TEA ROOM # 96

Good morning. Great to catch up with the latest here. Speaking of birds, I have a bunch of half drowned looking lorikeets on my front verandah. Had a rather wet and windy storm here and I wasn't game to stoke up the computer until it had died away. More sticks and leaves to clean up again. Nice to get such a good drenching though. Won't need to water for a few days after that lot.

Trying so hard to come out, but the days are too dark for it. Perhaps tomorrow? I haven't seen this one flower before and it is a NOID, so am so impatient to see it.

Karen

Has anyone heard of these, and do you know where one can get them here in Australia? It is called Brachystelma buchanananii, and there are variations of flowers, but so unusual.

Karen

Hi Karen, I haven't seen that one before but it is part of a group called Caudiciform...I have the Elephants foot...Diascorea......it doesn't have the unusual flowers, mine is a climber with tiny white flowers.....they certainly are an interesting group....
I have a small nursery near me that has that type of unusual thing, I will watch out for it.
Dianne

Did anyone know the 2nd annual county fair contest is open for voting???? My god, how long does it go for??,.,.,.AAAAAAHHHH,..,anthonys stress levels have been very high this week[incompetent salespeople,barking dogs, lawnmowers,snippers,more barking dogs,bandsaws,chainsaws,buzzsaws] and thats after i get home from work,.,.This morning i told the lady on the public address system at coles, she sounded like she had a peg on her nose[WELL_she did!!],..,one thing thats not annoying me is the beautiful rain and the lowering temperature,..,my 1st seedling lilium has bloomed, it is 'blackbird',.,. not to be confused with the rotten b blackbirds, here,that are doing their best to crucify my lilium shoots,.,.I think i'll have a pain pacifier,and hit the sack---anthony

Good Luck to Fred for his op!

I saw something amazing on my way to the bus depot this afternoon...
a native wood pigeon feeding on blossoms - we were on a busy main road & it seemed perfectly at home in the city.
Normally only see them in wooded areas.

cherry blossom in Harper Ave a few weeks ago...
further down they have cherry trees lining both sides of the street & it looks magical when they are all blossoming together.
Many a bride has timed her wedding to take advantage of the stunning back ground they make for photos.

Anthony - lily coming up... have no idea what kind but I love the bronzey red foliage.

and my very own blossom - on a plum tree that has lovely tart purple fruit with green/yellow flesh.

Yes Teresa-a nice oriental or orienpet!![from my '''knowledgable observations'''']!but someting is already starting to eat it at soil level,..,,like my clairvoyant says''take precautions''

Good Morning to you all.

Karen, the Cactus and Succulent Society of Queensland, INC puts on a show at Mt Cootha at the Botanical garden. Perhaps you could find a telephone listing for them,or get in touch with the Office at the garden for a contact number. At the 2009 show there were a large number of Caudiciforms on display. You may be able to contact a grower.

Wow! That is beautiful. Love those odd plants...

Good morning everyone. We've had a bit of rain here enough so I don't have to water which is great. No Louise I have no regrets either, I would do the same again anytime. I am putting a pic of my double Hippy up that the slugs got to in the SH and I put it in a vase of sugared water and it came out for me. Phew so glad about that. Bl---y snails and slugs are everywhere. I'm going to have to get the boys to go on an expedition and see how many they can collect and feed to the chooks. A couple of the chooks pull the snails out of their shells like experts. Well I'll get my cuppa now and go and sit outside. It's just getting light here. Beautiful time of the morning. Colleen

I have a super fog here this morning its so thick even the birds are still asleep .------------elaine.

Lovely double hippy, Colleen! And Teresa, those cherry blossoms are lovely as well! Good morning to all our friends in the southern hemisphere! And good afternoon to Charleen and Moon! It was a beautiful Indian Summer day today. I have a "touch of pneumonia" to quote the doctor, so I sat out in the sun looking at all the things I need to do in the gardens before we leave in 3 days. This too shall pass and I'll turn on the steam once the meds knock it out. Hank came out and cut the phlox back for me. Things can take care of themselves if they need to. My Puppy Girls ran at top speed chasing each other, and they had me laughing so hard I had a coughing fit. They are such joyful little girls. :)

Good morning everyone.
Just been outside and its all wet . Again. A bit of rain last night and its quite chilly too. There goes my day of cutting back along the paths again.
I may get out in the greenhouse and talk to all the babies.

Hello Teresa. Lovely pictures of the cherry blossom. Isnt it nice when councils put pretty, small trees along roads .
Lovely backdrop for the brides.
Over in Coleraine , near us, there is a lovely row of flowering prunus. You get the masses of pink blossom and then the burgundy leaves.
You have a lovely walk to work there

Hello Anthony. sounds like you need some time sitting among the liliums. Help get your blood pressure back down. Noises can be so annoying.
I like wandering around in the shops, but those loud voices on the microphones are jarring. Perhaps all the staff should wear a beeper instead and everything would be peaceful. Hmmmmm. No , there is always that woman with a screaming child. .
Grin and bear Anthony, we are stuck with noise. Even out here in the country. Its a fact of life nowadays.

Hello Elaine. Fog is good, you usually get a nice day if it lifts

Hello Colleen. How are all your epis going ? . Beautiful hippie. Mine are still waking up from sleep. I am hoping for flowers during summer.

Hello Karen. That is certainly an unusual flower.

Hello Moon and Charleen. Are you enjoying some milder fall weather there now ? I suppose you are not looking forward to winter though.
Hugs for Charley.

Louise, drive safely and we will see you in Florida.

Hello Dianne. How are things down your way ? I have lots of liliums getting very tall here. None with the leaves like Teresas though.
I have 2 lovely new freesias. I bought them on eBay as a large red and a large purple. They are large flowers too. I love the red. I must get out and take a pic.

Hello to everyone else lurking.
I am leaving something tasty for you all. Gingerbread Cake.
Have a nice day and enjoy your gardens,
Jean.

Does anyone know of a site in Australia where my sister can get the old fashioned spider Gerbera? She wants any of the spider ones. Colleen

I have been working out in my newest flower garden. Pulling grass from around the edge. The weather is so nice, I didn't even get sweaty. My kind of weather.
Here it is, got to take another for it does look a little better now.

Thank you for the tips on that Caudiciform. I have heard that name before. Not sure where from though.

My NOID bud has opened at long last to a lovely sunny day. The picture doesn't do it justice, it is so pretty. Marlene, have you got this one? It is a med/lge flower, green to white throat, and the outermost layer of petals have a hint of gold through them.

Karen


This message was edited Oct 8, 2011 4:51 PM

That is so pretty Karem...I don't know if I have it or not as I have lots to give me a first flower.
Yes mine are so stubborn they are just big fat buds. Soon I think!

Meanwhile German Empress is getting there.

A cutting Jean gave me is just about too. I do hope Jean will be able to give me a name when I post a pixcture.

Teresa...thank you for your good wishes for Fred.

Sunday afternoon and I think I will take it easy as I had Josiah (grandson) yesterday and I am warn out.

had a long day at dog club, was there from 9-3...
spotted a few weeds when I got home so as soon as the dog was taken care of I started pulling a few nasties out.
One is really bad, look fairly innocuous but the seeds fly in all directions when you touch it so the only way to prevent that is to get it before it sets seed!
Not easy when it is growing fast & I just haven't had the time to head it off.
After that I came in to try & catch up online... promptly fell asleep.
Nothing like a nana nap before dinner ;)
I made pizza & we have settled in with a couple of Steinie Pures to watch the All Blacks vs Argentina.
Congrats to Aussie on beating South Africa.

Anthony - very different looking foliage on this lily compared to the last one...
Might be an oriental, I was given quite a few & have forgotten exactly which ones I placed where.
I think my tiger lilies are finally making an appearance, they are hiding behind a French lavender, I found them while I was weeding.
Be nice if they flower at the same time as the lavender, the orange above the purple should look good.

that looks to be a young trumpet,but with the curve in the bottom leaf, could be a young orienpet,.,.[whats the soil like there]?-one thing is for sure,'next year,you will know'!-glad you are getting enthused with them,.,.

Oh by the way, did anyone notice that ''The 2nd annual county fair contest'' is open for voting,..,,.,.and,.,.you can vote now!!!,..,I have been downloading lilium pictures all day, to the ALL THINGS PLANTS lilium database,.,.great site, run by Dave[DG] and his wife Trish,.,.but even downloading pictures wears you out-goodnight-Anthony

gosh it's late ...we had a 6 hour lunch today whew!
I hope everyone has had a great weekend.
Lovely foggy morning, I think it was a nice day but I had people here and didn't get outside, still muddy anyway.
Some pretty pictures in here.
Popping in tomorrow ^_^

Good morning everyone. Cloudy here after a cool day yesterday. Started out with a light shower but the sun arrived after lunch so I was able to get to clearing the paths at last.
Boy, can nasturtiums get huge.
I had to clear one path of them and the runners were going off in all directions. Some were over 15' long and wandering way over in the other side of the garden. The leaves were as big as dinner plates on stems around 2' high.
Talk about triffids. Luckily nasturtiums are very easily removed. Just yank on the trailer and miles of it come wandering out of the plants and trees. They love climbing trees.
I leave them alone unless they are taking over the path. They act as a great ground cover through summer. / Look nice too.
I will spend a few days now getting my plants ready for the Trash & Treasure next Sunday.

Hello Anthony. Looking at the growth on my liliums, yours must be huge. I cant wait to see all the flowers on mine.
How is Cocky going ?

Hello Chrissy, glad you enjoyed your day of visitors.
Hopefully you will get a few days without rain so you can get out and inspect the garden.

Hello Teresa, nothing wrong with a granny nap. I sneak the odd one in when hubby is having his daily nap after lunch.
Just dont drool on the keyboard. lol.

Karen , beautiful epi. I like the shading of the pink

Marlene, I can only try for a name if its from one of mine with a name. I have so many nameless and it s nearly impossible to ID from pics unless they flowers are distinctive. Even then, as with other plants, the darn things can vary with the seasons.

Charleen, what are you going to plant in your new space ? You will have to show us pics when you get it all done.
Hugs for Charley.

Hello Jeanne and Louise. Hope you are enjoying beautiful Fall weather there.

Hello to anyone else looking in. . Pop in for a cuppa.
I have some yummy apple sultana scrolls put out for you all.
Enjoy the day.
Jean.

Yummy. i will I have a couple plants in there Russian Sage , Loosestrife, white. I hear both of them can get carried away. Hope not. But love the blooms. Charley sends you sweet nuzzles.

Good morning everyone ...grabbing a cuppa and running (sun is out ) but must do some other stuff before I can get out there ...yep Charleen my Russian sage ate the garden :) nuzzles back to Charlie.

Popping back after lunch.

Good morning everyone. Overcast and dreary here this morning so far. Not too cold though. Have to go and do a bit of shopping but then will have the the rest of the day to do what I want. The garden is full of roses at the moment. They look lovely and smell even better. Brian's Elfin Pink has about 12 flowers on it at the moment. The smell is wonderful. But boy, does it sulk with a bit of sun. Jean the Nasturtiums don't like it here very much. I have tried growing them and I only have little puny bushes. I planted some yellow ones this year but haven't even seen them yet. I did notice that i had about 3 have come up in another part of the garden, don't know where the seed came from, but even they don't look too crash hot. My sister used to grow them and they were rampant like your's Jean, up the fences and up any tree or shrub and filled up any space they could. Mustn't be holding my mouth right. I'm doing a bit of washing to keep it caught up so must go. Be back later. Colleen

Marlene, your German Empress is lovely, I will be glad when mine looks like that....the ones that I bought from you Jean, will flower this year....yippee.

Anthony, you are such a good salesperson for the " county fair contest" that I had a look and voted for a BARN.....LOL....so many Liliums growing like crazy......can't wait for the seedlings from you to flower...
You sound just like my husband, when he goes to the supermarket.....wrong tickets, empty shelves, old stock, queues at the register......I think the staff hide when they see him.....but he bypasses them and goes straight to the managers, sometimes they hide too.

Teresa, it's going to be a great game on the weekend...just for the spectacle....we have got Buckley's hope of beating you...
Our win was the greatest fluke.....still it was good to beat Sth Africa...any way.

Overcast here too today, I wish the weather would make up it's mind....Melbourne had one of it's wettest days recorded last week and we got zero.....don't suppose you got much either, Jean.
Nice Iris, Colleen.
Dianne.

Lovely iris Colleen. Looks like Progressive Attitude.
If I sent you any mixed seeds, you may have got a few of my nasturtiums in there.
Nearly all of what you buy is not the original rampant one as I found out when looking to buy years ago.
I wanted the old one that wasnt afraid of going where no nasturtium had gone before, not the wimpy one that wont leave home.
I was lucky to have my seeds given to me later. They came from an old property .
Many of the modern ones will wander a bit , but nothing like the triffids I have.
They are just great for covering large empty spaces where nothing much will grow.
I leave them to grow and die where they are so there are always a million seeds.
Anyone who wants some is welcome as I will again have millions when they die off.
The colors are a mix of yellow or orange, but I have seen the odd dark red sometimes.
Here are some running all around the paddock garden.
Jean.

Letty May out this morning.

Oh Marlene that is beautiful. We still have a while for ours to come out here although I know they were flowering when Brian passed away last year. Only 2 days to go for his anniversary and no sign of flowers coming out as yet. The little flowered ones are out, can't remember the name, The Hippies are coming too. Jean would you be able to save me some of the seeds from your rampant Nasturtium please? Colleen

Thanks Colleen
Yes my epiphyllums are slow too because the weather has been quite cool.
Been playing all day with a project I had in mind.
I made a living picture.
Fred made the frame box from an old frame I had.

Close up.

Really beautiful idea, Marlene.......It looks terrific...

Hope all goes well tomorrow for Fred....Gall stones are very painful...
I had my gall bladder removed about 6 yrs ago ....so I can sympathise with him.
Dianne.

Chrissy ,what did you eat for 6 hours?,.,.yes, liliums growing like crazy!!!- and my seedling i thought was 'blackbird, ' isnt,..,it has prominent black spotting on tangerine blooms--OOOOh!

You don't keep eating for 6 hours Anthony ...you talk for 6 hours but we did have three cups of coffee each during that time ...we had spaghetti with side salad and desert was fresh fruit or apple pie and ice cream ...lots of coffee because we were tired, but excited, my Granddaughter has been away for a year in far away places, has a new job and a new fella, so poor girl had to answer a lot of questions (don't forget she has an Italian Grandfather).
A great time was had by all. ^_^

Oh yuck poor Fred has Gall stones? awful ...never experienced it myself but my young Daughter in law was rushed to hospital in terrible pain frequently in the early 80's (she was just a kid only about 17 years old). I hope all goes well Marlene, I believe it's key hole surgery these days unlike my DIL op left a large scar.
You have got some interesting things happening there in the garden.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful day.

hope it wasnt an'all you can eat' resteraunt. the staff would have been cursing you!.at the casino,i like to get as many fresh little seeded rolls and fill them with butter,then roast lamb/beef/pork ,hot english mustard and gravy- after about 12 im stuffed--purge it down with a creme caramel and a beer,then its time to go home,to bed,..,which is where i'll be, as soon as i feed sooty and put him to bed-anthony,.,.Cocky is fine ,Jean

Good morning everyone. Cold here this morning but I can see some blue sky. I am hoping for warmer weather and I see on the news that you are all going to get wet again further north.
Very windy yesterday , but I painted the new tables for the Trash & Treasure . I was able to do them in the old shed where the trailer lives. There is plenty of room and it was nice out of the wind. I painted them green similar to federation green.
Looks better than raw wood even though it is treated pine.
Today I will be gathering all the plants for sale and getting them tidied and watered well.

Hello Chrissy, sounds like a beaut lunch. Nice to just talk and nibble for hours.

Hello Anthony, I used to love going to the casino in Perth where one could sit down and watch everyone while munching on choice tit bits with a cuppa.
Love those places where you can pile your place with anything you like.

Hello Dianne, did you get the few showers yesterday too ?

Marlene, lovely job with the 'art work'. Good luck to Fred.

No probs Colleen. There will be plenty of seeds a bit later. You may curse me in the future, when you cant find your house for nasturtiums.
Brian will be watching so you dont cover his cacti with them .

Hello Charleen and Jean/ Moon Have a great time in your gardens.

Louise, safe driving and enjoy the trip.

Hello Karen, Pam, Teresa and everyone else.

I'm off outside to start gathering plants.
Hope the clouds go away soon.
Heres something delicious for you all. Honey Ginger Scones.
( with lots of cream as Brian and Leisa would insist )
Happy day.
Jean

Morning all.
Those scones sound yummy Jean,

I was in a gift shop, yesterday...and they sold the prettiest gift wrap paper that I have seen...$1 per sheet....The first I bought for my grandaughter's birthday.....It was covered in very pretty high heel shoes, all those glamourous "sex in the city" types, then there was the paper with every colour of Budgie on it and lastly I bought some of one that had my favourite Blue Wrens in large pics all over....
They had some beautiful floral ones as well....so I will be buying my gift paper there in future.

What are some of the plants that you will be selling at your Trash and Treasure, Jean...that would be a good place to take your excess Brugs.

Post that new Lilium, Anthony...it sounds interesting...

Have a good day all.
Dianne