Recently on a visit to a local Plant Nursery ...

there was this host of Baby Bottle trees #N.

Under the tag of 'trees' (below) you can see an adult Bottle tree

Brachychiton rupestris is a member of the Sterculiaceae family.

And is commonly referred to as the Queensland Bottle Tree

The common name “bottle tree”refers to the characteristic trunk
of the tree, which can reach a 2 m diameter.

How terrific to see this batch of baby trees!

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This is a photo of the

Magnificent White Bird of Paradise plant,

growing in my daughter's back garden.

Strelitzia nicolai, *E* commonly known as the White Bird of Paradise , Wild Banana or Giant Bird of Paradise, has erect woody, palm like stems reaching a height of 6 m (20 ft) and the clumps formed can spread as far as 3.5 m (12 ft).
The 1.8 m (6 ft) long leaves are grey-green and arranged like a fan at the top of the stems, The cluster of flowers is composed of a dark blue bract, white sepals, and a bluish-purple "tongue". The entire flower can be as much as 18 cm high by 45 cm long and is typically held just above the point where the leaf fan emerges from the stem.

Flowers are followed by triangular seed capsules after they have fallen off.

This unopened flower is huge and certainly looks similar to birds head!!!

In this photo you can see how large the entire plant is!

The fence is a regular 6 ft. or 1.8 mtr. fence.
(click on the photo to enlarge)

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The Tally

88 seedlings in yogurt pots -2 still doubtful!
8 adults (varying sizes)+ 1 seedling in the garden,

=

97 Grass Trees

I have bought 80 new pots ...

so in the next few days I'm going to transfer the little plants to their new homes.

The fertiliser has given the plants a real boost...a few are still doubtful,

however the stronger ones look great!

Cheers Carol

It's Lily Time in South East Qld.

Around my suburb these beauties are blooming!

These are Hippeastrum Lilies ...

or Amaryllis or Knight's Star Lily and they are Fabulous!

They are exotic to Australia and come from

Central or South America

How to grow them? Read here

Another garden down the street!

Yet another!

This stunning group dazzled the camera!

In the previous photos all the plants were growing in garden beds, this one is in a pot!
Where it does quite well every year...

I brought this from Victoria when we moved here 7 years ago. There are other photo's of these and the other Lilies I have, in the side column of this blog. (from last year)

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An update on Grass Trees No. 7 and 9, both flowering!

I put the smaller one (still in it's pot) out by the larger one so the little native and honey bees could find it and hopefully do their job pollinating the flowers.
(click on the photo to enlarge)

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The Tally

88 seedlings in yogurt pots

(1 died but a new seed came up 4 days ago so = no nett loss/gain)
+ 8 adults (varying sizes)
+ 1 seedling in the garden,= 97 Grass Trees
(2 still doubtful)

I'd had a few fatalities...so I bought some fertilizer to help the remaining 88 seedlings,

a product called Seasol - Seaweed Plant Food and Liquid Fish Fertilizer for Gardens (free add!)

I have noticed the little guys have perked up though i made the solution 1/2 strength to be on the safe side!

My new pots are on order and are 7.5 x 7.5cm x 12 cm deep, these will be perfect for these little plants which have a long central root.

Cheers Carol

Today would have been my old Mum's birthday.

5th October 2008

She would have been 84.

Today is a special day to remember her.

This lovely photo of the plaque was take by my dear sister-in law

just after it was recently positioned at the grave site.

Thank you Eve

Daphne adored plants!

(I have inherited this gene!)

One of her favourite plants to cultivate were Cymbidium Orchids
similar to this lovely specimen

for more information on these and other orchids visit this site

Daphne showing her orchids to her twin sister Dorothy who visited her in Australia in 1988
Dorothy passed away recently on the 30th August not quite reaching her 84th birthday either. Dorothy lived in the USA for 60 years.

Daphne and Dorothy

5.10.1925 - 2008

Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004)

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The local Tree Orchid.#N#

Recently I posted an earlier photo of this Tree Orchid, well I was Lucky- I receive a

ABC Radio National newsletter with upcoming info on programming!

Lo and behold the following Link shows information about

Native Australian Orchids. And they named my one! Cool!

ABC article:

Rock Lily Orchid (Source: Kaye Placing, University of Sydney)
The common King Orchid (Dendrobium kingianum), has white to pink flower spikes and is found from NSW to Cape York in Queensland. Two epiphyte species are found in Tasmania, Gunn's Tree Orchid (Sarcochilus australis) and Dockrillia australatus.
Rock orchids or lithophytes occur on rocky areas where species such as the Rock Lily Orchid (Dendrobium speciosum) can form spectacular flowering clumps in springtime.

PS. the local one is actually up a gum tree!

(Thanks ABC)

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Grass Tree No.7 is flowering!!!!

It looks so beautiful...

and the Honey and Natives bees love it too!

The geometric pattern of the flowers is lovely.

*click on any photo to enlarge*

A close up -

There are no bees in this pic, however 4 or 5 were buzzing around !

I noticed the bees had pale yellow nobs of pollen on the backs of their legs...pretty cute!

The bees are vital to this plant producing viable seed... where will I fit them?

(Yikes I will have to save more yogurt pots!)

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Tally:

Another new seed up!

Planted 9/Aug/08 - Up 28/Sept. /08 - it's about 1/16 of an inch high!

(..I had 90-4 = ) now 86 in yogurt pots+ 8 adults (varying sizes)
+ 1 seedling in the garden,
= 95 Grass Trees
(4 seedlings are now declared dead. )

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I am about to purchase a stack (90 odd) of new pots and Native plant pot mix,

I think it may be time to carefully transfer the the seedling to larger deeper pots

- they may be running out of nutrients!

Cheers Carol

Shock! Horror!

My lovely neighbour has been Fired!

Either the owner,gardener,or a vandal has set fire to my

favourite neighbourhood Grass Tree.

As I walked past there last weekend I saw the poor thing,

burnt and the tree behind looks crook too!

In the wild, fire often burns these lovely trees and they survive fairly well.

However it is not necessary to burn them deliberately to

promote growth or open the seed pods...

In fact in a very hot fire it would seem reasonable to assume

fire could destroy the seeds...even the tree!

A bit like roasted peanuts!

This tree will survive, however this was a useless exercise

and may have severely damaged a lovely tree!

*click on the photo to enlarge*

Our misguided tree owners

have planted another smaller tree...

Isn't it sweet! Just a baby!

( I think it was the owners because the whole garden has been renovated!

er... fired up! I hope this one does not suffer the same fate!)

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GT No. 9

Still going up, sorry the photo is listing to the right! The permanent bend has straightened marginally, doing OK though! I will plant this when the flowers have finished I think!

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Another seed popped up 4 days ago!

Planted 13/6/08, up 20/9/08 - 14 weeks to germinate!

The other seed in the pot took 10 weeks...

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The Tally...

...89 in yogurt pots+ 8 adults (varying sizes)

+ 1 seedling in the garden,

= 98 Grass Trees

(3 now doubtful...I'm fairly sure 2 will croak!)

Cheers Carol