I'm an amateur gardener...

...and an even more amateur photographer!  But here are some things that have caught my eye on this beautiful spring day.

This acer palmatum purpureum (weeping maple) survived a couple of years in a large terracotta pot in the Dandenongs, a move to the 'burbs, another two years in its pot, and has now made its home in one of our raised garden beds.  It has survived the move beautifully!  I adore the colour of the foliage, and now that it's not standing up so high in a pot, we can enjoy its colour even more from above.

Acer Palmatum Purpureum

What to do with a hot, sunny, dry strip of flat garden bed alongside a shared driveway?  This bed, against a westerly facing timber fence, used to house alternating "low-maintenance" liriope and nandina domestica (dwarf sacred bamboo).  With lots of room in between for weeds to thrive.  I hated it.  So, section by section, I've been ripping out the boring old stuff and trying to add some colour and texture.  In this section, planted in October 2012, I've planted convulvulus cneorum (silver bush), osteospermum (veldt daisy), and minature anigozanthos (kangaroo paw) in shades of pinkish-grey and deeper pink.  Also growing are some alysum seeds which were sprinkled long ago.  Can't wait to see this bed fill out.

Anigozanthos 'Bush Pearl'

These dichondra 'Silver Falls' were planted in the middle of winter... big mistake!  They struggled on for several months, looking dreadful, but spring has given them new life, and they're finally showing signs that they might do what they're meant to -- cascade over the side of our raised garden beds.  

Dichondra 'Silver Falls'

And finally for today, a snap (pardon the pun!) from my husband's part of the garden -- the vegie garden.  My 3-year-old is very good at eating her vegies, but her desperation to go outside several times a day to look at (and eat) the snow peas is a delight to behold!

Snow peas in the vegie garden