Spring...

Here in Australia we are just a few days away from Spring. Here in subtropical Brisbane, we don’t tend to have much difference between the seasons unlike the southern states. 

My garden does tend to get a bit neglected but in the last few months I’ve put a bit of effort into it. I’ve divided up bromeliads and re planted them in pots as well as directly into garden beds. Possums don’t seem to eat bromeliads or succulents so I’m extending their presence in the garden. 

DD1 gave me some dracena cuttings and I’ve potted those up too...and yes, the possums don’t seem to find them tasty either 😀. 

Some petunias have escaped being eaten by the possum gang too...

( I use the plastic forks to protect the plants when they are seedlings) 

The faithful nasturtiums that come up every year are putting on a bright display...

Some of the succulents have also flowered...

Not many veggies at the moment as DH and I will be away during September.

A self-sown pumpkin is doing nicely at the moment but will probably succumb to powdery mildew when the humid weather arrives. Or the vine and any pumpkins could be chomped on by hungry possums like my last few vines. 

Some tomatoes have come up in the compost that I put around the frangipani/ plumeria. Should take them out...but at least they are crowding out weeds perhaps! 

Months ago my cousin gave me a clump of eshallot seedlings. I planted them in a pot with a few inches of compost at the top. They’ve grown beautifully as had a whole lot of self sown plants. I did weed these plants out to start with but it looks like some more weeding is needed. 

Just 2 tomato plants which have been planted especially so far this season...

This meme is just so appropriate 🤣

Even though we Brisbanites reckon there isn’t much difference between the seasons, the king orchid that grows neglected in the back corner of the garden can always be depended on to ‘know’ exactly when Spring is looming...

Hope those drought ravaged rural areas of Australia get some rain soon 🤞🤞. 

Mt Coot-tha Gardens...

This weekend at the Botanical Gardens at Mt Coot-tha, there is a big tropical plants sale. DH and I headed off there yesterday morning fairly early. When we arrived at the car park, there was already a steady stream of people walking back to their cars with boxes filled with plants. Darn! Would there be any plants left???? But of course there were!

In the part of the auditorium in the photos above, there were lots of cordylines, coleuses, begonias etc but I was more interested in the section outside...masses of bromeliads! 

I walked up and down beside the tables a few times to see what was there. The third time, I was ready to start picking out 'broms' to buy. Dear DH carried the box for me. I did end up buying a few 'more expensive' ones as well as small economical ones. In the last 16 years or so I've grown to love this plant family...before that, I hadn't thought much of them. 

The ones I bought...

I also bought a plant that was new to me...

This plant is on the right of the photos in the previous collage. It has long flower stems that are a mass of tiny pink flowers.

Now the photo below is in one of the collages. It shows DH pretending to be excited by a bromeliad. Lol. But in the background there is a young woman in a blue shirt. Her grandparents, Olive and Len Trevor, started the Olive Branch Bromeliad Nursery here in Brisbane many years ago. This young lady told me that she now runs the Nursery, so it's wonderful that it's staying in the family so to speak. 

It's a shame Olive and Len weren't there yesterday, as I like to catch up with them. I taught their daughter so we have her in common as well as a love of 'broms'! 

The Saturday after Christmas...

A few weeks before Christmas my DD1 invited me to have brunch with her on the Saturday after Christmas. With DH being in hospital it looked like we would have to postpone, but DH had insisted that I still go. Then on the Friday evening he got the news that the cardiologist would be visiting him in the morning and DH naturally wanted me to be there. So DD1 and I postponed. Then at 6.30am the next day, DH rang to say that the doctor had already been and he urged me to keep the brunch date with my daughter. So more phone calls and by 10am I was driving into the carpark of Edens Nursery at Carseldine. 

Cafe customers walk through the gift shop area to the cafe at the back...

We were meeting at the Dragonfly Cafe there. We had a lovely catch up over our delicious breakfasts. Then we went for a wander through the Nursery's gift shop and then through all the plants for sale outside. I had been thrilled when my daughter chose this venue, as I had been given a gift voucher for the nursery by my stepchildren and their partners. I got it for my birthday last year but hadn't spent it. 

DD1 enjoyed walking around looking at all the goodies in the gift shop area. Funny I did not notice on the day I was there, that 'birdhouse' looking item on the top shelf on the left...hmmm

I love this place! we walked around...and around...with me trying to decide what to buy at the best value. I had already decided I wouldn't buy things like potting mix and fertilisers...maybe something whimsical like a small statue...or maybe something expensive like a special bromeliad! I eventually settled on plants...

Walking around all the plants...

And this is the box of plants that I left with...two bromeliads, a gorgeous geranium and a hydrangea. 

So photos were sent to the wonderful young people who gave me the gift voucher. 

It had been a lovely morning spending time with my older daughter...and spending my gift card! lol

Another development in the street...

When DH and I arrived back home from overseas in early May, there was a Notice of Proposed Development sign on the two houses across the road. The renter in the house directly opposite had to vacate that property by the end of June. In late July the owner started clearing trees on the site. I 'had my eye' on some bromeliads which grew beside one house. I felt guilty about just going over and taking some, and the owner/developer seem to be popping by at all different times but I hadn't had the courage to ask if I could have the plants.

Then early one morning I heard trucks outside, so quickly got dressed and grabbed the camera as I thought that the demolition was about to start.

I called out to the owner, 'So today is the day is it'? He replied that the equipment was just to flatten the garden beds between the 2 houses...so I then asked if he minded if I took some bromeliads. He didn't but suggested I be quick about it before the machinery was unloaded. So a quick trip back home to get some gardening gloves and a plastic bag...

 I grabbed an armful and all have been planted in various spots around our garden

The garden bed on the other side of the house was left untouched, so quite early next morning ,while dressed in my nightie and dressing gown, I went back and got an armful of agave plants...DH was inside watching the golf on TV so no photos that time! lol
These plants will remind me of Phillip the young man who rented the house for 6 or so years and was a landscape gardener and really made the yard of the rented house look lovely.

Both houses will be demolished and 7 houses will be built on each block. So dust and noise for a long time yet.
Those who followed the saga of the 7 new houses next door to us...they are all available for rent. Only 1 has been rented at $510 per week. The rumour on the street is that the unrented ones are now offering lower rent of $470 p/w...no renters equals no returns for all those new owners. 

Some visitors...

I wrote 2 posts recently about little excursions DH and I have taken but I've also had a number of visitors since I have come home from hospital...
Some of these visitors have spoiled me by bringing flowers, which I absolutely love!

This beautiful bunch were brought over by my friend Helen; the roses have the most beautiful fragrance!

 These flowers came from my friends The Newmarket Mum's...

 Another friend, Liz, came over with some zucchini slice and some bromeliads to plant...

DH, Liz and her husband Glenn, catch up while I circle the table taking photos :-)

With DH doing all the hard work, these were planted pretty much straight away. You see there is a 'bromeliad story'...

A little while ago I came home from Liz's place with a supermarket bag of bromeliads to plant...DH thought that it was rubbish...so you know what happened don't you! lol
The other day Liz also brought over some EPP that she did in some classes ages ago. She didn't know what sort of patchwork it was called but her memory had stirred a few weeks back when I was talking about my current projects. I loved her table centre and gave her all the info she needed to finish off the project!

Liz's EPP in front and a glimpse of one of my projects that I have on the go at the moment...

 I also had another visitor who came recently. Now we did not invite him to sit down nor did we offer  him coffee/tea but DH did send him some money later by direct debit...

Graham, who lives in the next street, is our plumber and he came round to see why the drain was overflowing when the washing machine and dishwasher water emptied...

DH was convinced that it was the roots of my shrubs that were the culprits for blocking the drain. It was looking like I would have to have these bushes pulled out, just when we needed the privacy from the complex next door, as well as for shade on our kitchen window from the western sun.
But all was good! It wasn't tree roots; it was just a build up from the soaps and general grease/scum. As well as cleaning out the blockage and sending the 'electric eel' all the way through the pipes to the street, Graham was also able to view the drains with a camera...no tree roots and no other blockages.