Spring has Come Down Under

September 1 was the first day of spring in Australia, the country at the bottom of the World. Magnolias, camellias and daffodils are blooming magnificently and the Acer japonicas are beautiful with their tender new leaves.

The birds are pairing up and collecting their building requirements and Gay and Kees are weeding in every spare moment, so we are all getting ready for the beginning of the gardeners' year.

As we have two large gardens to care for, we find ourselves as busy as the birds at this time of year. I feel we may have a hot summer. At our country property, our bush is full of acacia and the blooming has been early and most striking with very full blossoms. It is an old country saying in Tasmania that when the wattle is early and full, the fruit trees will be laden and the sun will be hot. Our cherry trees are certainly laden with blossom.

The daffodils are out, the hamamelis still gleam with their yellow and brown-orange stars and manage to perfume both house and garden. The viburnums try to outdo them with their equally lovely scent and the camellias are stridently adding their colour. Snow flakes and snow drops have sprung up everywhere. The flakes are still standing tall in large groups but the trees remain with only the promise of spring.

This winter has been very moderate, not like the winter of my childhood memories. We are lulled into thinking that our climate is truly becoming very mild. On the flip side, in our hearts we are frightened the lovely winters are caused by the greenhouse effect. The hole in the ozone layer continues to get bigger and as Tasmania is very close to the South Pole where the ice is melting at an alarming rate, we join many scientists in our great concern.

The flowers are so large and numerous on the exotics this spring, they are brazen in their flaunting of their beauty. The reticulata camellias - Captain Rawes, semi-double and rose-carmine; Dr Louis Polizzi, [a reticulata hybrid] delicate pink; fire chief [a reticulata X hybrid] is a marvellous glowing red as the name suggests; Francie L, a red pink and also a reticulata X hybrid; Lila Naff, a glorious silvery pink with huge wavy edged flowers of more than 12 centimetres across, have all taken centre stage.

Reticulata camellias are not for the gardeners whose choice of planting tends to be timid. But for me, I feel if you grow camellias, why not the showiest - the chorus girls that enter the stage after the delicate ballerinas; the C.Sasanquas. The japonica camellias also flower from late winter until the end of spring with all kinds of shapes and sizes from tiny little blooms to huge ones nearly as big as the reticulata and I would call these the very strong supporting casts in our spring festival drama.

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