There were myriad reasons for why nothing got posted.
But an old friend from NewsonJapan played an important and much appreciated role in getting the site back on track.
Other everyday items making comebacks of sorts include my spare tire, career failure, glorious May weather and, beyond all hope, one of the kangaroo paw in Kangaeroo Corner! I’d given up on ever seeing the much-adored flower making a return, so it was a sheer delight to see it bud again.
Less pleasing from a gardening viewpoint was the general failure of the Aussie seed experiment.
I transferred the last remaining seedlings from the humidity pods to pots and moved them outside. I had a single heath banksia and 10 dwarf wattles.
Within three days, all had withered and died.
Nonetheless, there is still a pot containing some kangaroo paw that seem to be growing. If not, they are at least surviving. And some native wisteria have also managed to hang on.
Although I had dreams of giving exotic Aussie plants to all my mates, it won’t eventuate, which is sad.
But….kangaroo paw surviving is enough for me to regard the experiment as a success!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kangaroo paw
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.
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.
Buoyed by the emergence of buds from everlasting daisies on Saturday and given the gift of desperation on late Sunday afternoon following a weekend of sloth, I planted the last of my seeds from Australia.
With “budding” success from the humidity pods I have been using, I got enough confidence to try some different things with the seeds that I had left.
As this was the second lot of kangaroo paw seeds I would be planting, I tried these seeds in trays and will place them outside in the hothouse rather than the humidity pods.
And me being me and unable to accomplish anything without some degree of destruction or failure, I managed to drop a humidity pod and spill the potting mix all over the floor of the living.
Just as I was lamenting my misfortune, I dropped a second pod.
Fortunately, Mrs. Kangaeroo wasn’t around at the time and I could perform a half-arsed cleanup, but it was clear this morning that I hadn’t done a good job of that, either.
Anyway, all the seeds are sown and now it’s a matter of care and waiting.
Kangaroo paw seedsPreparing for plantingUsing a tray instead of the humidity podGiving soil blocks a burlBreaking a soil block…of courseMaking amendsSoil blocks awaiting seedSowed kangaroo paw seeds covered in plasticFinding a better alternative coverAfter spilling a humidity podAnother spill for good measurePlacing seeds in hot water overnightProperly labeling the seeds so I know how to care for themFinally got everything in order
