First blog
for 2021, oh, how the years fly by.
First, I
would like to make a comment on the Aroid craze and it’s not just Australia it’s
all over the world.
Crazy prices,
up to 1000s of dollars just for cuttings. Personally, I would really baulk at
paying any more than $50 for a plant but made one exception and that was to buy
an Amorphophallus titanium for $120, unfortunately it rotted this season.
Hoping this
year will be better than 2020, what a disaster that was, all garden meetings
and shows cancelled and we had to cancel our 19th Open Garden.
We would have
liked to have opened but Queensland Health would not listen despite two letters
stating exactly how we would implement a Covid plan and not let excess numbers
of visitors into the garden.
To cut it
short we would have a limit of 50 into garden regulated at the gate and another
50 waiting on the front lawn where there would be refreshments.
I really
doubt that they even read my letters properly as all we received back was an
Email to advise us to go to the Covid site, and that was a useless exercise.
So, we
cancelled despite hearing that others had opened their garden and were not
worried about numbers but having been dobbed in a couple of times to
authorities we were not prepared to take the risk as there’s always one nasty
person in a crowd.
So, lots of work raising garden beds, building benches and new shade areas and of course buying and planting more plants.
I am very
pleased how the garden is looking and it should look spectacular for 2021
opening.
We are
starting to get bookings for bus tours and garden presentations. I have
finished a new presentation ‘Aroids and Colour in the Giving Garden’.
I bought
Judy a Heat mat for Christmas and built a double story hothouse, it’s now full
of seedings that Judy is raising.
We have
really been disappointed in Rocky Point potting mix and have changed to a mix
available from Centenary landscapes, how a business could ruin a good product
astounds me, anyway we are happy with the new mix.
Massive Amorphophallus paeoniifolus.
Aroids from our garden.
