Thursday 8 November 2012

walking the local lanes

Many suburbs in our area have lanes along the rear of the houses, between the main streets. In the past they were for men to come in through the back gates in the dark and take away the containers of 'night soil'.

Some homes still have a back gate to these lanes, even though they aren't used for the same purpose. Many homes don't have access to the lanes these days.

However, the quiet lanes with their lack of cars make great places to walk a dog off-lead, and we often use them in this way, though we have to be careful to keep an eye out for snakes in the warmer months, if the grass has not been mown or if the lane is not paved.

Beautiful plants lean out into the lanes over back fences.




In one lane, someone has drilled holes in their fence so their plants can grow through. The plants, by growing through the hole, face north and so get good sunlight. That particular house doesn't have a gate into the lane, so I suppose the people must come up from the next cross street to get their fruit. They have a passionfruit and a grape.






However, there's a beautiful passionfruit plant in another lane, facing south.





6 comments:

Lassiter Chase and Benjamin said...

What an interesting idea. Drilling a hole in the fence so the vines and plants can grow on the other side. Never would have thought about that! Oh and that flower in the last couple of pictures is beautiful. Never saw one like that.

curator said...

What lovely photos. I so enjoy this nice sunny glimpse of your world since mine is currently chilly and wet! I am sure Penny loves it too.

parlance said...

Lassie and Benjie, tell your mum the flower grows into a delicious fruit - a passionfruit.

parlance said...

curator, one of the things I value about blogging is developing a sense of the whole world, so the variation in seasons is always interesting to me. It hammers home the message that we've only got this one planet.

Molly the Airedale said...

What beautiful flowers! Mom had a passion vine one summer. She found it at the nursery and decided that she couldn't live without it. It was just a garden plant for that year and she didn't winter it over inside. She tends to kill houseplants because she can't remember to water them. Passion vines sure do have the most exquisite blooms!

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

parlance said...

Mitch and Molly, we can grow passion vines all year here. They do suffer in the cold, but they survive.