The insy winsy little sprout in the photo is Baby Seedling No.85.

Planted on the 1/4/08 and came up 29/4/08.

It came up 7 days later than the other one in the yogurt pot.

29 days... gosh, earlier in the year(it was warmer) it was taking approx.15,16,or 20 days.

Check out the little wiggly seedling in the center pot... its a bit strange, as if it's got curly hair!!

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An update on the caterpillars: there were 4 on my plant.

Don Herbison-Evans suggested that I capture the little fellows and raise them in captivity to see exactly what moth they are going to be? Apparently they are a bit different to the one he thought they may be. This has been quite interesting and something I've never done before. (except for keeping a Praying Mantis when my kids were little, we fed it flys )

At this time 3 have turned into Pupae... two encased themselves in dry leaves on a plant stem and the 3rd on the sand at the bottom of the insect house...in a bundle of dry leaves. This one really liked those red flowers! Just given him/her a new bunch.


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Tally= 85 seedlings +7 = 92

Cheers

A lovely neighbour.

A neighbour has this very nice Grass Tree in their front yard, it is actually a double plant as you can see from the photo, and raising up from the center left side of the plant is the spear.

I first noticed this about 3 weeks ago.

This Plant has a very tall, slender spear, similar to my No.1 GT.

The top part is very fine, smooth and closely packed with potential flowers.
(please click to enlarge for a better view)

I will keep an eye on this beauty to see how it progresses.
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Tally: still 84 seedlings and 7 others = 91

Cheers

Even though it's getting Cooler the little plants are still popping up!

Planted on the 1/4/08, came up 23/4/08

If you enlarge this photo (click on)you will see some of the plants have extremely long leaves.

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An update about the caterpillars on my Crown of Thorns.(Euphorbia splendens), they are possibly Croton Caterpillars (Achaea janata) or his cousin ? due to not having white dots in the head area... I found this information here and from the very helpful Don Herbison-Evans.

My Plant is growing ever Slimmer!

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Grass Tree Tally 84 seedlings + 7 = 91

(I also had the 2 doubtful plants die and planted 4 more seeds)

This one is not growing well! (corner pot)

Sprouted Mid/January/08

I expect it to croak! Meanwhile I'm trimming off the leaves that die.

The center pot is also in strife!

This is one of 5 seedlings from my No.1 Grass Tree.

Planted 30/10/07 - probably took 16-20 days to sprout.

So this little one has struggled along for 5 months... gosh!

One of the doubtful ones died yesterday, the above one came onto that list so I still have 2 in doubt! The Tally is 85 seedlings.

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Something a little different...

I have one of these plants in a pot, not sure of the name, something starting with a P I think!

It is a bit like a cactus as it has treacherous spikes on the stalks!

It has 4 temporary residents!
These guys/gals!

(click to enlarge photo to see spines)

They are eating their house Down!

I have no idea what sort of Butterflies they turn into? (if anyone knows feel free to tell me) I'm leaving them though... I will probably lose 1/2 the plant by the time they are through!

The amazing thing about it is, How the caterpillars can climb about on the plant when they are so soft! and the plant so spiky!
Cheers

An Update on the Seedlings

This photo was taken on the 31/3/08, the 3 seedlings in the center pot. The next photo is the same 3 seedlings and was taken today 19/4/08. You can see the slow progress, although they have grown quite a few new leaves/spines they haven't really grown all that much in 19 days.

(If you click on the photo you can enlarge for a better view)

PS. definitely 3 active cultures!!

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This photo shows how a plant can be hampered by the circumstances of the seed husk and leaves, this one is trapped into a loop.

I think the little plant is quite a strong one, some others are really quite spindly and if the thin leaves get damaged by a bit of wind or get a touch too much sun, they can die off. I have found that if I snip off the die back then they send up more shoots. I put the plants out into the sunshine for about 45 minutes most mornings before it gets too hot. (again enlarge for a better view )

Cheers

More Photo's from the Net:

I forgot to get the links for these

so apologies to the original posters/photographers.

This one must be hundreds of years old! Probably half the size

when Captain Cook ran aground in 1770 in Qld.

(Nathan Johnson)

These ones have had a close shave with fire ...that's for sure!

Amazingly long flower spears!

(Thanks for the great Photo KellyMacDonald)

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This is a close up of the spear drying off in the center of Grass Tree No.2
You can see a few spines/leaves have been damaged by the spear and have turned brown. This spear first appeared in Mid August 2007 and it is now Mid April 2008 and it still is firmly fixed to the plant. I'll let you know when it falls off!

The tally for seedlings is 86 - 2 still doubtful, they haven't grown or died yet!

Total number of my GT's is 7 and 86 seedlings = 93!!

Cheers

And now I have 8 new tiny plants...the new tally is 86,

two of these doubtful, but still hanging in there!

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Some Unusual Flower Spears

Here are a few more lovely photo's found on the WWW.

this one is taken by Travis Easton ...link

Another link to this wonderful photo is here

this will take you to a red bubble site where there are other photo's as well.

This strange flower stalk would be an appropriate logo for the Australian ABC!

This one is clearly a non-conformist!!! link here

Cheers

5 More Seeds Up!

These seeds were planted on the 22/3/08 and the pot below on the 23/3/08

approx 20-22 days to appear as these tiny green shoots.

This is a few days longer than earlier in the year, it may be due to cooler weather or whatever? (click on Pic's to enlarge)

3 here!

2 Here!
New Tally 83
including 5 new and 2 doubtful.

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Another unusual Grass Tree from the Net, has had a few twists in it's life!

5 Huge beauties Somewhere in Perth WA.

Cheers.

As my Resident Grass Trees are just choofing along... hopefully just growing!

Here are two fantastic photo's found at other sites here on the net...

posted by Grass Tree devotees.

A group of lovely old Australian residents!

Their more likely predators would be land developers!!

See below for the second photo.

( I lost the photo and had to do this bit again ...still don't know how to rearrange the photo's after I've put them in the blog!?!)
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Another Interesting relative in the Xanthorroea Family...

also residing in my garden.

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Xanthorrhoea Species
Fire Spear (or Didgeredoo Sticks)
An Australian Native
A hardy and long-lived evergreen tree with a dense rosette
of narrow arching needle-like leaves of 60-90cm long.
Tiny white to cream, bird attracting flowers are clustered
on long “spears”, and usually appear in spring or as a
reaction to fire in the wild.
This plant prefers an open sunny position in well drained soil.
Benefits from burning off occasionally. Can tolerate dry or
wet periods in most soil types once established.
Fertilise sparingly using organic fertilizer for natives.
Minimise disturbance to root ball when planting.
An ideal feature in the garden or a pot.

Actually the plant looks similar to a smaller bullrush or a tussock bush!!

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2nd Photo

This one clearly has had a hot time of it...Still surviving though!

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Seedling tally still 80 - 77 healthy? 3 dicey?

Cheers

No's 5 & 6 are Trunk less so far...

I think these little plants are about 18 months old...

I'm not really sure...

I've had them about a year and they were quite small when I got them, they had hardy leaves/spines so I estimate them to have been about 6mths young!

No.5 is a smaller plant, its leaves are about 2 foot long.

No.6 has about 9 Leaves and they are about 3 foot long...

I wonder how long it will take (years?) to get a little woody base?

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Leaves/Spines

GT No7

This photo shows how dense the leaves are on a large plant, heaps of fantastic green leaves.

GT No. 1 Leaves growing out from the center.
These colours are a true indication of the actual leaf colour.
Cheers

A Variety of Grass Tree Trunks...

This is a closer view of Grass Tree No.1, the narrow waist

must have been a lean year! (before we lived here!)

Apparently many gardeners burn the trunks with newspaper to

promote growth... wrapping a sheet or two around the trunk, setting fire to it

and no doubt burning off all those little sticky out bits!

This would add ash to the soil below and promote extra growth.

Grass Tree No.2... this one has a lovely uniform,cylindrical shape!

This wonderful plant is the one I have collected most of the seeds from and

so far germinated nearly 85 little plants...(unfortunately had approx 7 fatalities...)

Grass Tree No.3...

nearly as round as the above two, but only 1/4 the height of No2
I planted this one in 2006.

Grass Tree No.4... the smallest I have in the ground, planted in mid-year 2007
A more open pattern to the trunk, this may be a different variety or ?

Grass Tree No7. (no.5&6...have no trunks yet!)

My latest beauty! Waiting for the new fence to be built before I Plant him/her out into the garden, I want to plant so to show off the lovely slant on the trunk, which I think adds lots of character to the plant. I really like the little plantlets too!

Seedling Tally... 80 seedlings.

The 2 dicey seedlings I expected to perish ...DID!

I have 6 pots replanted, with nearly the last of my leftover seeds...some of them look a bit small so I hope they come up, also the weather is cooling down, we are in Autumn now and the days are great, however we have cooler nights!

And

I've no idea when my Grass Trees will have spears again, so I hope to give every seed a chance! Cheers