Where are you in AU .

Far North Coast of New South Wales .
DG member for a few years and especially like the "friendly atmosphere" of the site and the wide range of forums covered.
Regards to all AU members .
Holty...
If you Google (or any search engine) "holtys" you will find what I am into .

Hi Holty,

I am in South East Australia, down near Canberra. Yahoo for Daves Garden for giving us our own forum area. Lets hope I don't forget how to get in here.

Cheers
Windale

Hi,
I am even further South in Churchill in the Gippsland region of Victoria, among all the brown coal burning power stations.

Ken

Hi everyone,
i'm living on the Central Coast of NSW, at Gosford.
about 100 ks..( thankfully! ) from Sydney city.
It's very green here, a great place to grow all sorts of things, but not the extremity lovers of
cold or hot..we get just enough of both, to make your Heliconia struggle,
and your Daffs fail to bloom!
i have a range of plant interests..all the usual suspects,
but mostly bulbous things, Iilys, irids, amaryllids,
and fave colours are blue, purple flowers..
which includes the vivid Blue Leschenaultia, in bloom currently.

I really like the enthusiasm DG members have for their gardens, and communicating in the forums. And i have traded seeds a few times with friendly US folks.
its a beautiful thing..a wide world of Gardening.
arte

Hi everyone,
I live in Cowes Phillip Island Grand Prix motorbikes here this weekend.,Other wise a beautiful place.
JWB (0zboy)

Hello All,

I am up north in Qld, in Townsville (Home of the Cowboys), Thanks Dave for giving us our own forum.

Hi all..

I'm from the northern Gold Coast, in southeast Queensland. Quite a nice place here.

G'day Everyone,
I am indeed proud to be a member of Dave,s Garden but especially part of the Aussie forum. I am 66 yrs of age self funded retiree since 2000. My hobby is sub-tropical fruit trees most in the un-usual mold to this region. Success to me is for the tree to grow and develop before worrying about budding/flowering/fruiting that will take care of it's self eventually! may i mention a few in my "success" bracket. Guava ( Indian, Hawaiian, Thai green, Strawberry, Fejoa(pineapple), Aussie common, Stone Fruit (Pear,Plum,Peach,Peachcott,), Grumachama,(Black&white), Madrano, Jaboticaba, Sapote(3 varities), Loquat, Jambolin plum, Nashi pear, Japanese Raisin, Sea grape, Tamarillo, Pitomba, Star/Rose Apple, Cherimoya, & those that have produced fruit Orange,Lemon, Pommelo, Mandarin, Lime(grafted to old lemon), Tangelo, Tangerine, Longan, Babaco, Carambola, Cumquat, Ice cream bean, Also tree cabbage about 4'6" now. I would be happy to swap tips/ideas/info etc with anyone interested.

Bazza Smith
Bundaberg Qld.

Hi everyone. My name is Lee and I live in Talbot which is in Central Victoria. We are located about 1/2 an hour north of Ballarat. It is extremely dry down this way and already we are to be on Stage 4 water restrictions by November!!! Not fun when one is just starting to landscape ones front garden!!! Looks like we will have to take it back to the drawing board as, although we were to use mostly natives, you still need water to get them established. Have to have a rethink!!! LOL :-) Lee

Congratulations on your new forum!

I am doing a raindance for you Lee. Hope you get all you want soon. Nothing worse than hard dry dirt!
Carol

G'day folks, my names Roy and I'm married with two daughters and I've been retired a couple of years. I live in inner-city Brisbane, I love gardening in a sub-tropical climate. I joined Dave's Garden mainly to communicate with Hoya growers but was thrilled to see an Aussie forum. So I'm looking forward to sharing information and learning from others in this great country of ours. My garden blog is http://froggarden.blogspot.com/ Happy gardening. Roy

Hi everyone,
I live in Newcastle, across the road from the beach and so get a lot of sea spray. Just starting up a garden so need plants that will tolerate salt spray and sandy soil - need to do some serious research. Already made one mistake trying to establish a Queensland rainforest tree. A really beautiful tree, I hope I can save it. Happy gardening to you all! I'm so glad we gave an Aussie forum.

Horsham in western Victoria. I grow a lot of varieties of tomatoes as well as other vegies.
Web page is http://users.netconnect.com.au/~myrna

me i'm from south east qld, bayside suburb to the north of brissy.

we are being threatened with stage 4 water restrictions, but our plants get all our grey water as well as dishwashing & night water, we use lots of hay type mulches to minimise water loss in the gardens & around food trees.

we have installed a 24,500 litre rainwater tank, as well we have a 1,800 litre tank for back flushing our pool so we can re-use that water, also got some 220 litre blue plastiic drum to collect water from the unmanaged downpipes, thiw water will go to gardens, pool & clothes washing.

don't see why we should be restricted from watering food plants while good water is wasted flushing urine and the use washing mahines that don't re-use water for up to 3 wash loads in a row.

len

http://www.gardenlen.com/

I'm with you Len. I think it is because of the people that DON'T use water wisely that have not help the problem. Personally all my boys (and I must say that I am lucky to have had all boys) 'go' outside and we use ALL grey water for watering what plants we do have. We save as much water as possible and although our recently installed tank is much smaller than what you have installed, we still use this water for drinking, cooking and washing.

It's just a pity that things (the water levels) have got sooo bad before they (the higher powers) have realised (tooooo late) that there just isn't enough storage for peoples (increasing - due to higher population) use.
All areas (from the cities to the country) have grown - but have they taken that into account - I don't think so!!!
:-) Lee

When I moved to my present location I installed 3 poly tanks of various sizes even though town water is connected. Grey (shower water ) ends up in the garden through poly ag pipes underground . It is nowhere near expensive to do as some TV shows would have you believe and with a bit of forethought very simple. Any overflow from the tanks is also routed through the gardens before leaving the yard. Bottom right in the photo.
Its very comforting to know I have enough stored water to keep my gardens alive for 6 months if needed.
(1/2 acre, natives and ornamentals)
Holty....

g'day friends,

when i found this forum, i thought you beauty fantasamogirical, like winning lotto but then i quickly relaised that apart from this small section here the rest of the site is contributors only, and boy doesn't that limit the passing around of what might be termed intellectual information. so wondering what the purpose is if that is where this section will eventually be taken? like being exclusinve hey?

surely there is another way? as there are a lot of us who barely afford to pay for the internet (prices here in oz a very high by my reckoning), so any other outgoing just can't be borne.

suppose i'll be getting a big slap on the wrist for this post.

anyhow 'nuff for now.

len

Hello Aussie Green Thumbs,
May be a long shot but does any one have a Chinese Date (Jujube) growing?
I am needing advice on planting from seed. I had eight seeds now zero with zero success. I even tried pla
cing seed in food storage area of fridge for sixty to ninety days without success. I say with out success as there are still four seeds in pots which to my reckoning should have seen the light of day by now.

Thanks Bazza

g'day bazza,

i don't know the plant you talk of but wonder if some of the tricks used to get natives to germinate might help. also i have had exotic fruit seeds take over a year to germinate, just how it is it seems. sometimes to keep moisture stable you mayn need to cover seed pot/try with clear glass sheet or plastic, then some need dark until they strike. some people put the seeds in peat moss and keep that moist until the germinate or sprout.

have you though of scarifying the seed ie.,. pour boiling water over them and let them sit and soak for 24 hours? or (depending on seed size) rub one side along some emery paper, shave some shell off one side with a blade cutter, all these are good with seeds that have very hard shells.

but sometimes you have to try different ways and just wait and wait.

let us know your results

len

http://www.gardenlen.com/

To Gardenlen,
I am a brand newbie to this site and like you were in heaven to see so much information available to me and like you I was a little taken aback when I found out I needed to be a paying subscriber to be able to contribute to certain forums, but I am thankful that the oz forum is free, I certainly don't think I would be a member if there was a cost involved, I hope as you do that this will remain a forum that does not require a paid subscription but, and there is always a but, I understand that there is a cost involved in the management and upkeep of a site such as this one, perhaps we may get lucky, until then we can exchange "intellectual property" without a monetary hangover.

g'day tropical13,

the potential is here but i relay think it could fizzle out.

the subscription thingy locks us who can't afford it out of sharing knowledge with others on other sections within this forum, and for them also they will be like an exclusive club just a few chatting to each other, that can be limiting on the broadening of knowledge and the sharing of knowledge.

i'll bide my time here for a bit but nothing much is happening to date.

probably if this section does take off then the pressure of fees will be bought to bare.

len

Hi Tulloch 52,
I live in Townsville and have a few of the fruit trees you mentioned, I have 2 questions if you can help, I have a seagrape that has been in the ground about 3 years, it is growing very well and is a very interesting and attractive tree, but can you tell me when I might expect fruit?
Secondly I would like to plant and ice cream bean but am sitting on the fence, can you tell me what the friut is like and what you do with it, do you eat it straight off the tree or have you used it cooking?
Thanks.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2006 4:08 AM

Hi all, a Sydneyite here - don't hold it against me. Am very into Queen of the Night plants and general patio plants. Has anyone every seen a Queen of the Day the picture is what that plant is. Would love to have some thoughts on it. Its blooms during the day and the leaves are different to the Queen of the Night.
Happy gardening

Hi all, Alistair. Spend most of my DG time in the Brugmansia forum, but have been meanig to drop by here! Live near Nowra on NSW S coast.

I am on the northern tablelands of NSW - happy new year from a new member - found you just in time
can anyone tell me how I can find a porcelain berry climber - ampelopsis glandulosa

I have the Aussie Plant Finder for 2002, and it lists a NSW nursery as selling two varieties of Ampelopsis glandulosa.
The nursery is:
Parr's Nursery,
1382 Bermagui Road,
Cobargo,
NSW 2550

Telephone: 02 6493 6795

and they are listed as including mail order, so although my book is out of date, it might be worth giving them a try,

Ken

I got a surprise when I tried to post an answer to someone in another forum ,and found I had to be a paid subscriber ....I'm not sure if I'm 'allowed' to tell anyone here -- -- there is a really good gardening forum and discussions on a NZ site ; several Australian gardeners join in the discussions ,as well as contributors from America ,South Africa,England ,Belgium .Photos and stories of gardens - joys and sorrows.....You might like to try 'Mooseyscountrygarden.com' and it could be what you are looking for , which is not available here. I write with name of Dixie.on it.
Emelle.
The rose is my Tamora

Hello All - I live in Darwin, so half the year is a wall of water and the other half is a drought! I was used to gardening in a small courtyard garden in Adelaide before coming here - so the contrast still amazes 8-) I miss roses and the cottage garden at times, but now I am more used to the tropics, I find my present garden a great pleasure.

Hello all, we are in beautiful Mount Crosby - on the semi-rural western fringe of Brisbane city (Qld), so we on level 4 water restrictions.

Fortunately, being on acreage, we have on-site recycled water going to our 'ornamental' gardens, but that can't be used on anything edible or near our children's play area, so we are also having to bucket-water those plants and trees. (Truth be known, our kids actually love watering-can-watering!)

The state govt. is offering a 50/50 rebate on water-saving plants and mulches at the moment, so we topped up on sugar-can mulch bales whilst that is still on offer. Locally, we pay about $8 per bale and our gardens presently take over 17 bales just to top up - and we still haven't finished landscaping!

Does anyone know where (or how) you can order the really large 'rolls' of sugar cane mulch from in Brisbane?

Hello all,
I'm also up north of Townsville, in a little rural village south of Ingham. A special hello to my close neighbours Annette68 and Tropical3.
I check out the forums index to find those to which we unsubscribed can post. Look for those without the symbol (*) following the forum name. There are a few there and I suppose the experience is what we make of it.
However, it is a pity that the internet has been so colonised by commercial interests over the years, rather than the free exchange of knowlege and ideas which was an early ideal of the academic community.

Hi TropicalNorth,
great to hear from a fellow NQ'er, I love this site and the wealth of knowledge shared, I love to garden, I don't particuarly know what I'm doing all the time, but the commitment is there!;-)
Hope all is well south of Ingham, at the moment we are relishing an abundance of barbados cherry, tropical guava and the odd mulberry, yum!

Hi, I guess I'll represent SA!! From Adelaide. Just moved into a house and started the front garden. Sort of going for the cottage look with drought tolerant (of course) plantings. Anything that says Mediterranean or S. Africa are a big hit here. We're still on Level 3 restrictions surprisingly but are being threatened with level 4 or 5 if May doesn't bring rain. Such a worry but can't feel too sorry for myself when farmers are in far more serious strife. Anyway, would love to hear from anyone and everyone about how your gardens are tuffing it out and would love recommendations on tough, cottage plants!!!

Howdy, Great to hear from all the North Queenslanders, what a mad part of the world around Townsville et al. Variety of landuse is spectacular. I'm in the middle of Sydney now and hope somone can tip me off about my pumpkins - it all looks good til they go soft at the size in the pic. We're getting deluged with rain this week and wish we could spread it around. All the large containers are full and the garden is green, even a sort of lawn. I have a block beside the hose which is our backyard, there is access to the street and would love any tips about offerring my land to those around me to use for gardening.

sounds like you're thinking about a community garden. What a wonderful idea! I think first thing is finding out who might be interested in having a patch of land to "play" with and then you'll know how many hands you'll have to get stuck into it. Good luck and here's to a happy, wet winter!!!

Hi there, new to this site. I am near Armidale NSW. :-)

Hi jules ,

Welcome .

Any rain lately ?

Thanks Holty.. A few drops today. lol. But nothing to speak of.

Where are you based.?

North Woodburn . If you are interested just type holtys into any seach engine . Google , Yahoo, MSN any one you use .

You must have got some rain over the last few days ?

John...

Me in the back yard

Here am I in Adelaide, it's RAINING, It's RAINING! Sorry, got a little over excited. I moved into a new house in October last year, just in time for a very hot & nasty summer, so I am only now getting around to doing some serious garden work. When I moved in, the lovely heavy Adelaide clay soil was like concrete in the borders, and the back yard is wall to wall buffalo grass (YUCK!) The bones are there - I have a nice bottlebrush, a beautiful double hibiscus, a lovely dense melaleuca, a pear, a plum amd a big fig tree - all the rest is grass, except for a peculiar pseudo rockery up the back of the garden, which was bare earth until the rains started and is now hosting a luxurious carpet of soursobs (oxalis). O frabjous day!

Into this not very much-ness, I moved a large collection of potted bulbs, cacti, other succulents, and assorted odd xerophytes and caudiciforms (a good couple of thousand assorted plants) and I have spent the last six months trying to beat that lot into submission, relocating and shifting, re-potting and getting up at dawn to get enough water on to keep things alive for another week, before the 8am curfew. Thank goodness that is over, at least, I will post some pics later on as there is not much to see until the new transplants settle in and get going.

I would like to join with others in hoping that this forum will take off, and be well used. I have noticed that there has been some comment about the need to subscribe, in order to use all of the features of the website, and i too, felt this way at the beginning. After lurking for a while however, I tried out the trial sub ($5 for two months) and I am planning to renew for the year as I have certainly gotten my money's worth. After all $19.95 US is only about $25 australian and most annual magazine subscriptions cost more than that, and they don't give you the pleasure of interacting with so many genuinely nice people.

I am an invalid pensioner with a very small discretionary income after food and rent, and I find most of my spare money goes into my garden, in some form or another - I would much rather pay for DG than go out to the movies or buy a meal in a restaurant. I hope this will give others food for thought and I would be pleased if anyone here would like to visit my DG homepage.

http://davesgarden.com/members/Kaelkitty/ All the best for now, Jacq (AKA Kaelkitty)

PS: As a gardener of limited means I am very interested in exchanges and swaps - please feel free to contact me by d-mail if you would like to exchange plants or seeds. I am enclosing a photo of my Agave collection taken about 6 weeks ago. So far It is the only part of the garden that I am "happy" about, because everywhere else still needs major work, LOL! Thankyou.

Hello Kaelkitty again!! Glad to read more about your adventures!! And kudos for putting the subscription price into better perspective. I too have tried it for a couple of months and will most likely go ahead and join for the year. Really great info available and it's been great to have my mystery plants i.d.'ed so quickly and accurately!!

I'm more into cottage type gardening. I have a few succulents and of course I always look for drought tolerant plants too. Basically, if I like it, I'll find a way to acquire it. I'm patient and can buy the small seedling version instead of the more mature, instant gratification thing.

I found a few great plant sales at open gardens this autumn. Worth going to!! Hope to hit more this spring.

I'll check out your homepage and once again - WELCOME!!!