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

An Update on Grass Tree No. 9

This photo was taken 2 weeks ago... the developing seeds
can be seen with a number of little flowers drying off
on the spear.

This poor quality photograph taken 2 weeks later and shows
how the seeds have become quite plump and healthy.
This small flower stem has produced approx. 30-40
seedpods, a good number considering it is still in the pot!
I intend to plant little specimen into the the garden very soon.

Cycads...
This lovely spiky!...plant grows very happily in our garden,
I am not sure if it is an Australian Native variety or not!..
I have include the following Link which has
interesting information about these plants.
The perfume of the central flower is really sweet and pungent.
Insects seem to appreciate the aroma as well!

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The Tally:
2 seedlings have died... they were very weak and were
counted in my doubtful list.
However I am really pleased with the condition
of the little plants...
many are putting up new spiny leaves...
which have a lovely fresh green colour!

78 seedlings in new black pots - 12 pots with 2 seedlings in each pot.

(2 still in doubt...a rugged transplant!)

8 adults (varying sizes)+ 1 seedling in the garden,
=
87 Grass Trees.

Cheers Carol

Transplanting from Yogurt pots to Black pots!!

In my last post I planned to transplant all my baby Grass Trees to new pots!

This task has been completed...with varying success.

I also have learned some helpful information!

Firstly the seed raising pot mix I used was too sandy...many little plants

had not developed roots very well and in the transfer to the new pots,

the soil just fell away and it was quite a juggling exercise to hold

together the cut away bottom of the Yogurt pot

and replant to the larger pot!

Secondly the soil did not hold moisture well either!

I had prepared the new pots with Jamie Durie Native Plant Mix

($9.45 at Big W)

I used this fantastic mix to repot GT's 6 & 7 ...they are doing really well!

Thirdly I learned...Yogurt pots...not a good Idea!

When I next plant a batch of seeds I will plant straight

into the larger pots in the beginning and save the

trouble and risk to these contrary little seeds/plants!

I graded my efforts on a 1-10 scale and most only rated 5/5 for root disturbance!

However over the last two weeks none have died, in fact some of the ones

I thought would surely cark it ...Haven't! though early days yet!

I have about 4 plants which I expect to shrivel, but it's

really surprising that they are looking so good!

A few completely lost ALL the soil in my hamfisted effort and

I was left holding a slender stalk!! 1/10

So I planted it and there you go! Still living two weeks later!

This will be interesting to see how much grievious bodily harm I have inflicted on them!

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An update on Grass Tree No. 7

As you can see from the photo the seeds are looking great

...little buzzy bees have done a great job, nice plump developing seed pods!

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This is a rather unusual garden ornament...looks fantastic though!
(residing at the plant nursery )

The Golden Rooster!
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The Tally

80 seedlings in new black pots - 12 pots with 2 seedlings in each pot.

(4 in doubt...a rugged transplant!)

8 adults (varying sizes)+ 1 seedling in the garden,
=
89 Grass Trees.

(Note: Between the last post and now approx 6 seedlings died due probably to soil conditions and lack of water and nutrients in the soil.)

Cheers Carol

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