Africanaussie

Some things I just keeping trying even though they have never worked in the past.  Are you like that? One thing is grafting -  I tried both a lime and a lemon tree grafted onto a citrus that grew up from the rootstock of a lime mandarin.  I cut a pointed edge on the scion and then inserted it into a slit.   I rested a moist bit of coconut husk into the branch above the graft to allow some moisture and then placed a plastic bag over the entire thing.   Tied up nice and tight with grafting tape. The other thing I have not always had success with is pollinating pumpkins.  I see lots of bees and flying insects, but supposedly pumpkins have to be hand pollinated.  I have let a volunteer pumpkin have its way in the back veggie patch because at least it shades the ground.  I have heard young pumpkin leaves are very tasty, but I have never tried them.  This little thing was right beside the path so I got a female flower and broke away t...

The hot and humid wet season seems to suit the tropical flowers much better than  it suites me. I still gaze in awe at the fact that the Anthirium is one of my most carefree plants.   From one plant gifted by a friend years ago when I was first starting my garden, I now have a forest!  I have also passed on multiple plants to other gardeners, so it is a gift that keeps on giving.   There is also a forest of red ginger - so reliable. Way in the back corner are one of my favourite tropical heleconias - the sexy pink lady.  Once each stem has flowered it will die, so I need to get out there and cut back the dead stalks. That way the flowers can be the centre of the show again. Theese beehive gingers seem to be playing peek a boo against the side fence.  They are tucked away behind the fan palms. This has been one of the driest wet seasons I have ever known.  Last week there was a cyclone to the northwest of us and...

In the tropics everything grows so well, that sometimes I have to think about a certain plants aggressive nature.  I like to be able to see that all the plants are surviving ok, but still have a full tropical look to the garden. I am often torn about removing certain plants that have become too aggressive for my small garden. A plant at the back has huge leaves, rounded, and very firm, and I love the way they scratch against each other in the wind.  I planted two of them - one against the fence and the other at the back, next to the sexy pink lady. Hubby loves the feeling that we live in the middle of a lush tropical rainforest.  I worry that the plants are crowding each other out. Is there too much now in that corner? The difficulty is that some of those plants will go dormant in the dry season.   I see more turmeric has come up, so have to be careful I do not create bare patches..  I have that in the...

I did manage to spend a full afternoon out in the garden, weeding, cutting back and unearthing hidden treasure!  This little area is so colorful, and deep under the branches there were hippeastrums flowering!  This little one is the first to flower and I hope will soon be followed by the huge, blowsy, over the top, striped ones that were so pretty last year.  Who needs to live in a country with "seasons" when I get fall colour throughout the year? This croton is really colorful, throughout the year. I also noticed that  the ground orchids have buds peeping up - oh great - I have not had any flowers since the lychee tree was pruned. Once the sprawling tomato plants were staked up I discovered lots and lots of anthiriums just waiting to show their pretty colors.  These are the backbone of my garden, and just keep re-producing - the flowers last so long. Gingers are shooting up from...

Look at the big branches of the lychee tree! - there are new little branches shooting up all over the place :)  Aren't they cute?  I moved the ponytail palm out from under the gazebo to give us more room for entertaining, and it too seems to like the sunshine.   We have had some rain, and the skies are mostly cloudy, but  that just means the plants have had some time to adapt to more light, and gosh they all seem to be loving it.  There are still plenty of ratty looking leaves, and bare spots, but all in all I think recovery is good. The caladiums are also popping out all over the place - they were trampled right down during the tree lopping, but seem none the worse for wear.   This one I got from my neighbor - what a huge leaf!  I love this native ginger - it doesn't seem to have any flowers but with the underside of the leaf being red it actually ...

I love the garden from this angle, but it never looks quite as good in a photo as it does in real life.  You have to get in closer to see the colorful cordeline leaves. This one is the most common and often taken for granted, but its color is always reliable as long as it gets a bit of sunshine. You have to bend down low to see the ground orchids - they love the wet season.  and wander down one of the paths to admire the anthiriums - Look at those shiny leaves! Watch out for the prickles on the pineapple bromeliad! such a cute little thing this is, as long as you don't get too involved with the prickles.  Thanks for taking a wander through the garden to find its hidden delights.

This weekend I got to spend a much needed day in the garden.  I put up our little shade cloth over the vegetable garden.  It works very well as it shades just part of the garden for part of the day.  The asparagus was cut right back and mulched and I intend to start harvesting it soon.  Lots of weeds were removed  Paths widened and cleared and the ginger planted.  Still more to do, but it is now looking a bit better cared for.  I am letting some things go to seed which always looks a bit messy.  My neighbor gifted me with a  couple of her volunteer caladiums - doesn't the foliage look stunning next to the rex begonia?   I would love to have swathes of caladiums like Meems in Florida, but I don't have the room and they seem hard to find around here.  The anthirium just go on and on - one of the backbones of my garden, and I am so glad that the little purple one is startin...

"You are my sunshine,.......... you are my sunshine" has been playing through my head this weekend.  We have been having a few days where the sun is shining during the day although it still rains at night.   The garden is loving it, and look!  a butterfly hatched!  I only found out after the fact, so didn't see it emerging, but there are three empty chrysalis cases.  One has still not hatched, so hope I can catch that one in the act. It is weird that this one has so much white on the wings - maybe this is a female and the other one might have been a male? http://africanaussie.blogspot.com/search/label/orchard%20swallowtail%20butterfly I saw an image like this labelled a female on wikipedia.  In other news around the garden: The cats whiskers are always lovely, and I thought this one looking at its own reflection in the birdbath as a few petals dropped off was rather a nice image. The beehive ginger flower has collapsed under the weig...

Yes the garden does like the rain - these are tropical plants I grow after all!  Flowers though need a bit of sunshine in between to burst forth in colour, and I must say I also apreciate it when the rain stops for  a while and I can get out with the camera, even though I am wading through the mud to do it. The chinese lantern hibiscus has enjoyed the rain.  The star of the show is the lipstick plant though - look at it emerging out of the little fluffy tube -how cute is that :)  They really like all this rain - the cups are full of water.  My grandson took a look at this photo and said "oooh lollies" (candies are called lollies here in Australia)   I must say I am enjoying how this plant has taken off this year. A basket of lipstick anyone?  The branches are hanging down about two feet from the hanging basket.  As they emerge they open up into flowers. This is the first year this plant has been so prolific and I now realise t...