Africanaussie

A while back I made room in my little bromeliad bed for the strelitzia, and after languising for about four years, it seemed to like its new spot.  Alongside was the only little patch of lawn I had kept.  My little ceramic sheep were not doing a good job of keeping the lawn cropped, and then when hubby put a play pool for the grandkids on the lawn I knew I had to reclaim that space for my own!  No blue pastic pools in MY garden! The only thing to do was to let the water flow out of the pool all over the grassy area.  That made it easier to dig, but my gosh, was it messy.  Instead of showing you the mess, I just have a few photos of some prettiness.  Rex begonia flowers.  Rex begonia leaves. Is anyone else having problems that blogger is turning their photos sideways, and then they are impossible to turn back again?   grrr.  I am posting this anyway in the hopes that when they are posted they will once again be the right way up. ...

My white orchid is the most prolific flowerer, but the last time it flowered the ants climbed up the stem and ate the flowers!   I was devastated, and made sure it didnt happen again.  As soon as I saw the buds forming this time I brought the plant inside. The grubby outside pot doesn't look so good, and it didn't fit into any of my other containers.  I just wrapped it in a piece of cellophane and jammed it in halfway.  I like the idea of bringing in the flowering orchids, so will have to either pot them up into pots that fit into my containers or purchase other containers. This is one of my most succesful orchids, flowers every six months, and this time has two flowering stalks, and at the top of one of the "branches?" there are a few leaves with some roots that I presume I can re-pot and start another plant. I have a selection of mismatched hanging pots and one of them doesn't even work anymore and hangs at a tipsy angle. One of the pots is marked 4.00,...

Once the rains start in, everything seems to grow overnight.  I would love to get out and cut some things back, and do some digging, but no - I am being very careful with my back, and just observing the garden from  the safety of the swing.  One of the first plants to herald the arrival of the rains are the bromeliads - The tips of this one turn a bright pink - like a painted fingernail... My neigbour told me that bromeliads with spikes like more sun...   I have heard this one referred to as the hurricane bromeliad, so they are right on time. This is  the cyclone season as it is called in the Southern hemisphere. From this dingy rosette of green leaves a gorgeous flower pops up, and the best thing is that they stick around for weeks.  another plant showing its colours is the red anthirium - it is a tiny plant, and I got a little pup from my neighbour ages ago - suddenly it has a lovely flower.  Lovely ...

I have acquired two new bromeliads, three if you count the one I got from the clearance rack about a month ago.   That was flowering, and I figured would put a new pup soon - but that is when they are often put on the clearance rack, discarded.   I have done that before, and then suddenly one day begin to wonder what happened to that plant, only to discover that it must have gone to bromeliad heaven or dissolved into a pile of slime or something, but really is no-where to be found. I know I had one of these matchstick bromeliad - I have a photo of it blooming on my blog, but where did it go?  This one with the zigzag sides is different I am sure I have not seen one like it in my garden before - have no idea what the flower would look like, but  think  it might be a viresia?   The other tall ones like this have flowered occasionally with a beautiful flower.  Once again I have proof, looking back ...

I cant believe that a couple of weeks ago I thought things were drying out and we were going to have an early dry season.  Shows what I know!  For over a week we have had torrential rain, with water over the roads blocking access, and the back yard a total bog.  My little veggie seedlings are slightly protected , but not getting any sunshine other than the liquid variety.  Some wet scenes from around the garden.... The variegated hibiscus goes very white at this time of year, and I love how that contrasts with the flowers that dangle wetly from the ends of the branches.  This bromeliad is quite prolific at this time of year - the colours are quite delicious. Even the Cordelines show off their hot pink leaves.  The weight of too much rainwater has made this tall one collapse.  I will cut the top off and it will re-shoot.  The red ginger flowers out the back that I have been meaning to t...

At the end of the bromeliad bed is the corner where I have been growing gerbera daisies, but I think they are not happy there.  It is probably a little too shady and water logged, and that will only get worse as the wet season approaches.  This weekend I moved the gerberas out into the front where they will get full sun and good drainage.  A couple of my bromeliads have been producing extra pups, so they were cut off and moved to their new home.  As I prepare my tomato bed I will be digging up more and more stones, must really start to wash them off though so that the top layer has no dirt in them as that just attracts weeds. I just need a few more bricks and that will complete this area nicely. This one has coloured up so nicely since it was moved into a more sunny position.  It only gets morning sun but that seems to be enough. I have always hankered after a water feature, and if you look closely the inside of my neo looks just like a little pond wi...

Grower Jim just posted an informative article about pineapples, and I had spent yesterday out in the garden between rainshowers looking at the different forms of pineapple I have in my garden!  Pineapples must be the theme of the day! It was a couple of weeks ago I noticed that my pinepple plant had at last decided to set fruit, and yesterday I noticed it is growing in size.  This is the type of pineapple that has less spiny leaves, and some people say it does not have as much flavour. I am just excited to have something to show for all the years of planting pineapple tops into the soil and waiting and waiting, with nothing to show for it....... Since I didnt grow up in a tropical climate I am still in awe of all the tropical fruit and flowers  I can grow in my own garden. Much more prolific is this decorative pineapple bromeliad.. Ananas nanus.  Talk about spiky leaves!  This has this area all to itself as you dont want to put your hands in the a...

Look at this lovely bromeliad! What a beautiful addition to my bromeliad bed! We took our grandson to the beach and when we dropped him off I asked my lovely daughter-in-law (very much an un-gardener) if I could take a few of her bromeliads. Yes sure, she said, and I brought home two, cut off the dead leaves and gave them a good drink - gosh they look so lovely now, I am sure she wont recognise them! They add just the right amount of colour amongst all all the green. I  took away the bricks at the back of the bed and moved them to the front, and I think this makes the bed flow nicely.  The bricks will help when the gardeners come to do the edging as I would hate them to catch a rock and have it fling up into their eyes or something.   I need to add a few more rocks, but this is not such a pleasant job. If you tip them out they get caught up in the leaves, in which case you have to reach in amongst all the spines to get them out.  If you try to rea...

I have been moving a few bromeliads into the garden outside the bedroom window.  There were amarylis there already, so I have not removed those.  It looks quite crowded, but I like the look of the amarylis leaves, and the bromeliads support the leaves.  I will wait to see if the the amarylis flower in spring (a lot of friends in the area  said theirs did not flower either last year).  Not sure if I want the entire bed of bromeliads, or will let some amarylis stay..  I do want to put some sort of stone mulch down as I like the look of bromeliads against stone. The bromeliads had been looking rather tattered and untidy under the tree, but are now beginning to show some better colour. this had totally lost its red center in the shade....... clearly they like more sunlight. this little variegated one has already put out two pups. Once I cut away some of the dead leaves and put down some stone mulch I think this bed will look nice...

During the wet season the tropical plants really shine, and my garden is looking quite colourful. We have created the privacy screen between us and the neighbours as we wanted. A close up of a bromeliad flower - what vibrant colour! the purple tips seem almost electric!

Are people who keep a gratitude journal more blessed or just more likely to notice their blessings? I am always amazed at how like a gratitude journal this blog is. Once I start peering around the garden looking for new things to photograph I discover so many things that might have just slid by without being noticed. Driving in from work on Friday afternoon I glanced up to see LYCHEES ! Admittedly there are only about two dozen on the whole forty foot tree, but there is a lovely pink bunch about twenty foot high! Now how do we get them down, and what will I do with them. I once had a lovely salad with soft butter lettuce, lychees , and avocado. Magic combination. Now on to the reason that I named this blog post spicy weekend: It just took a little bit of rain for the turmeric to decide that the wet season has started. Lots of little green shoots coming up around last years rhizomes, which I got from a neighbour, and then toward the end of the wet they will start to form new turmeri...

This is a selection of some of the variegated bromeliads I have under the lychee tree. The one that looks like a baby pineapple is very cute :) I may have posted before how much I love to save the life of a plant who others have given up on. I found a couple of very sad looking bromeliads on the clearance rack a while back and bought two of them for 50 cents. What a surprise and delight I had this week when a beautiful red and yellow flower appeared in the centre - the other one is closely following along. I do love bromeliads - the flowers stay for so long. It is like buying a lucky dip - you have no idea what the plant might amount to in the end!