Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

7 Sep '13 4:45 am

Yes Gordon I have very nearly gone the potted-Frangipani route on a number of occassions. To be honest I am not the most relaible pot owner and am prone to wholesale neglect at times! I may have to try it just once though...

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

10 Sep '13 12:46 am

Hi People,
I am just about to shower before bed, It has been a very long day. I was getting a bit short of rations, so a neigbouring couple took me shopping. I wasn't going to get much - famous last words. Any way when I arrived home there was a message from the Hospital saying Trev could come home and would I pick him up?
Back to neighbouring couple, Eugen and Gisela took me over to Belmont Hospital on the other side of the lake and we collected him and trundled him home. Boy was he glad to be there! Cats were actually pleased to see him, instead of the "Oh. It's you." that is the usual reaction! I am just wrecked! Pushing my shopping trolley up the Boulevarde to Coles Car Park to meet the others was, in retrospect, probably not a good idea. Does anyone know of a miracle cure for Sciatica? I can't seem to get rid of it.

back to gardening - the Frangipanis I put in were not the perfumed kind, they are Species plants and only for the fact they give really good shade, I'd have dug them up, as I love the perfume of the white and gold flowered hybrids. They are dark pink but don't have all that many flowers. What does look nice is the shapes that the leaf shadows make on the shadecloth blinds that are on the western side to keep as much sun as possible out.

If you can get a good sized branch off someone when they are dormant, they will grow in a large pot beautifully. (Snow & Frost? forget it!) Put the pot on wheels and trundle it inside for the winter and back outside in spring. They will do nicely on a sunny patio.

Cats like to present themselves in the best light possible, have you noticed?

Jink Again:-

: Jink's Flower Bower

Last edited by Gabi on 15 Sep '13 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

10 Sep '13 7:05 am

Loving that spiraea!! And the very beautiful puss too.

The pink frangipanis are very expensive here, and I could never understand why people chose them over the gorgeous smelling yellow/white ones. Now I know, thanks!

Glad to hear Trev is back and happy. I'm sorry to hear your sciatica is so debilitating, I have no magic to mend that I'm afraid. Stronger pain relief meds perhaps?

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

10 Sep '13 7:05 pm

Glad Trev's back home. Sorry to hear about the sciatica (I really don't know what it is, except that it hurts like h***!), but I also, don't have any magical formula for relief.

As for getting a frangipani - I'm still looking for Kangaroo Paw seeds!

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

15 Sep '13 1:48 pm

Oo, Gordon, I don't think you can buy seeds! I will check for you. An enormous amount of Aussie Natives won't seed until a bushfire has been over the ground where they are growing. The seeds are actually there, but won't sprout without the heat/smoke to trigger them!

The growers do all that with artificial heat and smoke-water. I'll get back to you on that!

Kerole, you can get the Hybrids in pink and with the perfume, too! Mine are a different variety as far as I can tell, but call me on it if you know any better.

I really wouldn't think you would have much luck if you live just up the river from Moosey - NZ South Island? In a really big Conservatory, maybe, if you are well heeled, pardon my vulgarity in bringing up the subject of Filthy Lucre and do you have any, LOL!

I suspect you are the same about Frangipani as I am about Peony - I waaaaant one!

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

15 Sep '13 4:37 pm

Gabi, how much of a fire do they need? Would a little bonfire work, and then just leave them in the ashes and apply water? We have trees here that seed in the same way, pines, etc., that need a forest fire to force the cones to open. But I didn't know that Kangaroo Paws were difficult in that way.

BTW, how's the spring garden coming along? It seems as if our never-ending summer may have finally ended, as rain is forecast for the next week. Usually, once the summer high has ended it's not long until the fall rains set in for the next few months!

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

17 Sep '13 10:18 am

Gabi my dear you crack me up - Filthy Lucre haha!

I am in the upper North Island, just north of AKL. So a fair way from Moosey. Sadly I cannot grow peonies

It is warm and very humid in summer. But just every now and then we get a frost in winter/spring. Bit of a bugger really.

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

17 Sep '13 6:39 pm

Hi Gabi, very pretty avatar

I have just enjoyed reading about your garden and looking at your photos. Love your cats! They just look so comfy, funny how they always find the best spots to curl up in.

The plants along the base of your house are very striking and a great combination with the paint colour.

Re the frangipani, I have heard that the deciduous ones have a stronger perfume than the evergreen, is that correct do you know? I have tried to grow the deciduous one in my garden but it declined the offer as do lots of anything that need special care :oops:

I have also tried to grow a peony my sister who lives in the South Island bought up for me. I think they were joking when they said to put ice cubes around it during Winter. Anyhow, it soon went the way of the frangipani. I think it's in a gardeners genes to want plants we can't have :wink:

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

17 Sep '13 7:24 pm

Speaking of, "it's in a gardeners genes to want plants we can't have", I once read about a Canadian who was vacationing in Bermuda. She was invited to visit a local resident's garden. While walking around it, she spotted, of all things, a Dandelion (eek!!). Without a moment's pause, she snatched it from the garden, only to hear her hostess shriek, "Nooo! I have to put ice cubes around it all summer to get it to bloom!"

Just thought you'd enjoy that anecdote! Keep well!

Re: Gabi's garden in Lake Macquarie NSW

4 Dec '13 6:23 pm

: Eventually after moving to a bigger pot it was big enough(just) to sit under. Certainly Fritzi the beauteous liked to lounge under it!

It's easy to grow them in a pot. you only need a good sized branch and after the (angled) cut end has dried off, (two weeks in a dry spot, minimum) It can be planted as far down the pot as you can get it. I tie a stake to it and then tie the stake to the railings, old pantihose are good for ties, if not exactly, er, well, you know, a salubrious look. Put the pot on a wheeled stand, and then you can move it where you like, including indoors in winter! The tree won't do too much the first summer, but after that, ka-boom!

The one above is about 3 years in the pot, they need to be moved to a bigger pot at the same intervals. You can prune them by cutting off a whole branch right to the join. If you want to have leaves sprout at the cut end, leave a stub of the branch coming out about 4 inches from the join. People up the road from me have pruned an enormous Frangi like it was a hedge. It may well die - certainly it will look appalling!

My Stephanotis seems to be hanging onto its younger green leaves, but has lost all the bigger ones which have gone yellow. I think she might survive???

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