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Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
Lots of news here!16 Aug '09 3:28 am
Well, three new blogs but no connectors. I thought googling your name would find you but no such luck. Could I get a clue sir?
Of the new photos I especially appreciated seeing the Anniversary garden again. I really like that overhead structure.
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Blog address17 Aug '09 9:45 am
Ah, yes! I got carried away and didn't give it!
http://sequoiagardens.wordpress.com
That is the main blog. The others - work in progress - are linked.
On Saturday night we (that is, the Rotary Club) had a very successful theatre show in the school's theatre/hall, the same place where my production of Romeo and Juliet was performed last year. I spent 17 hours at the theatre, as it was my baby. Almost like old times. Except I've started a new business and that in itself is exhausting me. I go into the new week shell-shocked! So I'm afraid my gardening news is limited. In fact walks have been short quick longing affairs this weekend, but much is happening in the pre-spring garden!
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gordonf
Happy Collector
Vancouver Island, Canada
Oh, Boy!17 Aug '09 4:19 pm
Hi, Jack!
I've found you again!! I haven't been getting your posts on this new (?) thread, and I just discovered it. As usual, you have wonderful pictures and lots of news here! They make me positively green with envy!!
I'm really pleased that your mother had such a great birthday with so many of the family present!
I thought that the picture of the nandina fronted by the dead leaves of other plants was really clever, and a real show of how a creative mind can perceive things that other, lesser minds might miss!
Hopefully, now that I've logged on to this new posting of your I'll get back onto the list of reminders when you post here.
As for my garden, I have just been enjoying the late summer weather and the abundance of colour in it. A few of the late summer plants are beginning to bloom but it is still the midsummer ones that are carrying the load here. I began my late summer weeding today, reaching beneath the leaves to get at those sneaky weeds that have taken hold there, out of sight. As the witch in "The Wizard of Oz" would have said, "Gotcha, My pretties!!" 
I've been making plans as to which plants need to be moved to better show off their attributes for next year. I think I'll have a pretty busy Autumn!
All the best, Jack!
-gordonf
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Everything but gardening29 Aug '09 8:35 am
What a week! We have all but finished work in a garden in Tzaneen, our Rotary Club has hosted the District Governor on his annual official visit and I spent three days last weekend hiking in the mountains. Thought I'd post a few of those pics in lieu of the many blossoms and azalea starting up despite the lack of warmth...
We started from up near the highest point in Limpopo and dropped down to the Matlapeetz River which we followed for much of the second day, climbing up a beautiful valley during the afternoon. The third day was a hectic climb across a mountain, and then down to The Downs: now part of the Magalameetse Nature Reserve, but originally the farm where Robin, one of our party, grew up and farmed in his younger years; a beautiful grassland among the taller peaks!
The first two photos are each a composite of 6 shots, two wide and three high. We camped just out of frame on the second night. What a glorious spot! An icy wash refreshed us - but I didn't do the full immersion thing: I'm a coward when it comes to cold water! The last photo is also from here.
The third shot was taken as we gained altitude on the third day. In the foreground is a 'naboom', a tree-like euphorbia of which there are several species in SA. This is Euphorbia cooperi. We look back from where we came...
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gordonf
Happy Collector
Vancouver Island, Canada
Your Hike29 Aug '09 3:49 pm
Boy, Jack, those are wonderful pictures! That scenery is absolutely beautiful!! The euphorbia is rather unearthly-looking, isn't it? I assume that it's safe to swim in that river, in season, of course, when the water warms a bit.
This landscape has colours in it that are so much like those of Autumn in parts of Canada - it's hard to believe that the pictures were taken in early spring.
Thanks so much for posting them!
Cheers!
-gordonf
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Other-wordly-ness30 Aug '09 7:00 am
Hi again Gordon... I suppose the autumn colour comes mainly from the orangey stone of the krantzes (rockfaces), and like some conifers, many of our indigenous evergreens tend to get richer colouring in winter, especially the succulents. In fact we looked at and discussed (we including two professional gardeners and the remaining three keen nature lovers) several plants with interesting foliage colour, including several with wine-red and brick-red leaves: were they autumn leaves, spring leaves or winter leaves? We didn't know... The South African flora is so rich and diverse after millions of years of uninterrupted development, that there must be 20 plants we saw on our trip with garden potential that have never been tried. How I would love to do a walk like this with a really knowledgeable botanist! The Euphorbia, besides looking other-wordly, also contains an extremely toxic latex. And yes, the water is safe to swim in. Up here in the mountains there could be now more than the occasional snake sharing the pools! And they would very seldom take to the water.
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gordonf
Happy Collector
Vancouver Island, Canada
Of Snakes and Untried Plants30 Aug '09 4:38 pm
Hi, Jack, and thanks for the feedback. I'm awaiting the introduction of some new S. African garden plants after all the recent introductions from China!
-gordonf
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Now what's that other word?1 Sep '09 4:13 am
Hell, I looked at it from every angle when I wrote it - twice... other-wordly just seemed wrong. But it jumped out at me now.
OTHER-WORLDLY
('Worldly' is a rather nice Scrabble word. I must remember it next time I have a hand full of mismatched consonants.)
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Kerole
nominate your own title
Taupaki, New Zealand
1 Sep '09 8:40 am
Aha. There is a German stallion I use sometimes for my broodmares named Worldly, and you wouldn't believe how many times it is mis-spelled in the exact same way you just did!!
Anyway, I rather like 'other-wordly'
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Spring in the swamp cypress7 Sep '09 8:34 am
Late this afternoon the back lighting on the swamp cypress below my parents' house suddenly showed how green it was with the delicate new leaves of spring. It reminded me of the backlit autumn photos I took - you can see them in this post: on page 6 (23 May: Stairway down to the sun) and page 7 (13 June: 9 The wet brings out the winter colour.
Meanwhile as spring gains momentum, my mother's life is slowly ebbing away. I write this as I do my shift of the night-time vigil; on Saturday we thought three times we were losing her, this morning once. Tonight she is stronger. She is peaceful and joyful, secure in the knowledge that she will die at home as she wished. At 80 and after 45 years of diabetes it is kidney failure that is slowly draining her last strength. It is a privilige to be there for her; perhaps the greatest privilige love can afford us. Fifteen years ago I could be there for Francois as cancer took him. Now it is my mother, at the end of a good long innings, and she is so much like my beloved grandmother at times, visually and in her quiet giggles at life, that I can almost believe the generations have become one. May her passing be as peaceful as her weakening was!
Swamp cypress in leaf.jpg
In the foreground diarama, a clipped Abelia 'Francis Mason' to the left of the pots at the top of the stairs, the two swamp cypresses and a witch-hazel in flower.
340.31 KB / Viewed 19 Time(s)
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