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…
-
-
We had a busy and fruitful weekend, welcoming friends over for a party yesterday, working for a new future and getting to enjoy kangaroo paw that others are growing. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I grew kangaroo paw from seeds and got amazing results, which I delighted in “sharing” with friends and neighbors. It wasn’t until I’d given out a dozen plants that I realized I wasn’t presenting people with an exotic decoration of considerable expense was perhaps an unwelcome nuisance. So I didn’t push too hard to hand over plants to people who visited. It was a wonderful weekend for…
-
Even by the generally lousy standard of 2024, this morning was a pretty rotten one in some ways, yet even that couldn’t deter gaining pleasure from our kangaroo paw. The flowers have hit peak bloom. They bring me unbridled delight. I’ve still got hope some of the plants we have that are yet to flower will eventually bloom, too. I’m delighted these flowers have grown from seeds I got in my home town. Having been able to share the plants with friends and neighbors has also been wonderful. Some of my friends have grown plants even more magnificent than ours.…
-
Having not had the remotest interest in gardening until well into old age, it constantly amazes me how much hanging out with plants brings me joy and wonderment, and one of the greatest pleasures is being able to share that. On a visit back to Australia a few years ago I bought a lot of native plant seeds and tried to grow them by myself. Most failed, but a few got through, like the hardenbergia, dwarf wattle and, especially, kangaroo paw. With the blog association and our huge kangaroo statue in the garden I really wanted kangaroo paw to grow…
-
OK, the title is a bit of a lie, because I confused doxing with poxing, but the wordplay was better, so that’s what I went with. The paradoxes I’m dealing with are trying to make a living while blessed with innumerable talents that are all useless and a track record in life where the two most consistent results have been mediocrity and failure, yet still believing I am a highly competent member of the workforce. And, of course, the enormous self-hate. Anyway, it was a great start to the day, especially considering I had feared waking up feeling bleak because…
-
It was the D-Day anniversary today and it sure felt like I was storming enemy territory for most of the day, but the fantastic flowers blooming in the garden warmed my soul. And the magnificent Mrs. Kangaeroo took the ugliest flowers in the garden, the Australian native hops, chucked in a few snow in the summer blossoms and created a stunning bouquet! Words cannot describe her brilliance! I hope her terrible taste in men remains eternal. Related posts: Arrows of Outrageous Fortune Strine Dictionary Where’s the Whist Amid the Wisteria? Savorin’ Straya Powered by YARPP.
-
Something was amiss with the start of the weekend when I was barely able to sleep, spending a restless night ahead of plans to head into central Tokyo to pick up some parts, but little did I know that a vanilla slice “snot block” was on the way to rescuing me. Using the restlessness to advantage, I got stuck into the garden, weeding and then being able to cut the lawn courtesy of a quiet push mower and getting down on my hands and knees to manually trim the edges. A quick clean of the Brommie, which has been squeaking…
-
It’s a sodden day with rain punctuated by drizzle, but the flowers in Kangaeroo Corner are brightening an otherwise bleak day. The grevillea are simply gorgeous and our star tree is filling with flowers that I have to learn to deadhead so that we get even more. Snow in the summer made its first appearance for the year. More white came from the willow bottlebrush. And the linear-leaf grevillea, which has now been blooming for months. Perhaps an unsung star of Kangaeroo Corner is the coastal rosemary, which has also been consistently in bloom since pretty much the start of…
-
One of my great delights over the past few years has become gardening, and unaccustomedly I’ve taken on numerous challenges, including growing plants from seeds, and the kangaroo paws I wanted to bloom and flourish more than any other plant have started to flower. I picked up dozens of different types of seeds when I last visited Australia in September-October 2022. I started growing them in February 2023. I’ve now got about half-a-dozen blooming in the garden, either in pots or planted in the ground. All but one is orange. Many of the seeds germinated and propagated, but of the…
-
Late May is nearly always an idyllic time with the glorious weather hiding the impending onset of the rainy season. This morning’s ride was made even pleasanter by getting to spend time looking at a glorious Japanese green pheasant reigning over its territory near the Asakawa River. Pretty much every weekday (when the weather is halfway decent), I get to ride my bike, mostly along the Tama River, and I love it. Returning home today was a delight, though as the grevillea are in full bloom. A row of the gorgeous flowers is simply breathtaking. Only one of the three…