November 2018 Garden News

What a busy month was November with our 17^th consecutive ‘Open Garden’.

We really thought last year was going to be our last but Scott needed some help to get to Norway next year to compete in the ‘World Disabled Water Ski Championships’.

We let Scott keep all the gate takings plus there was a donation box.

585 people came on the weekend and as usual the plant buyers were queued up at 8am.

What a morning, we were rushed off our feet and thanks to our helpers who we could not of done without.

Will we open next year? That is the question.

Probably, it’s a heck of a lot of work and the elements are usually against us but we enjoy the weekend and we get to help someone in need. So, if our health holds up YES we will open again in November 2019.

The garden was still quite dry as we had no rain since mid-October and only a few mills since.

The Black Sapote crop was quite small compared to other years but they were quite a size.

Still the garden looked terrific and everyone who came enjoyed it and that’s what it is all about, sharing our love of plants and gardening with others.

We had good support from the local newspapers.

On the Wednesday prior to the opening I had a call for help from ‘Bayside Garden Club’ whose guest speaker was unavailable and asked if I could do it, so off I went and gave the ‘Garden Journey’ presentation.

I am now working on a new presentation ‘Fantastic flowers and Foliage’, done about 70 pictures of Aroids so far but really need a rainy day to do more.

So much time spent standing watering the garden, it’s a job I really hate but one that has to be done if I want to keep my plants alive.

My Amorphophallus collection was quite slow to come up this year, probably due to the cool spring.

Open Garden/Plant Sale 2018

The Giving Garden

5 Carlton Court, Birkdale

 After 15 years of big open gardens we decided enough was enough and we would have to find a simpler way as the workload involved in a BIG Open Garden was starting to take its strain on us.

We were thinking of not to opening our garden at all, but due to public pressure we  have decided to still do it, but do it much easier and with much less work and stress.

So the idea of having an annual plant sale came into mind with a small entry fee of $5 into the garden which will go to disabled sport.

After raising round about $60,000 for charity through our previous openings we thought this year would be a good idea to help our son who is a paraplegic compete in his last ‘Disabled World Water Ski Championships’ which are going to be held in Norway 2019.

The garden is looking great and November is probably the best month for colour and bizarre and interesting plants displayed.

If you have been previously, please come again as we have been busy in the garden.

So there you go, you can visit our beautiful garden again.

Don’t forget Judy will have some fantastic plants for sale, some of which you will not see elsewhere.

We are only home gardeners, NOT a business so we cannot accept EFPOS or credit cards and please bring your own bags.

Kaspar will be here selling fruit trees and Erica will have her cards and wonderful wildlife photos for sale.

There will be a toilet available but no catering, there will be seating so bring your own cuppa if you like.

Hopefully we will see you on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18^th November 2018 between 8:30 and 4:30.

Happy gardening.

Garden News for September 2018

We were lucky enough to have had 42 mills of rain early on in the month but that was followed by a couple of weeks of very windy weather which dried the garden out.

We had no other rain during September.

So, my main job for the month was watering the garden which I do by hand as we cannot allow any water to waste.

As usual plenty of wildlife in the 'Giving Garden'.

I am keeping the plants alive and the garden is looking good.

I had no garden presentations but we had one group from Springwood Probus Club visit.

Then it was School Holiday's so it was minding Grand Children.

ow for the BIG news

After 15 years of big open gardens we decided enough was enough and we would have to find a simpler way as the workload involved in a BIG Open Garden was starting to take its strain on Judy and me.

We were thinking of not to opening our garden at all, but due to public pressure we  have decided to still do it but do it much easier and with much less work and stress.

So the idea of having an annual plant sale came into mind with a small entry fee into the garden.

We tried this in April and only put the word out through Facebook and emails.

It turned out to be a great success with many 100s of people coming.

After raising round about $60,000 for charity through our previous openings we thought it would be a good idea to help our son who is a paraplegic compete in the next ‘Disabled World Water Ski Championships’ which are going to be held in Norway 2019.

This will be his last World Championship as he is going to retire from competition water skiing and sponsorship for this sport is very poor and is mostly self-funded.

I am not worried about the work getting the garden ready as it pretty well looks good all the time and November is probably the best month for colour and bizarre and interesting plants displayed.

So there you go, you can visit our beautiful garden again.

Don’t forget Judy will have some fantastic plants for sale, some of which you will not see elsewhere.

We are only home gardeners, NOT a business so we cannot accept EFPOS or credit cards and please bring your own bags.

Kaspar will be here selling fruit trees and Erica will have her cards and wonderful wildlife photos for sale.

There will be no catering or a toilet available but there is a servo just a short distance from us which has a toilet.

Hopefully we will see you on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18^th November 2018 between 8:30 and 4:30.

I will publish more information as time get’s closer.

A big job was to repot all my Amorphophallus collection.

Amorphophallus dunnii

Hopefully we will have a big crop of Mango's this year.

The first Zingiber flowerd this month 'Early Yellow'

Garden News August 2018.

Our first event was to give a presentation to Caloundra Garden Club, a very active club with over 100 members present. They enjoyed the ‘Clever Gardening’ presentation.

Our second event was a short trip to Thornlands to give the ‘Victoria Point Garden Club’ the ‘Clever Gardening’ presentation, a much smaller club with about 40 members present.

Then it was onto work in the garden.

A very dry month without any rain, so it was hand watering the whole garden.

I must admit it is a job I hate but one that has to be done if we want to keep our plants alive.

I broke my Fiskars Pole Pruner but with the 25 year warranty I was able to get another one sent to me by Fiskars, what a great company and great products.

Andrew came and delivered 25 bales of Sugar Cane mulch, we go through about 150 of these every year. I find it great mulch and never find weeds in it.

A really big job was to empty and clean out two ponds, this was really hard on my back and I still have not recovered.

Trouble was I filled the pond up with rainwater and killed most of my fish, I should of realized that was wrong and I should use tap water with a chlorine neutralizer, so I had to do it all over again.

The second smaller pond was the same only on the first refill  the water went off and I found chicken bones in the bottom, so I had to empty and refill, then the water went off again, this time I found lumps of cake in the bottom, so again empty and refill. I then put wire across to stop the birds dumping food into it.

Another BIG job was to re-pot all my Amorphophallus, this time in a better draining mix as I lost a few to the dreaded rot.

I built a new trellis in the garden.

Some really nice orchids out this month.

Other than that we are busy in the house painting and putting new carpet down.

Fiskars Pole Pruner

A big thank you to Fiskars for incredible service and great product.
Replacement Pole Pruner arrived today honoring their 25 year warranty.
I honestly could not look after my fruit trees without this great tool. 

July Garden news 2018

July has again been a very busy month.

It was school holidays so while our youngest son Warrick and his wife went to Byron Bay for five days we looked after our granddaughters.

Lovely girls, coming from Agnes Water where there are no shops they had a ball at Kmart, Target and BigW and of course going to the movies.

I think they thought Granddad and Grandma had a bottomless pit of money; anyway we sort of spoiled them as you do.

My first presentation was to’ Palm Lakes Retirement Village’, I went by myself as Judy had Grandchildren duties.

We then had a bus load of visitor’s from ’Karana Downs Garden Club’, they enjoyed the garden.

It’s amazing even though we are in the middle of winter the garden still delights.

Then of course our yearly pilgrimage to the ‘Queensland Garden Expo’ at Nambour, what a great show this is and it’s getting busier every year.

We picked up some nice plants and were happy with our purchases.

I finally found time to attend the monthly meeting of the ‘International Cordyline Society’ which was held at ‘Palms for Brisbane’ nursery.

Then on the last day of the month we went to give a presentation to the ‘Maleney Garden Club’, this was so well received with lots of members saying it was the best presentation they have ever had.

I tallied up the amount of talks and bus trips I have done in the past few years and it totaled over 200.

As well as all that I finished of cutting back the last of the fruit trees as well as all the other little jobs that need doing around the house and garden.

I sorted through my Amorphophallus collection and was disappointed to see I lost a few tubers to rot, I repotted the ones that needed to stay in soil and stored the rest dry.

What a big job that has been.