Monday, December 24, 2018

Festive snooze


Gosh, absolutely no postings so far in December ... I must be in holiday mode! If only, but things have been a bit quiet here in the garden. With all the rain storms there has been little need to water anything, and all the flowering beauties don't need any help from me. They know what to do.

And so in the middle of this festive season snooze all I really want to say is I hope everyone has a safe and delicious festive season. This garden blog will continue to update occasionally, whenever something worth talking about occurs, and so until then, here is the latest from Amateur Land.


Our baby frangipani 'Serendipity' is looking good all over. Lots of amazingly multi-coloured flowers and plenty of new healthy growth. I think it likes it here.


I always feel duty-bound to report my failures as well as the successes, and this pretty pink hydrangea might seem a big success when Pam pops some into a vase in the living room, but the sad fact is that I was hoping they'd be blue. Last season I tried to acidify the soil in an effort to encourage blueness. Nothing doing. So then this year I've bought a "blueing" fertiliser, followed the packet directions ... and this is the result so far. 



But let's finish my festive well-wishing on a positive note. The bonsai curry leaf trees are not only still alive, they are thriving. And some radical pruning a few months back (which for a week or two looked more like the kiss of death than the kiss of life) has promoted much bushier growth from both. So far so good, but with growing bonsais from seed, it's a years-long project and this is merely a good year.

So let's end 2018 on that note. If 2018 has been a good year for you, may 2019 be even better. 

And if 2018 wasn't up there as a great one — a bit like my hydrangeas — then I hope 2019 is blessed with some lush curry leaf growth, even if that means life might need a bit of pruning here and there before things improve.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and have a great 2019!









10 comments:

Phl in Newy said...

Thanks for the wishes to us all, and same to you and Pam from your readers 0)

Regarding the hydrangea, there's always spray paint as a totally last resort! Coincidentally, I too have a bonsai curry tree. But mine's tiny because I don't know where to plant it, so it's languished in its small pot on a window sill for 2 years!

By golly my raised beds, that are only 400cm high, dry out rapidly. Despite all our rain, I planted a basil yesterday and the small hole was dug in almost dry soil. Fortunately I installed a comprehensive drip system to each bed and I now realise that was no luxury. Intended for emergencies, it's on twice a week to maintain the moisture. I had to use raised beds because the side of the house was concreted and it was impractical and expensive to remove, so the beds sit on that. They have a happy worm population though, and lots of mulch.

By 'baby' frangipani, you mean young, not miniature? I miniature one of those would be delightful, and as I often say, required for my tiny yard.

All the best,

Jamie said...

Good luck with the raised beds, Phil. It sounds like you're doing everything right there.

And our frangipani baby is merely a new one. Its parent is 20 feet tall, so one of these days baby will be that size, too.

Madie said...

Oh, you don't always have to be in a mood for blogging! If you need more time don't mind to do it! But it is good from time to time to show something from your life and garden! I really like such posts. Moving on to your flowers - they are beautiful. I love your hydrangea and frangipani which I heard of for the first time. At the beginning I thought it is a lilium but flowers looked too small for me. And the colour of this plant is simmilar to the lathyrus that I have grown this year. It was the same as in here: https://gardenseedsmarket.com/sweet-pea-pink-cupid.html where I bought its seeds. I like flowers in different shades!

Rookie said...

Great post!

Andrew said...

HI Jamie

We are looking to promote some awesome trees that we currently have. There are all native to Australia and are harvested under licence. We would love to write a couple of articles for you to add to the blog so people can learn about their beauty and rarity. Some of theses grass tress are 400 to 500 years old have a look and let me know your thoughts Designer Trees in particular the Glauca Grass Trees.

Thanks Andrew

joshua wienholt said...

These floral selection are all superb and very attractive, thanks for sharing with us your avid followers such great and informative article.

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