000. The local paper tells me there were 108.2 mm (4.3 inches) of rain up until July 7. Which is out of an average July rainfall of 173 mm (6.92 inches). This may not seem to be a lot to you guys who live in the high rainfall areas, but believe me to us, that is magnificent. I remember writing a piece about the Alcoa frogWAtch program some time ago. Apparently Mike Tyler, Ron Johnson and Laurie Smith have published recently a new version of the book 'The Frogs of Western Australia'. The three authors were on hand recently at the Western Australian Museum to promote the book. Those of you who realise the value to gardens of a healthy frog population I am sure would be interested to take note of this fact and take note, also, that the new price of the book is $AUD38.44 (including GST). I live in the Shire of Kalamunda. Last week there was the first of a series of market days called - Kalamunda Village Market Day. From one of the stalls I bought an Alyogyne Heugelii, a beautiful shrub with divided soft foliage. As you know it is a member of the hibiscus family, and it should be possible to take a few cuttings for this plant later in the year. They have large open lilac coloured flowers in summer and are suited to hot dry conditions. I planted the shrub this morning and placed it in a sunny position. Mind you, the sun has not shone much for the past few weeks. This morning I spent an hour or so digging at the roots of a couple of citrus trees. I am transplanting them to a sunnier spot. Looks as though it is going to take more than a couple of hours to get them out of where they are at present. They tell me that July is the beginning of a new year in the garden. Perhaps subtle changes are taking place. As a matter of fact, I spoke to a very young person today and gave her my business card. She happened to notice that I write a column on suite101 on a gardening topic, and told me she had become very interested in gardening - it was very relaxing. She probably is subject to more than a little stress; she works behind the bar at the local pub. Still, it is nice to know that someone else appreciates one of your favourite pastimes.

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