Four Days of Growth!

Grass Tree No.1

On the 23rd of January 2009 we noticed this new stalk
emerging on the eldest Grass Tree in our garden...
It was already in the garden when we came here nearly 8 years ago.
I had never seen one of these lovely plants before
then and now I just love them.
(My H. is holding the leaves back whilst I take the photo)
Newborn!

Day 2 - 24th Jan 2009

Day 3 - 24th Jan.

Day 4 -25th Jan

These plants sure know how to grow a flower stalk.
Quite Amazing!
Tomorrow I will put a marker up and measure the progress!

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Trees entwined! Beside the walking track in outer
North Brisbane are these trees...
No way of knowing if it was natural,
or someone passing by entwined them as young trees!
They look nice though!

(there is a road on the left)
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The Tally
66 seedlings,
6 adult plants in-ground
2 in big pots = 74

Cheers Carol

Grass Tree N0.9 is Planted!

Just after New Year - on the 6th of January we

planted this little tree into the front yard...no setbacks!

Going Great!

Also over this month

I have been collecting the seeds

from GT No. 7


Quite a Haul!
Some of the little pods had up to 3 seed in each Pod
Generally there was 1 seed per pod...which makes it easier to extract the
seed with the pointy tweezers.
I think approximately 80% of the seeds are viable!

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GT No.9 did not have as many pods but they developed
into some lovely big seed pods and some even have two seeds in them.

This is about half of the seeds I collected from GT7...
I forgot to take the photo of all of them!!
However I did put the match in there for a size reference.
If you look closely you can see on the left side center (9o'clock)
one little seed is rather puny...not viable I would think!



I will be planting quite a few of these seeds fairly soon.

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The Tally
The same as last post... No fatalities
and I fertilized the seedlings with Seasol (weak mix for natives)

66 seedlings in black pots
6 in the garden
2 in large pots = 74

Cheers Carol

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Frangipani
glowing with wonderful colour
and fragrance. (*E*)

We are incredibly lucky these plants grow so well in South-East Qld.
These trees are growing in my suburb...the morning air is
filled with their sweet fragrance! And there are dozens more!

A little info!

Frangipani or Plumeria are a native from the tropical Americas,
introduced to the pacific islands by missionaries
they are a favourite tree across warmer climates.
A well drained soil rich in humus and a sunny position
(frost free please).
With great perfume and a huge range of colors from white
with pink though yellow, purple and red.
Frangipani are a fantastic addition to the garden.
Frangipani can be pruned and will do well in pots.
With interesting hybrids now being developed
watch out for new flower forms and colors,
including 'Dwarf' or miniature frangipani such as
Duvauchelle (Dwarf) and Dwarf deciduous white Frangipani.

Last year the flowers on this tree were yellow through to orange,
salmon pink and dark pink, this year we
had a lot of rain and the flowers are this deep red.

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This smaller plant is on a nature strip.
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Last year I picked up a broken branch of this one and
was able to strike 5 new plants from it.
The local school crossing lady, told me the method I needed...
cut the tops off the branch approx 50r 6 inches,
nip off 3/4 of each leaf, toss the stalk on the ground for 3 days,
then plant it into a pot! (Thanks Sue)
They all lived!!

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The tally of Grass Trees...
6 seedling fatalities! since January 1st.
The weaker seedling just fizzed over or browned off and died!

The ones remaining seem a fairly strong bunch.

66 seedlings in black pots
6 in the garden

2 in large pots = 74

Cheers Carol

Happy New Years Day 2009
to all who celebrate on this auspicious day.

I want to share with you these magnificent photographs taken
by a mountain biking friend.
(Thank you Chris)
The view is taken from the top of the Bunya Mountains
in South-East Queensland.
(Please feel free to click on the photo to see a larger version)

Chris came across these beautiful trees and kindly sent his photos on to me.
He said they were the tallest he'd ever seen.
As a general rule the Grass Tree grows
approximately 1 inch per year,
so these trees must be very old !!

The benefits of mountain biking are many...
not only do you keep fit and active
...you see the best the planet has to offer!

The walking/biking track through the forest of trees!

My No.1 New Year resolution is to see
some Grass Trees similar to these!

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The Tally

A few more seedlings have died... it was expected!
Most remaining ones are looking great!
sending up beautiful new leaves.(2??)
... shown next post!

72 seedlings (2?)
8 adults (3 in pots)

= 80 Gt's

Cheers Carol

A Mystery Solved!

3 days ago I was lucky enough to meet a lady who knew the name of two trees I had posted about previously. One was a magnificent flowering gold and the other pink. Both trees are growing in a park close to where I live here in a northern suberb of Brisbane.

Tabebuia

In the same league as jacarandas and poincianas, once seen in bloom a trumpet tree cloaked in pink or golden flowers,is never forgotten!

I previously had a link here..and had heaps of trouble with the dashed link ...

if you want to know more

Check google.

The Gold version!

The Pink Version!

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An update on Grass Tree No.7

This is a slow process waiting for the Flower spear to produce seeds! The spear first emerged approx 25/7/08 The first flowers burst open 30/9/08
Now on the 3/12/08 I'm waiting for the little pods to open
...soon maybe 1 or 2 weeks!

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An update on the seedlings!
Here we have a photo of some of the re potted Grass Trees
... they are not looking too bad! (click to enlarge)

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And the very latest to pop up! Still in the old yogurt pot.
When the little plant is older I will transplant it to the black pots as well!

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The Tally! As I expected I have had a few Fatalities 2 in fact!
...I expected more really!

I have
76 seedlings in black pots
(2 are still doubtful...they had a rough trip over!
Still hanging in there though!)

I had 1 tiny seedling in the garden (on a previous post)
I had to transfer it to a yogurt pot...it had met with some unknown
fate and looked fairly crook!
I put it into a yogurt pot which had the Jamie Durie Native Australian
pot mix...this is a great mix 5/5 I think.
I have bought another Australian Native pot mix from a
Huge Hardware chain here in Au...
It was awful..don't buy any, full of sawdust!

1 seed which just came up (pic above)

8 adult plants - 5 in the garden 3 in pots (varying sizes also previous posts)

Total = 86 Grass Trees

Cheers Carol