A Swartland garden

28 Dec '06 6:57 pm

Don't be jealous Gordon! I've seen pictures of the exquisitely beautiful Vancouver Island ... you are truly blessed to live there. Its interesting how each area has its own particular beauty. I lived in the UK for almost 8 years and really miss its lush softness, especially when its contrasted to the harsh dryness we have here.

And, if its any consolation, only one of my clivias flowered!

The weaver birds like to nest up in the gum trees (an australian import, but prolific here, and they particularly like to be above water).

We have sugarbirds here too ... I think they must be related to hummingbirds. They have long curved beaks and the most beautiful jewel-coloured feathers. My cat caught one last week in the plumbago hedge but thank God I was able to rescue it in time.

28 Dec '06 7:46 pm

Hi, again, Lynne-

Thanks for the note, and you're right. I really shouldn't be jealous! But I tried SO hard to get that clivia to bloom!!

And, you know, I'd really like to live in a desert region one day - maybe not the Sahara, but perhaps the interior of BC, which is the only real desert Canada has!! (Although with Clobal Climate Change, we may be getting more!)

Anyway, keep posting the pictures - they're great!

Cheers,

gordonf

29 Dec '06 7:50 pm

yesterday we headed off to the nursery and bought all the plants for my Christmas present garden. And a perfect pot for the edge-of-the-pool-water-feature and a whole bakkie load of compost. But our joy was short lived. I was rescuing a mouse from Smudge when there was a huge CRACK in the lapa. One of the supporting poles of the 56 m2 structure has cracked. And the company that put it up 18 months ago has vanished into thin air. And we have that art course on the 20th... under the lapa. AAAArgh!!!

29 Dec '06 7:59 pm

forgot to put in the picture. greg has put in a pole to support it, but its all rather worrying. Especially as the main poles seem to be l-e-a-n-i-n-g...

4 Jan '07 1:31 am

OK... this is my sixth attempt at posting!! I keep getting logged off! And logging back on is a mission... usually it works after the third or fourth attempt! But I'm getting clever and copying and pasting so I don't have to rewrite everything.

Greg has put some extra poles under the horizontals to help hold the lapa up, so we no longer feel like the entire 56 sq m structure is about to fall on our heads. We even had breakfast there again this morning. Bliss!

And the Christmas garden is planted. Its looking a bit sparse, but I'm sure that won't last for long if everything grows as it should. I even planted some gem squash and aubergine at the back, so there'll be an extra benefit from the extra watering.

4 Jan '07 1:32 am

ok ... let's try pictures now...

4 Jan '07 1:34 am

I see all the poles look dark in that pic. Oh well...
The Christmas garden is planted.

4 Jan '07 12:39 pm

4 Jan '07 6:15 pm

Hi, Jay Bee- Say, what colour is your new schizostylus? I keep buying them, but they're always the same colour, sort of a dark pinky red.

Cheers,

gordonf

4 Jan '07 7:23 pm

Hi Jay Bee.... you should have asked what a lapa is! And I should have realised that probably only Jack would know what I was talking about! Its a thatched structure ... really a thatched roof without any walls. It provides the most wonderful cool shade and because we built such a big one, its ideal for entertaining. We regularly have 10 - 20 people for lunch on Saturdays and we also use it for a venue for the art courses we run. So its imminent collapse was a disaster!
Our temperatures in the summer are regularly in the 40s (celsius!) and without it we just can't spend any time outdoors unless its early evening or the crack of dawn.
The Christmas garden is so named because it is my Christmas present from greg, not because it has plants that will necessarily look their best in December.
We have gone for indigenous plants only. I went outside to take pics for you, only to discover my camera battery is flat. So I'll do it later.

A Swartland garden

jealous?

Jealousy

disaster!

cracked pole

shoring up

pics

christmas garden

Re: christmas garden

Schizostylus

christmas garden plants