Africanaussie

I got two different types of organic fertilizer  in the pack that I won, and decided over the weekend to add some to the rest of the garden.  I recently planted lots of seeds in the veggie patch and think it will be a good idea to wait until they grow up into seedlings before I add any fertilizer to them. The seeds themselves are their own little fertilizer packages for the first few weeks. I did dig some fertilizer into the area where I planted the snow peas, after I removed the Rosella plants so will be able to compare the difference.. Firstly I cleared the paths and edgings of excess leaves. The beds around the lychee tree are layered with fallen leaves and leaves and branches that I have cut back while trimming plants.  I noticed that there is a white mould/fungus in some very shady, wet areas.  I hope this is mycellium which is what we want to build up in the rotting matter and not some nasty fungus. I moved the rex begonias into one section - I think the...

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...

I love to have flowers in the garden, and this little corner was not getting enough light, so I trimmed back some of the overhanging branches and open the gate when I am home to let the sunshine stream in.  We are still in the rainy season so drying out the soil occasionally is important.   At the very least it helps to slow down the mosquito breeding.  These red gingers never stop flowering and provide constant colour.  Right in the back corner is my very favourite flower - the sexy pink lady, and once again I have a bud forming.  Just in time for our house guests - old friends from America.  I hope the weather is kind to them. I am glad the garden is getting ready to show off  its best. Just below the pink lady is a pink ginger - not as prolific as the red, but the same family.

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...

The red gingers are one of the staple plants in my garden, and I got the first one from a friend who had started a new plant using the layering method.    As the new flowers form they already have an upright habit as you see here, right on the tips of the arching branches. Eventually the flower begins to die off and send out little shoots.  I think in nature this is designed to drop down onto the ground and form a new plant.  This one is ready to  be placed into a pot where it will send down roots and start a new red ginger plant for my neighbour.  This flower is already about two months old so the flowers are very long lasting.  Paying it forward...... I bent the branch down and then tied the branch onto the side of the pot so that the base of these new branches are just lying in the soil.  You can also anchor it with a u shaped picket, but I couldnt get one to stay put in the soil - maybe my soil was too loo...

The red gingers are so reliable - they never seem to stop flowering - a bit less in the dry season, but now they are approaching their prime.  You can see my neighbours garden behind this and they have a couple of the same plants, so it makes my garden look bigger since you can't see the distinction.  This is a feature in my garden to make it seem bigger than it actually is! The anthiriums too seem very happy and just keep flowering continually.   The miniature white caladiums look pretty as a border plant.   and I see some new shoots at the base of the beehive ginger - I think I must remove the extra leaves and add compost.  Soon we will have some beehive inforesences, and the best thing is that they last for months. Yes the wet season is on its way!

A while back I posted a series of progression photos for the heleconia flower.   This time I want to share the same sequence for the red ginger. At first the flower appears at the very tip of a leafy branch.  Every branch has a flower that forms on the tip of it, so it make for a very colourful and prolific plant. This opens up into a lovely red flower, which grows bigger and longer over the course of a couple of months. Eventually shoots start to form at the base of the flower, as you can see to the left of this photo. These can be propogated by a method called layering, when you would bend this down and secure with a type of large staple into a pot of soil.   I imagine what happens in the wild is this flower would eventually get heavy and fall down and lay on the ground where roots would form.  I propogated all of mine in this way.

A new ginger flower has appeared. A friend gave me a piece of rhizome a couple of months ago and called it shampoo ginger. It is also known as pinecone ginger, and these new inflorescences (as they are called) do seem to look like a pinecone. They are similar to the yellow beehive ginger but do not seem to have the open bracts. It will be interesting to see the fluid that is created in the bracts - evidently it is a very sweet ginger smelling shampoo! What with my loofas, and ginger shampoo I might go into the bath products business! We have had a tremndous amount of rain in the last couple of days. This is the "little" creek that trickles along for most of the year just down the road from us. It is normally about 30ft below this bridge. Now it is a swirling brown river! The skies are overcast and I think we in store for further rain - I like the way this heleconia shows up against the cloudy sky. The tropical flowers love this type of weather - a bromeliad flower h...

Variegated leaves like this add some "depth" to the dark foresty area of the garden. they are also lovely in flower arrangements. These ground orchids are lovely - they appreciate a shady moist spot and continue to multipy and happily bloom all through the year. The ginger family is quite large - a lot of plants are in the ginger family, but most of them are grown for their flowers, as this one is. The flower forms on long leafed branches and eventually the flower will begin to grow new leaves. It can be pegged down onto the ground at that stage where it will form a new plant. I believe this form of propogation is called layering In most areas of the world this is a houseplant, commonly called a cupboard lilly. I have one inside, but this one is very happy out in the shade fo the lychee tree amongst the bromeliads, orchids and other shady loving plants. My weeping bottlebrush, otherwise known as calistemon is flowering at last. I dont know why it took so long. Maybe it neede...