Crocosmia and World Domination

I suspect they are becoming an invasive weed here around Sydney, as I have begun to see them all along roadsides in numbers which suggest a gathering of troops.

In addition to thier bullying tactics with other plants around my garden, the flowers have changed from a lucious deep solid red, to this sort of red-ish and orange affair, which are pretty enough - I admitt! But not the glorious red that won me over. Most likely the colour change indicates that these were a hybrid, which now is reverting to one of its parents types - and 'showing thier true colours' so to speak.

I will most likely be eliminating these after flowering this season, so lets enjoy them now.



More info:
Crocosmia at Wiki
Crocosmia at BBC

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Again no time to write, tis a good thing its not what Im paid to do.

Pink and Pearls

I know you cant blame me for more shots of these, too lovely to limit! Although tommorrow we will probably move on.

I had hoped today (yesterday, actually), would have more time to write in. But when The Most DH suggested lunch at our favourite coffee house, well, who can say no to that? So off into Sydney we went.

Along the way we had some mints. They were round, very hard, and although indeed minty, they were not particularly nice. I said, "These are very irritating. This must be how oysters feel while they are making pearls."

Some time elapsed. At last the thing was small enough that I was able to crunch it up to smithereens. Where upon I added, "If oysters had teeth, there would be no pearls."

And thats all my time for today, see you tommorrow!

Amaryllis or Belladonna Lily

I am writing this while still a bit groggy, sorry to ramble. But my first appointment for thursday is at 745am, so a scheduled post it must be....

This year features my best ever year for blossoms of the Belladonna lily. The trick to growing these well is to not disturb them. Disturb thier roots and they will not bloom.

However, I have managed to make them happy here in a bed of iris. Now, normally you want to lift and divide your iris every couple years, and youd expect that that would annoy the Belladonnas. But since the Belladonna's bulbs are much deeper than the iris, so long as I am very very careful, I can lift the iris without disturbing the lily.

I think so long as I continue with my very careful iris care, that the lily will continue to perform splendidly. And really the Belladonna lily looks better - to my eyes anyway - with the iris's leaves around its bare stems.

You see, Belladonna lily sends its leaves up in the winter here, they do thier job and whither away. So come summer, it blooms on naked stems. Thus the common name "Naked Ladies", which sounds trashy to me. The latin is much more refined.

Northern Hemisphere readers beware! Up there Hippeastrums are often sold as Amaryllis, they are in fact not the same thing at all, FYI.

Ahoy!

Still drowsy - back to bed for me - otherwise well and still have all the bits of me I wanted to keep - Hooray!

Spying more splendour, through the grass

Now looking through fronds of the Purple Fountain Grass, we spy a jerry-built bird bath, and our next mark.
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Today is the day for the surgery I mentioned here (#12), so I may well be seeing the world as through a veil today. Anaesthetic and I have a complicated relationship. If you dont hear from me tommorrow, dont worry.....no wait. Its a public hospital...Okay, well, dont worry unless Im gone a really long time. But seriously, I should be fine and surfing the net nearly as soon as I am discharged. See you there!

Purple danced with the Roses

For me, part of the allure of the grasses is the way they give another voice to the air. The sounds grasses make with a breeze, or gale. The air and the grasses sing a duet, and they dance it as well. Iam easily entranced by thier interaction, and sorely long to join them. I dont think I belong in the suburbs. I feel smothered by the people, and cut off from the spirit of the Earth. In my front yard here in the suburbs, I dont feel free to cast off my fetters and dance with the wind and the grass. I am living in the wrong time, arent I? And speaking of time, I must run again - pity, what I had to say here could have been alot more eloquent but for the want of time.

If no one is looking, go dance with the grasses!

Pennisetum Advena Rubrum, Purple Fountain Grass

Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum Advena Rubrum. A fabulous specimen, and the plant that made official my love affair with grasses. I had managed to acquire a much longed for Miscanthus Zebrina last year, but its been rather dissappointing. I paid $26 for said Zebrina, and only $16 for the Purple Fountain. Get the Purple!

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Things have been so busy lately that, when I go out in the morning, Ive been meeting myself coming back. Today I have a couple hours I can spend with the computer, although they are not all strung together. So I am attempting to post via the Installment Method, a sentence here and half a paragraph there - as time and brain cells allow.

Therefore, although there may be content here, it may best suit those with short attention spans. If you find yourself confused....Oh look! A possum!

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Iam still at a loss as to what to blog about. Still have the question looming in my mind about where I am going with all of this, but Thanks to you, I no longer wonder if there is any value in doing as I have done. (MWAH!) Thats been a gift to me. Id much rather entertain than well, bore, I suppose.

So, we might have a bit of a catch up in the garden photo-wise, but while I do that I may try to write more. Or I may not. Its very hard to say right now, what with the whole spinning around chasing my tail thing shortening my attention span. (Possums?)

There are literally hundreds of shots backlogged for culling and cropping and sorting - Oh My! I will have to either stop shooting (GASP!) or get on with the rather more tedious business of housekeeping (GROAN!) ...

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At that last ellipsis moment, as I was staring at 544 shots of Honey on a Plate in the Sun, The Most DH suggested we go for a ride. It took precisely one milliseconds consideration. "I will cancel my 3 o'clock." Soon we were off.

I brought along the camera of course, but we didnt go anywhere exciting or new or see sights that merited leaving the air conditioned Rover - except one.

I am working on two different series of photos behind this blog. They are more social commentary than fine art. Well, I guess that depends on what one considers - either, really. I only mention this as the shot I did get today makes an official start to the second series. Which is exciting for me, to come out of the conception phase and into the actual work.

So, garden shots! Here is a lovely, fresh shot of my Purple Fountain Grass. Shot from below to emphasize that glorious golden summer morning sun, before it got too hot to bear being outside. I love the lens flare I got from the angle, although it is hard to see at this size.

Enjoy your day! If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, I wish you warmth! For the Southern, cool!