Tag: dwarf wattle

Daily Life, Strine Strife, Strine Tucker

by Kangaeroo • May 3, 2023

Possibly the most meaningful part of my Australian seeds experiment arose today when I transplanted my kangaroo paw seedlings.

The great experiment, which I expected would result in me proving to have a green thumb and presenting all my gardening mates with exotic plants has proven only that I am all thumbs.

I’ve killed nearly everything I planted, even the everlasting daises and golden everlastings that appeared to be growing so well.

I bumped them off by putting them in a hothouse on a boiling hot day, then giving too much fertilizer to the plants that survived.

A desert pea also looked promising, but I over-fertilized that, too.

I have a tray full of dwarf wattle ready for transplanting, a single honeysuckle banksia that can probably be nurtured under growth lights a little longer and a heath banksia that appears doom after being affected by mold.

Given the nature of my blog persona and the role of kangaroo decorations in the garden, though, it was the kangaroo paw that I most wanted to succeed.

It’s a pretty ominous role to be assigned, actually, because every plant in Kangaeroo Corner that I have most wanted to thrive–tree fern, jacaranda and mature versions of kangaroo paw planted when the garden was started–have all died or struggled.

Anyway, I started today by placing a layer of stones at the bottom of a pot, covering it with a layer or nutrient-rich potting mix bended with peat moss and then covering that with soil especially for Australian native plants.

I then gently removed the kangaroo paw seedlings from the growth pods where they had thrived over the past few weeks.

With customary clumsiness, I managed to kill off a couple of seedlings along the way, but eventually planted them all in the same pot.

I then gave the pot a good dose of water and left it in the sun with lots of prayers for success.

Last year, I killed the kangaroo paw in the garden through over-watering amid the summer humidity, only learning later that my treatment was almost the guaranteed method for ensuring the lovely flowers from Australia’s arid regions would wither and die. Oh, well. Live and learn and sorry to the adorable plants.

Potting the kangaroo paws topped off an absolutely outstanding day that would have been perfect had I been able to spend it with Mrs. Kangaeroo, but it still came bloody close to perfection anyway.

I woke early, cleaned and oiled my bike and headed off at a fierce pace, backed by a gentle tailwind.

I made it to Tokyo Tower where I met many old friends for the first time in years and had a wonderful surprise of having a packet of Iced VoVos waiting for me: a gift from a Melbourne friend who has since headed off to a separate part of the country.

Later, a group of us went off to the nearby ANA Intercontinental Hotel and had an enormous buffet breakky, where the interesting and enjoyable conversation continued.

We spent a couple of hours reminiscing, but then had to go our separate ways.

I wanted to get home quick as the dinosaur was in her cage and was probably itching to get out and about, and I was still a couple of hours away.

I rode back in the delightful spring sunshine.

Fortunately, there was almost no wind, which was a blessing as we have had strong winds daily for weeks now.

As I rode along Koshu Kaido, headed for home, I realized I was looking at a record unique for me.

My average speed for the ride was exceeding 30 km/h.

It’s not unheard of for me over short distances, but I was still over the 30 km/h mark with more than 50 km ridden.

I only had 20 km to go on terrain I knew well and felt confident I could maintain the speed.

I’ve never maintained such speed over such a distance, my most notable record of sustained pace being a 180 km-ride at about 28 km/h a few years ago.

But that was when my cycling was thriving.

The past couple of years, my cycling ability has declined thanks to injuries, illness, aging, priorities, weight gain and opportunities, to name a few factors.

So I felt chuffed to be presented with this chance.

And the glorious sunshine was making it even more appealing.

An amazing, unseasonably clear view of Mount Fuji threatened to thwart my attempt at this record, though.

As I hit the Tamagawa Cycling Road for what I regarded as the home stretch, I stopped to take a photo.

There will be other chances to create cycling records.

Seeing Mount Fuji with the opportunity to take a photo is a rare blessing that demands addressing.

So, I stopped and took some shots.

It was totally worth it.

And when I got back on the bike, I got to maintain the speed I’d been looking for.

It was a delightful reward when I got home.

But not as delightful as the pleasure-filled greeting the dinosaur gave me when I got back and let her loose.

We spent the next few hours playing together, vegging out and eating.

I’ve even managed to save a couple of Iced VoVos for Mrs. Kangaeroo (but probably only because I managed to pick up some Choco-Chip GariGarikun, which I hope might be the seasonal flavor for the early summer).

She should be home any minute now and I am looking forward to seeing her.

Strine

Wistful Wisteria

by Kangaeroo • April 22, 2023

There’ve been better times than the past week, and hopefully the climbing hardenbergia comptoniana planted today augurs a rise out of the doldrums.

I couldn’t sleep, so as soon as it was light, I got out into the garden, moving the lawn, weeding and my efforts culminating in re-potting the hardenbergia comptoniana, better known as the Australian native wisteria, which had grown too much for the humidity pods.

Most of the seedlings have failed, so hopefully the wisteria will be a shining light.

There’s still the promise of kangaroo paw and dwarf wattle.

Not much else promising going on. Work absolutely slaughtered me this week, imposing another huge wage cut that I have decided to contest.

And that has shattered my well-being, though the gorgeous Mrs. Kangaeroo, thriving garden (for the most part), cycling and the bloody TerrorDactyl are among the drivers to keep on going. My neighbor also brought me great delight, presenting Mrs. Kanageroo with some delightfully pretty roses from his always beautiful garden. There’s lots of little bits of happiness wherever I look. I just need to focus on finding them.

Daily Life

Minding My Peas, and Queues

by Kangaeroo • April 1, 2023

In my Aussie plant grow from seed experiment, desert peas moved outdoors today, with more budding plants queueing to join them.

Only three of 12 desert pea seeds germinated, but did so strongly.

Nonetheless, having struggled with clumsiness when repotting everlastings last month, I was better prepared this time.

By that, I mean Mrs. Kangaeroo stepped up to the plate.

She would handle the task of gently shifting the seedlings from humidity pod to pot.

As always (except in her choice of men), she was superb.

We used a potting mix containing soil for Australian native plants, starter soil from growing flowers, peat moss, sulphur, perlite and dead leaves.

Transplanting went smoothly, and we were aided by glorious sunny weather and warmth.

In addition to the desert peas, we also planted golden everlastings.

Some kangaroo paw in the humidity pods looked ready for repotting, but after Mrs. Kangaeroo cast her eye over them, we decided to give the kangaroo paws some more time in the sheltered environment to let them build up strength.

In the pods now are also native wisteria, honeysuckle banksia (maybe) and dwarf wattle.

Western Australian Christmas tree, waratah and heath banksia are yet to germinate.

I am worried, but they have yet to reach the longest estimated germination period, so we need to be patient.

Give them a few more weeks to grow is the situation now.

Otherwise, the garden, especially the lawn, looks great.

I got to weed the garden early this morning.

It looks positively resplendent, even though all the plants I really wanted to thrive have mostly failed.

Daily Life

Every Cloud Has a Sliver of Whining

by Kangaeroo • March 24, 2023

An unseasonably warm and dry late winter and early spring has given way to more customary wet, with really lousy weather since rain began early yesterday morning.

Wet weather makes me whine, but I really shouldn’t because it was supposed to pour all day today, but I woke to warm sunshine and got to ride (and see the cherry blossoms!)

It was a bit of a mixed bag, because I ended up getting a puncture….my fourth in the past week, added to which I destroyed my pump because the tip of the tire valve got caught inside and can’t be removed without breaking the pump head.

So you can imagine how I felt when I went out on a lunchtime ride. And got another puncture. (Finally found the tiny stone in the tire causing the problem and will change tires later. Yet another pain caused by ever-dimming eyesight.) Still, I had to take the entire afternoon off work because I was unable to make it home by the end of lunchtime.

Despite the title, the time off work did provide an opportunity to update the Aussie seed situation.

There’s a fair degree of excitement, to be honest.

That’s because I’ve got a good, steady stock of kangaroo paw propagating.

These are the plants I really want to work out, but they’re apparently pretty hard to grow. I stuffed up last year by overwatering them in summer, and they died because they don’t like the humidity. Unfortunately, I discovered this post facto, instead of studying beforehand like most people would.

It’s really delightful to see these seeds sprouting. I’ve got more kangaroo paw planted than anything else, and the results have been mixed so far. The photos here are the best examples. Other places in the humidity pods have yet to germinate. The seeds planted outside, one tray in dirt alone and the other using seed planter pods, have yet to sprout. More monitoring is required. The instructions say germination takes 21-42 days and the seeds were planted either February 19 or February 26-7, so there’s plenty of time left.

Also promising are the dwarf wattle.

They have a whole humidity pod to themselves (and part of another).

All 12 pods in the exclusively dwarf wattle planter have sprouted. They’ll be ready for transplanting into bigger pots soon.

And so will another top performer, the desert peas.

There are only three of these little fellers. I thought I might struggle with these seeds, so this is a good result. These seeds should have been burned before planting, or at least doused in smoke water. I did soak the seeds in ear-boiling water overnight, and of the 12 seeds, only three cracked open, which I suspect are those in the pod. Lovely flowers, so I hope they keep growing.

Native wisteria are also putting in an appearance. I love wisteria and am really interested to see how the Aussie version will grow, especially as we have a potted Japanese wisteria, too.

Undoubtedly the most thriving of the podded plants at the moment are the golden everlastings. I’m waiting to transplant them for a little longer, as I transplanted the ordinary everlastings too early, then killed half of them by keeping them in a hothouse on a stifling day.

I can’t wait for the seeds to sprout. I’ve still got banksia, waratah, red cap gum and Western Australia christmas trees planted, but none of them are showing signs of propagating. They are under constant light and warmth, which might be the wrong way to grow them, actually. I read that waratah don’t like too much sunlight, but figured that was after they’d sprouted.

Anyway, I’ve got to be patient and keep nurturing the plants. Neither patience or nurturing are a forte, but it’s a good chance to learn.

Daily Life, Unknown Nichigo

A Seed Of An Idea

by Kangaeroo • February 20, 2023

As I touched on over the weekend, I’ve started trying to grow plants from seed and I completed the first round of the process this morning before heading off on my bike.

Blend of potting mix, peat moss and pearlite

Dwarf wattle seeds that I soaked in boiling water last night were the final group of seeds that can be planted in the winter.

I managed to spread the seeds over a tray and put them in the humidity pod.

Most of the work was finished yesterday after the ride.

The process so far started in September and October of last year (2022) when I collected Australian native plant seeds, mostly from Bunnings.

Native Australian plant seeds purchased from Oz

Managing to get the seeds through Customs in Oz and Japan, the next toughest step was stopping myself from getting over eager and trying to plant them before they were ready.

I did start preparing, mostly by buying plant starter kits, which are lit and heated humidifier pods. They came equipped with diggers, cards and a scoop, all of which I’ve put to use.

Just before Christmas, I put some waratah seeds in the fridge and kept them there for the subsequent six weeks, as advised by the growing instructions.

Some study revealed that I was on the back foot.

Australian native plants often need to be smoked or exposed to boiled water to replicate natural conditions before they germinate.

I didn’t study that until now, so I missed the opportunity to get starter granules or smoke water, either of which aids in the process, and I couldn’t find them for sale in Japan.

But I did learn about pearlite and vermiculite, so I purchased a bag of both and got to work.

First, I sorted the seeds, setting aside those that could be planted in the winter.

Humidity pod covers with openings to let out the humid air

In addition to the waratah, the seeds were the dwarf wattle, Australian Christmas tree, red cap gum, honeysuckle banksia, orange banksia, everlastings and one of the two sets of kangaroo paw seeds that I have. I had kangaroo paw growing in Kangaeroo Corner from the outset, but I killed them through overwatering, so I am particularly keen to make a better fist of growing them this time around. Another set will go on a tray of their own in another month or so.

I took turns sowing each of the seeds in a blend of potting mix, pearlite and peat moss, then covered them with vermiculite.

Each time the seed was sown it got a card with the planting date added so I will be able to tell how long it takes to germinate: if they do, indeed, begin to sprout.

They were then laid out in the humidity pods in the spare room.

The humidity pods are exposed to daylight (albeit north-facing), but get pumped up with artificial light overnight.

I’ve never grown anything like this, but am having fun.

In the meantime, I’ll keep checking and updating.