Garden News October 2012

I know it’s a tired old story but it is one that is stressing me out.

Yes, you have guessed it, it’s the bloody weather.

No rain since mid July, but to make matters worse we have had several gales which have ripped through the garden shredding the leaves of trees, cordylines and heliconias.

With just four weeks to go to our ‘Open Garden’ there’s still time for it to recover and look good, not lush but good, but that depends on whether we get any rain or not.

Gardening is not exactly a relaxing hobby for us at the moment; hopefully we will have a great ‘Open Garden’ and be able to relax a bit.

                                              Curcuma 'CapeYork'

                                                       Jade Vine

                                         Zingiber 'Dark Apricot'

I have a crook elbow at the moment, Doctor said it was a classic case of ‘Tennis Elbow’ or in my case ‘Gardeners Elbow’, it’s painful but I will have to grin and bear it until after the opening as there is so much to do.

We had just the one bus trip this month from the Probus Club, as usual they enjoyed the garden even though it was very dry.

                                                Hippeastrums

My time is spent mostly watering the garden, trying to keep the plants alive, we had 107,500 litres of rainwater stored on seven tanks, we are down to about 10,000 litres left, enough? I don’t think so unless it rains. I know the plants do not like town water, but it may come to that.

I have completed a couple of small jobs in the garden and planted more plants, there’s always room for more plants and more plants.

I was a bit upset when I was told by a fellow gardener that certain person hated our garden and did not like us because we promote our garden too much. What a stupid sour person she must be, of course our garden being tropical will not appeal to everyone, that’s to be expected, but to dislike us because we promote of garden is really stupid. Let’s face it if I did not do it who would? If you want visitors on your open weekend then you must let them know you are opening.

Oh well, you cannot please everyone.

                                                        Zingiber 'Early Yellow'

                                                       Peperomia puteolat

 This year Judy and I have received 12 bus tours through the garden, there’s only a $2.00 charge to help pay for the public liability insurance, we always have the back patio area cleared with enough seats for everyone and of course a urn boiling.

We have also visited 12 Garden Clubs giving one of my three power point presentations, there is no charge for this, and most garden clubs give us just enough to pay for petrol costs.

                                               Dendrobium fimbriatum

                                            Dendrobium Orchid

                                          Ansellia africana 'Leopard Orchid'

This blog is now getting over 100 visitors a day, which is very pleasing as I enjoy doing it along with the ‘garden product reviews’ site, doing this keeps my brain active and the garden looks after the body.

This year’s ‘Open Garden’  raffle has already received some great prizes, Fiskars have sent  a selection of garden tools worth $600 and Reln have donated a compost tumbler and worm farm, lots of other stuff too including a personally signed bottle of wine by the Queensland Premier.

                                         Fiskars donation

Judy has some wonderful plants ready to sell during the ‘Open Garden’, they are all at a very reasonable price and some of them are impossible to purchase at Garden Centres.

I bought a new camera last month, a Nikon D3200 and have just received my new 100mm micro lens. I am very pleased with the camera and hope to post some great photos in the future.

September 2012 Garden News

We are having an early summer with quite high temperatures and of course NO rain.

Worrying about the lack of rain seems to be the story of my life, but it is so frustrating having to spend countless hours hand watering then find your tanks are going close to empty.

Hopefully we will get some decent rain before the ‘Open Garden’.

                                                                             Clivea

I think I have probably done more to improve the garden this year than any other year, with many metres of soil, compost ect brought in and existing gardens refurbished and replanted.

As I have said before ‘“a good garden is never finished, it is always evolving”.

                                                                           Blue Mist

                                                               Queen of the Abyss

                                                                       Red Holiday

No garden talks or bus tours this month, which is good as it gives us more time to get ready for the ‘Open Garden’.

We have had two very interesting Amorphophallus plants in flower, photos shown below.

                                                            Typhonium venosum 'Voodoo Lily'

                                                           Amorphophallus Konjac

                                           Amorphophallus bulbifer (snake plant) seed pod
I have bought a new camera Nikon D3200 with 24 mega pixels; stand by for some good photos.

We are going to have some very good ‘Open Garden’ raffle prizes this year with Reln donating a worm farm and compost tumbler, Fiskars donating three very good products and a lot more, all money raised goes to disabled sport. In our previous 10 openings we have raised about $30,000 for various charities through the raffle and catering.

                                                            Clerodendrum 'Starburst'

                                                                Yellow Candlestick

We will not open next year as we need a bit of a break, whether we will do it again, well we shall just wait and see.  We still intend to host bus trips ect.
Don't forget to look at my other site. http://www.gardenproductreviews.com/