Latest Garden Blog for 2026

 I know I have been very slack but time has a way of passing very quickly as you will later on in this post.

After the massive hailstorm of course came Christmas and we hosted all our family here.

The family from Agnes had Fabienne's mother who was to return back to Switzerland after a few months staying at Agnes Water, so it was a very crowded house for a few weeks.

After Christmas we had the insurance assessor check hailstorm damage and it turned out to be more than we thought.

We have to replace our patio roof and the shed roof as well as Solar electrical and hot water system as well of a few other smaller things.

Judy and I decided that we would stop doing garden presentations as most involved either city or long drives so we let the 'Queensland Council of Garden Clubs' know.

We had a couple booked from last year, one at Logan Village and one at Logan City, so we attended those.

We do like hosting bus visits and intend to continue doing this.

In March we had a bus visit from 'Mt Gravatt Garden Club' the garden was looking great and was enjoyed by all.

Then in April 'Bayside Garden Club' visited and again the garden put on a show and was enjoyed by all.

One day I received a message from the Monty Don BBC garden show who had viewed my 'Giving Garden' Facebook page and said they were trying to get funding to come to Australia and if successful would like to visit.

That would be fantastic.

My last job prior to going into Hospital was to store all my Amorphophallus corms in the shed.

I have been having hip pain for some time to it was time to bite the bullet and arrange for a new hip, this operation was to happen on 18th May 2026 at Greenslopes Private Hospital.

Prior to that I had to work really hard to do as much trimming and maintenance as possible, sometimes two trips to the dump with a trailer full every week, I got a fair bit done but not enough.

I had my operation six days ago and was in Hospital for three days, released when I could use crutches.

Still in pain and very uncomfortable and missing going out in the garden, so here I am finally doing my blog.

Garden News until end of November 2025

 

First, please accept my apologies for not writing a blog for the past few months, life is just so very busy and I am usually exhausted at the end of day, work in the garden never stops.

I must work through pain in my knees and hips and cannot get into a specialist until early February, anyway I can still get in a day’s work every day and have no intention of downsizing at the moment.

What would Judy and I do without our beautiful garden and plants.

Now to get on with garden news.

In August we had visitors from the Victoria Point Probus Club, no visitors in October and in November we had a return visit from the Lota Community Garden Group.

 

The Tropical Foliage Festival was held very early November which was a disappointment as virtually none of my Amorphophallus had come up, so now I am stuck with about eight trays to try and get rid of. Anyway, we still took a nice selection of plants and people know that our plants are good. Dammed hard work getting ready though.

As usual all the fruit trees needed trimming over winter and I cut them back more than usual in order to make it easier for next year.

It was our Granddaughter's Birthday in October so we decided to do a surprise visit to Agnes Water to surprise her and we certainly did so. She was at the beach and I jumped from behind some bushes and really and truly gave her the surprise of her life, one of those memories that will stay for the rest of our lives.

Everything has grown so much with all the rain but that soon stopped in September when we had to start hand watering the garden again.

We had contemplated having a Plant Sale here in November where people could walk the garden for free and hope they would buy a plant, but that changed as we had a massive storm here late November with GIANT HAIL some hailstones measured between 10 to 13 cm wide, it was like someone was throwing bricks on our roof. Damage was 12 broken roof tiles which we were fortunate to find someone to fix two days later.  Solar Panels damaged and we think the solar hot water system was also damaged. We have an insurance assessor coming soon. Surprisingly the garden suffered very little damage other than a mass of leaf litter and a few gum branches.

We had a visit from peter and Genya from Lagoon View Nursery and they were happy to dig out some Alpinia 'Big Pink' from a spot in the garden where they had multiplied.

Photo was taken at Lagoon View.

My Amorphophallus collection died back and stored dry for the winter and in September I started to repot. Had some very nice ones in flower.