Kangaroo Paw Finally Hopping Into Action

My heart-wrenching kangaroo paw plants have finally started to flower, bringing some joy, but a little bit of sadness, too. Perhaps the best lesson they’re teaching me at the moment is not to get too attached to anything.

I’ve always wanted to have kangaroo paw in the garden.

They’re one of the few Australian flowers I’ve always known about.

I consider them iconic Australian flora.

They have a connection to the theme of this website.

Most of the kangaroo paw I have in our garden have a connection to my hometown.

Apart from one plant, I grew all our kangaroo paw from seed I bought in Belgrave, where I grew up.

I’d never grown anything from seed in my life before the plants, which we have now had for a couple of years.

Our kangaroo paw thrived, and I could give away plants to friends and neighbors.

I thought I was sharing my happiness (but may have been a bloody nuisance, in which case, I apologize) by giving away the plants.

Hopefully, they have also brought great delight to others.

Last year, we had a great batch grow in a huge pot, and they made a marvelous specimen.

Those plants got eaten by bugs, though.

It appears the replacements I planted last month after digging up the pot may have met a similar fate.

One of the little aphid nymphs chowing down on a kangaroo paw

We’ve got little aphid nymphs floating around on a lot of the plants.

It’s sad that the pot and its lovely soil won’t be put to use this year.

But sadder that the thriving kangaroo paw will not be blooming there.

Plenty of the flowers are growing, though.

And so are flowers in the rest of the garden.

Our snow in the summer is simply spectacular and getting better.

And the grevillea is just stupendous!

No amount of superlatives can express the joy our garden brings me.

Every day is a glorious celebration and explosion of color, joy and life.

But short-blooming flowers are also a wonderful reminder of the transient nature of life.

I’m so attached to so much at the moment, especially my job, which is bringing me possibly more delight even than the garden.

It’s important to enjoy now, this moment, because we have no idea what’s gonna happen.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Layabout

    A layabout in Strine is someone who avoids work, except when striving hard to avoid doing anything useful. They work hard to avoid work. Layabouts are also referred to as idlers, good-for-nothings, and–most commonly–bludgers. 　ストライン（オーストラリア英語）で layabout は「働くのを避けてばかりいる怠け者」のことです。役に立つことをしないためには一生懸命になるくせに、仕事そのものは全力で避けるタイプ。日本語で言う「ぐうたら」「ろくでなし」「役立たず」、そして一番よく使われる呼び名が bludger（ブラッジャー）です。

  • The (Ballsed-Up) Big Red Bike Tour

    Had things been different, right around this time I would have been getting ready to go off on an exciting bicycling adventure that I’d named the Big Red Bike Tour. But the trip is off, or at least changed into a different, much-truncated version. Having fortunately fallen into buying an aesthetically delightful bicycle of such an azure hue it could only be given the name Big Red, I was keen on taking advantage of its comfortable riding sensation and ability to go anywhere to head out on a tour. Keeping up the Big Red theme, I promptly went out and ordered a blue Kangaeroo kit (replete with thought bubble to…

  • |

    豪キャブラリー： Bluey

    Blueyは形容詞として使えばあまりいい感じじゃない。それは、場所が「殴り合いが始まりそう」のような雰囲気になったからなのだ。 　ちなみに、blueは青色を示すが動詞として使えばオージー英語では「喧嘩」や「殴り合い」という意味になる。そして、blue heelerというオーストラリア産牧犬の省略もblueyという。また、さらに名詞として使うとオージー英語のもうひとつな独特な面白さが見える。それは皮肉たっぷりなニックネームとして赤毛の人に使われている。「赤い」と「青」があまりにも離れているから使うニックネームだ。

  • Shots for Paws-terity

    It’s an unbelievable joy to be able to go into the garden in the mornings and see the kangaroo paw grown from seed flourishing so well. Today I captured some photos for posterity, which was prompted by the solstice and realization that days are getting shorter from now onward. The flowers are growing unbelievably well. Not all of the plants have flowered, though, which is also OK, but I have been blessed with lots of glorious colors, which has been really pleasing. Some of the flowers in pots are bigger and thicker than the kangaroo paw I’ve been able to grow in the ground so far. I attribute that to…

  • Brush With Death

    I got to have a brush with death this morning. Nothing serious, of course, as I’m referring to a log-awaited photo opportunity with our bottlebrush in full bloom and the Death Machine as we refer to the rickety old recumbent bike which seems to offer the opportunity of terminating life every time it is mounted. As a pun lover, I’ve been waiting for the chance to use this headline for a while, but preparing the Death Machine for a ride takes time as I have to uncover it, set up the lights and flagpole to make sure drivers can see me and not just run me down, and then invariably…

  • Hammered By The Cycling Gods

    Despite a short work week, life was busy and the cycling gods dealt another blow that made it hard to stay on the bike. After riding more than 30,000 kilometers in 2021, the fates have combined to drastically curtail my riding as I’ve been affected by work, play, family, health, commitments and theft have intervened. This week, I worked on site every day and left my PC in the office, which enabled me to commute by bicycle two days in a row. By the time I went to a colleague’s band play on Friday night at the Ruby Room in Shibuya, I was exhausted, but also crippled by arthritic pain…