Garden

13th February 2023

Echinopsis calochlora

Very easy to grow.

26th January 2023

At least 10 years ago, I bought a small torch ginger, Etlingera elatior.

At last, it has produced a flower. Two in fact.

Perhaps the extra rain and heat as well as potash. Not ideal for Brisbane as the winters are too cold, but worth the wait.

The torch ginger has huge leaves.

15th December 2021

I made a scare turkey today.

A few plants are looking a bit sick after having wet feet for so long and I’m slowly winning the battle with crepe myrtle suckers.

30th November 2021

I won a lovely lot at the Cactus Society Christmas raffle last night.

$20 worth of tickets.

The Ferocactus herrerae at the back replaces one I killed. I think the soil was too sandy and not enough food.

The Discocactus boomianus at the front is one I’ve not had before.

Mexican Tarragon

27th November 2021

Vietnamese rice paddy herb, Limnophila chinensis subsp. aromatica, has a divine cumin aroma. I’m organising a water trough for it and it apparently grows very easily from cuttings placed in water.

An aquatic annual with pale violet-pink flowers.

(Right) The rock samphire, Crithmum maritimum is a peppery salad favourite. It seems quite happy in a rockery style bed and has suckered into three clumps. It will grow from cuttings though perhaps not with the success rate of some plants.

10th November 2021

(Left) I was excited to find a W.A. Samphire, Tecticornia lepidosperma last weekend. I paid far too much so I hope it likes tough love. 16/1/23: It doesn’t. A waste of money.

(Below) Another favourite, Rungia klossii, the mushroom plant, is in bloom. It must have shade and regular feeding and I get enough to eat just from tip pruning. A native of Niugini, it tends to slow down during the Brisbane winter.

I see there’s a little oxalis hopeful in the photo below.

2nd November 2021

PERENNIAL BASIL  (Ocimum sp.)  Perennial but in time gets old and tired. Attractive shrub flowering for much of the year. Bees just love it. Likes a sunny position and regular pruning for a bushy shape.

24th October 2021

I learned first hand that banana stems fall down in wet windy weather. One was across my neighbour’s driveway. Luckily I discovered it before she wanted to go out.

A second fell the same night. A third one listing towards the driveway was cut down when high wind predicted.

So, three bunches of bananas in various shades of green are sitting in the house.

This was an attractive but weird aberration of one Spear Lily (Doryanthes palmeri) a few year’s back.

The plants are a bit neglected though I draw the line at arranging a bushfire to encourage flowering.