SubTropical Queensland Open Garden

January 2012 Garden News

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:44:00 +0000

January started off very dry then came one of the worst heat waves I can remember. It really affected the garden and all plants and lawns were stressed out from the heat.

I started to wonder if we were going to have a January without rain.

Then behold the clouds came and well and truly opened and dumped over 400mm (16 inches) of wonderful rain.

All our tanks are now completely full (107,000 litres) and because the rain had been constant without any real heavy downpours the sub soil was able to receive the moisture.

It’s all good news.

I attended an ‘Open Gardens Australia’ meeting at Kenmore and offered to have the next meeting at our house where there’s plenty of room.

Next month starts to get very busy with three bus tours coming here.

The beehive gingers are quite spectacular this month; they one of my favourite plants.

The black lily grub is a pest at the moment; they love Hippeastrums, Cliveas and Crinums. I have to spray all of these plants with a systemic insecticide otherwise nothing would be left.

We were very lucky to see John and Genny Catlans Amorphophallus titanium prior, flowering and after. This was probably the only time we will get to see this wonderful plant in flower.

I also finished the retaining wall, what a shocking job, the worst part was removing the old vertical sleepers with a crowbar.

At the end of the month Channel 10s ‘Totally Wild’ came here to film and it was all about the garden and our grand children. We are looking forward to seeing the segment in the next couple of months.

Amorphophallus titanum 'Corpse Plant

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:27:00 +0000

We consider ourselves very lucky to have seen this magnificent plant in flower here in South East Queensland.
The growers are our friends John and Genny Catlan who are the best plant people we know, what they do not know about propagation is not worth printing.
We travelled in torrential rain and traffic jams to see this plant in flower and believe me it was well worth it.
A truly magnificent plant.
The measurements at flowering were 2.1 metre high and 1.2 metres wide.

There was not a lot of smell as it was pouring with rain but if you got close boy did it stink of rotten flesh.
By the way that's me holding my nose and at the bottom is John Catlan with his baby.
The flower lasted from the Tuesday morning until Saturday.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/01/26/385191_gold-coast-news.html

Garden News December 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:38:00 +0000

Judy and I hope all our blog readers had a great Christmas and we wish one and all the best for the coming year.

The year 2012 looks like it’s going to be another busy year with garden presentations and bus trips already booked.

Since we opened we have bought two car loads of new plants and I have refurbished two gardens, taking out some common plants and putting in rare gingers ect.

Next year will be the last year we will open with ‘Australia’s Open Gardens’ it will be our 11^th consecutive year and it’s getting very hard to find help as a lot of our friends are quite frankly getting old.

We still intend to open for bus tours and garden clubs; we do have to charge a small $2 dollar admission fee to pay for the public liability insurance that we have to take out.

I am replacing the old retaining wall in the front driveway at the moment; it’s over 20 years old and is looking its age. The hardest part of the job is getting the old upright sleepers out of the ground, it’s a crowbar job chipping away at the old cement, painful but it has to be done.

My new mower is brilliant, mows in half the time, well worth while getting.

After exhausting virtually all our rainwater prior to the open garden we have now had some good rain and the tanks are again filling.

The sweet smother turf I planted in all the shady spots has took off and it’s great to finally see green lawn in areas that have been barren for years.

Mr Possum is back for the mango crop.

All the best and happy gardening for 2012.

November Garden News 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:04:00 +0000

November is of course our busiest and biggest month as we open our garden for two days to garden lovers through ‘Australia’s Open Gardens’.

This year was our 10^th opening.

The weather was not kind to us this year as we have had no rain and very hot temperatures for almost four weeks leading up to the opening, in fact it has been the driest November since records began.

We just watered and watered almost using our 107,000 litre storage, amazingly the garden actually looked very good and colourful.

The highlights were the Caladium and Day Lily showing. See Caladium video. http://youtu.be/2C6z8HOiAuE

We had some very good publicity leading up to the opening especially from the Brisbane
'Courier Mail', a three page spread, that’s unheard of.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/life/whatson/ian-and-judy-wintles-giving-garden-open-to-public-this-weekend-in-birkdale/story-fn8zvh1s-1226197878376

Family and friends start to arrive early to help us during the two days, without this help we could not do it.

The Saturday of the opening was hectic with people ready to come through the gate at 8.30am, these were the plant lovers who know Judy has some rare and well looked after plants for sale.

We also had two busloads arrive, one from Bribie and another from Bundaberg.

The caterer’s did a great job and all Saturday it was hard to find an unoccupied space.

Sunday was also a good day but steady throughout the day.

Overall we received more than 1000 visitors (a record attendance), all of whom enjoyed the garden, with nothing stolen and no damage to the garden.

The caterers made almost $2000 for their Church and the raffle raised $1200 for disabled sport.

We will do it once more and then have a break as it is so much hard work getting ready, then cleaning up.
We will still take bus tours through the garden and by appointment.

After the cleanup we head up the coast for a three day break at Mooloolaba, what do we do?

We visit our garden friends and come home with a car loaded with new plants.

The hot weather continued throughout November and the garden is looking dry and stressed, hopefully it will rain soon.

Courier Mail Article

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:28:00 +0000

A great article in today's Courier Mail.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/life/whatson/ian-and-judy-wintles-giving-garden-open-to-public-this-weekend-in-birkdale/story-fn8zvh1s-1226197878376
What a difficult lead up to this years Open Garden. No rain for a month and 30 degree heat almost every day. We have used up almost all our stored rainwater. The garden is looking good, not perfect but no-one who comes on the weekend should be disappointed. It's a real pity we did not have a bit of rain, I have had to waste so much time watering when I could be doing other gardening jobs and helping Judy prepare the 1000s of plants she has prepared for sale. If you want nice plants at very reasonable prices then you should visit us.

For example Bromeliads that retail for $30 are here for $10 and Blood Lilys which sell for $44.00 a bulb are just $9.00, that's just a small example.
My other web sites are to be found at:
http://www.gardenproductreviews.com/
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Ianrobert/?src=wap
Hope you enjoy the blog, I lost a lot of photos due to a Google stuff up but am slowly putting them back on.
Happy Gardening.

October 2011 in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:32:00 +0000

What a busy year it has been, I have given 17 power point presentations on 'Smart Sub Tropical Gardening' and 'A Passion for Plants' to various garden clubs in SE Queensland. We have also have hosted 12 bus tours through the garden, have I enough energy to get through an Open Garden?
October is the month when I start to plan this year’s Open Garden. I send out flyers to all Garden Clubs and leave some at local Garden Centres, libraries ect, all in all I give out over 4000 in the hope it will attract visitors for our opening, I also write to all news organisations in the hope that they may be interested, it worked last year as we appeared on Channel 7s 'Great South East' and so far this year the Courier Mail will be doing a story on 18 November, just at the right time.

Another Queensland ‘Open Garden’ Co-ordinator has resigned, they do not seem to last too long in the job, so here we are just a few weeks from opening with no-one in Queensland except me to promote our open garden, people say I do too much promotion, well if I did not do it who would?

We welcomed the 'Cordyline Society' bus trip to our garden, it was a little wet but they enjoyed the garden we also hosted the 'Redland’s Camera Club' who spent quite some time in the garden with their cameras.

I gave a presentation to the Geranium Society at New Farm and another very special presentation to preps (five year old's) at Moreton Bay Girls College, this was a very satisfying talk, I took in some fruit and some composting worms which the girls loved. The next day I received drawings by the girls of my visit.

We have had a couple of rainy days, 17mills and 27 mills, every little bit is appreciated.

The Jaboticabas are all fruiting like crazy, so much fruit.

What a year for the Hippeastrums, I have never seen them look so good.

I bought a new ride on mower and am very pleased with it.

The Day Lily's are all coming into flower, what a great plant they are.

Someone said to me regarding so called ‘Global Warming’ that one thing about the weather that we can be sure of is that next year is going to be different from this year and so on, how true.

Costus comosus

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:17:00 +0000

My favourite (out of lots) has to be Costus barbatus also known as comosus or commonly as ‘red tower’.

This Costus originates from Costa Rica and is for the most part cold tolerant but not of frost, perhaps in the really cold places it could be placed in a protected spot.

As Professor Julius Summer Miller used to say ‘why is it so’.

Well it will grow in full sun or shade but best in an understory location.

It is not fussy about type of soil it will grow in.

The leaves when stroked underneath feel like the softest velvet, and no I do not have a fetish about this plant.

When in flower it has quite large red bracts with small yellow flowers protruding, these yellow flowers are edible and have a beautiful refreshing taste.

This is the only Costus flower that actually tastes good; they are also very nice in a salad.

The red bract can last for up to six months.

It is easy to propagate either by stem cuttings or just placing a whole stem under some compost and covering otherwise you can split the rhizome.

September 2011 Garden News

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:02:00 +0000

September has been a very dry month with no rain recorded.

The garden is looking very dry, thank goodness we have 107,000 litres of backup water in our tanks, and we just could not continue gardening if we did not have these, OK, it cost a lot to put in seven tanks but we think it’s been worth it.

I suppose I had better get my ‘great big gripe’ off my chest first. Mr Google has deleted all my blog photos, that’s going back about four years, this is so disappointing as a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment out of my blog. They also deleted the photos from my ‘garden products review’ site with is bad especially when I have to pay for that domain name. Anyway I will put some of the photos back on when I get a spare minute.

How did I ever go to work?

Spring has arrived and the Hippeastrums are looking magnificent and although it is dry I believe the garden will be at its very best for our opening on 19^th and 20^th November.

Every day I seem to do some sort of improvement to the garden, whether it’s a new pot or a new planting or even a change in the position of a plant, there’s always lots to do.

Bayside Garden Club asked me to give a presentation at very short notice, I did not mind as they are a great club, very vibrant with lots of new members, as usual first time talk is ‘Smart Sub Tropical Gardening’, then if they want me back its ‘A passion for plants’.

Our second presentation was to the ‘Jimboomba Garden Club’, this was different as it was held in the evening, again a nice club who appreciated us taking the time to come out to them.

Judy and I both have this rotten flu that’s going around, it seems to stick around forever.

In between all this I have found time to paint the lounge/dining area and rip up all the old carpet from the four bedrooms ready for new wool carpet.

Published Article in Open Garden Magazine 2011-12

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:45:00 +0000

Gardening Australia Article

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:43:00 +0000

We ended up being runners up.

Lost Photos, here's some ideas what to do with Mr Google

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:21:00 +0000

Only joking of course, but I am very upset that all my blog photos have been deleted by Google, so much work lost and history. What a stuff up.

Apology

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:08:00 +0000

I seem to have a photo problem with my blog.
Every photo I have put on has disappeared and has been replaced with a black square with an exclamation mark.
I am trying to find out how this has happened and why and if it can be fixed (hopefully).
It seems the fault lies with Google and 100s of blogs have been affected, I am trying to get some sense out of them but with such a large conglomerate it's difficult.
If nothing works then I will try and re post most of the lost pictures.
I have put some pictures on the last blog entry and some on 'Garden Product Reviews', All my photos have gone from blog forever thank you Mr Google for nothing.
'Bloody Google'.
Ian

Garden News August 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 06:09:00 +0000

August has been an especially busy month. It started off with a presentation at ‘Ormiston Garden Club’ this is a local club and as usual were well received.

Then we had a full bus load visit from ‘Caloundra Garden Club’ and the next day a visit from ‘Clayfield-Ascot garden Club’.

Both lots of visitors enjoyed the garden.

Then the following week we drove to Mount Tamborine to attend an ‘Australia’s Open Gardens’ selector’s meeting then the launch of the 2011-2012 season. I spoke about opening our garden.

Next was a presentation to ‘Oxley Garden Club’.

Then the following week, a presentation to ‘The Gap Garden Club’, it was a shocking drive into the Gap as it was wet and peak hour traffic.

I actually also found time to visit the ‘Brisbane Boat Show with my son.

At the end of the month I attended the ‘Cordyline Society’ meeting and won three nice plants in the raffle.

After all that I still found time to prune all six Custard Apple trees, mulch what I could and take the rest to the dump.

I also trimmed some large overhanging gum branches and one really big one I had to get a tree guy in to cut that down. Cut a load of old mother bromeliads and started to paint the house.

We had some good and needed rain at the end of the month, just in time for spring.

Garden is looking good at the moment and should present well when we open on 19^th and 20^th November.

July 2011 garden news

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:35:00 +0000

Dry, dry and still dry back to the usual drought conditions again. No rain for the last two months and the garden is showing it. I am spending too many hours with a hose in my hand watering when I have so much else to do.

I have decided to start renovating our house and so far one en-suite done, two bedrooms, laundry and toilet painted and lot’s more to do.

We went to the Nambour Garden Show and spent three days staying at Mooloolaba, it was a nice break away and of course we came home with a car full of plants.

We had a full bus load of visitors from ‘The Gap Garden Club’ and’ Mount Gravatt Garden Club’, we also travelled to the ‘Donnybrook Garden Club’ where I gave a presentation. I tell them ours is a summer garden and a lot of plants are dormant at the moment, that does not seem to deter them and they still enjoy it.

With all the visitors we have now taken out a public liability insurance ‘just in case’.

The gum trees are flowering at the moment and I have never seen so many seeds and white flowers in my life, everything is covered with this fine white flower.

I am still doing a little bit in the garden but want to take the opportunity to do up the house before we start getting ready for this year’s ‘Open Garden’.

Speaking of ‘Open Garden’ I have had a four page article published in the ‘Open Garden’ guide for this coming season, I must admit I am quite chuffed being published.

June 2011 Garden New's

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

June was a fairly quiet month in the garden, mainly trimming and pruning jobs.

The biggest job was trimming the four Carambola trees. I really took the saw to them this year as I want to keep their size down in future as I am not getting any younger and I don’t want to have to climb to high to trim them in future.

I will be doing the same with the Custard Apples in August.

I gave my ‘Passion for Plants’ presentation to Stafford Garden Club and ‘Smart Sub Tropical Gardening’ to the Redlands Horticultural Society, both were well received.

We have a very busy couple few weeks coming up with four bus tours and five presentations. It’s a bit disappointing to have the bus tours visit us in mid winter as our garden is a summer garden, but if they see it now they may want to come back for the ‘Open Garden’.

I have started a bathroom renovation and have ripped out all fixtures, tiles and concrete floor, all ready for the tiler to come and do his bit, it’s been a big dirty and heavy job and I am pleased my part is finished.

Very little rain during June so we have had to do quite a lot of watering also it has been one of the coldest winters for some time and the tropical plants are starting to show the signs of cold.

I had a delivery of ‘sweet smother’ turf and laid it in those areas which now receive too much shade for couch to grow.

Judy is having a big clean out of her Neo bromeliads as she has far too many and there were still a few bales of sugar cane mulch to spread.

My eldest son Scott and his partner Eliza gave us a Grand Son this month, a healthy 3.9 kilo boy named Luke Robert

May 2011 Garden News.

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 06:46:00 +0000

It’s been a very busy month. Judy had her second knee replacement done in the beginning of the month so she has been out of action since then, the operation seems to have been successful as the pain level is now below than prior to operation.

While Judy was in hospital I gave presentations to ‘Springdale’ and ‘Elanora Garden clubs, I won’t be going back to the latter as they failed to cover my petrol costs.

When I give my presentations I can spend a whole day away and travel up to 100 kilometres, all I expect are my expenses, no more, if they can’t do that then they don’t deserve a speaker.

I also gave a presentation to ‘Russell Island’ garden club; it’s a little club on one of the Bay Islands that does not get any speakers so it’s good to help them out this way.

Our Grand-Daughter ‘Sophie’ had her second Birthday on the 16^th.

Scott and Eliza should have another addition to their family on 4 June if all goes well.

I have of course been doing a lot of housework this month but have still found time to spread more sugar cane mulch and cut back some fruit trees.

The garden is still looking good; it’s grown so much this summer with rain almost every week.

We are looking forward to the Nambour Garden Expo and are going to have a bit of a break for three days at Mooloolaba.

I found this at our local markets and having a bit of fun with the 'body'.

April 2011 Garden News

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:07:00 +0000

What a busy gardening month it has been and poor Judy has really struggled with her crook knee.

Judy goes into Hospital early May for her second knee replacement, ‘bloody rheumatoid’.

The month started off with a trip to Logan Village Garden Club for a presentation, then to the Plant Society at New Farm for the same presentation.

I thought about going to the ABC Garden Expo but after the last few which were mediocre I decided to give it a miss.

Next came bus trips from Logan City and Kilcoy Garden Clubs, these were both good as they stayed long enough to see all the garden.

Scott, Eliza and Sophie went to Townsville for the Australian Disabled Water Ski titles and he returned home with four GOLD medals, we are very proud of Scott’s achievements.

To end the month I gave a presentation to Eagleby Garden Club, it was great as I has spoken there a few years ago prior to setting up my power point display, they treated us like celebrities, and it was nice to be appreciated.

In the garden things are starting to slow down as winter approaches. I have started to trim some of the trees and basically just carried out maintenance on the garden plus of course some new plantings.

Now is of course the time to mulch the garden, I started off with 50 bales of sugar cane mulch but soon ran out, just waiting for the next delivery.

One thing that struck me is that since retiring I need to keep a personal diary something I never did while working.

How to make a pot water feature

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:46:00 +0000

Water features are always an interesting and attractive addition to your garden.

They are easy to set up once you have chosen the pot that suits you and your garden.

Don’t worry if the pot has holes in it as they can easily be filled with strong filler.

Obviously you must have a large enough clay pot that will keep the water cool enough during our hot summer so the fish do not boil.

My smallest pot contains about 150 litres of water.

The first job is to hose out the inside to get rid of any loose particles.

Then the pot must be sealed, my preference is for water based bitumen paint, I give the pot two coats within two days then leave to dry for a minimum of 10 to 14 days.

There are a number of sealers you can use, just visit your local hardware store for a selection.

Use tap water not rain water as tap water contains more mineral content, then use a chlorine neutralizer and a pond conditioner, I use a product from a pet store called ‘blackwater’, basically it ages water..

I then place a besser block on the base with the holes free for fish to shelter and place the water plant pot on this.

Cover the dirt in the pot with loose gravel as this will stop the dirt from making the water cloudy.

Do not use organic soil, use pure dirt.

Put your fish in and a bit of waterweed and you have a beautiful feature in your garden.

I collect my fish from a local creek and they are very hardy and learn to live on mosquito larvae and any other insect that falls into the pot.

You will probably need to clean out the pot every couple of years so there’s not a lot of maintenance.

If you are in Queensland depending on height of pot you may need to make it cane toad proof.
http://www.gardenproductreviews.com/
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March garden news 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:55:00 +0000

It has been a very busy month in the garden. The garden has had to be in virtually ‘open garden’ condition for the whole month as we have had a stream of visitors through.

First to visit were Aspley Garden Club unfortunately they were running late and left within half an hour, this was extremely disappointing as they did not have enough time to see the garden. We provided morning tea which was probably a mistake as a lot of them did not get out from under the back patio, the visit left me very frustrated.

On the following Sunday the Gold Coast Bromeliad Society visited, stayed for the afternoon and really enjoyed the garden. Then on the following Saturday Judy and I drove down to the Gold Coast to give a presentation to their club. My presentation was exceptionally well received and we were very impressed with this club’s organisation. It was also good to see John and Jenny Catlin at the meeting.

A bus load from Indooroopilly/Kenmore Garden Club visited and thank goodness they stayed for the whole morning and were able to enjoy every bit of the garden, we also provided tea and coffee, they bought some homemade cake with them. This was a visit we enjoyed.

So much to do in the garden as it had to be in tip top condition seeing how we have had three bus tours through this month and with all the rain we have had everything is growing very fast and there’s lots of trimming and pruning to be done.

I finally took all the horizontal beams down from the shade houses as they were cca treated and were poisoning the plants, it was a very difficult job but well worth doing.

This is so true.

I had 25 square metres of ‘Sweet Smother’ grass delivered to be laid in a couple of shady areas, the previous load of this grass has been a real success.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Ianrobert/?src=wap

My youtube videos

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:08:00 +0000

This is the link to videos I have put on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/IanrobertW

Garden news for February 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:49:00 +0000

Another great month weather wise as just enough (140 mills) fell during the month, what a relief it is not to have to spend hours each day watering.

I gave my new presentation( A passion for Plants) to 'Glebe Garden Club on what was probably the hottest day of summer, it must of been 50c inside the hall.

Judy and I had two very bad weeks where we caught a virus and just could not do anything other than rest and get to know the porcelain bowl extremely well; we have both recovered and are back in the garden.

We were let down by the Open Garden Co-ordinater who promised us she would visit on 21^st, but she never came and did not let us know. After nine years and always good numbers of visitors we have NEVER had a Co-ordinator visit our garden and yet they are the ones who are supposed to promote your garden. Good job I do a lot of the promotion myself I say.
On 22^nd we had visitors from ‘Tambourine Mountain Garden Club’ and what a nice lot of people they were, they enjoyed the garden and we enjoyed having them.

On 28^th we hosted a bus trip from ‘Green Park Garden Club’, this was a little different from previous club as quite a few were just content to sit under the back patio, I think a lot of the members were just on a social outing. No one gave us any feedback unless asked, and only then did they said how great the garden was.

I took out some heliconias that have never flowered and had been told they never will and a few other plants that were past their use by date.

Next month we will go up to the Sunshine Coast and restock from Maureen Simons nursery, looking at more beehive gingers, torch gingers, costus and heliconias.

Maureen is writing a book on gingers, heliconias and costus, it will be an identification guide and a guide to growing. I will be most defiantly getting a copy as I consider her to be the expert on tropical plants in this part of the country. For anyone that is interested her web site is as follows: http://www.towenmounttropicals.com.au/grow.html

Don’t forget to check http://www.gardenproductreviews.com/ and of course my photo album found at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Ianrobert/?src=wap

Garden News January 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:41:00 +0000

After six weeks of almost continual rain with over one metre of rain falling, it’s now been over 30c for several weeks with very high humidity.

Not good gardening weather.

We were very fortunate not being affected by the Brisbane floods or Cyclone Yasi.

I think one Cyclone in a lifetime is enough as we were in Darwin when Cyclone Tracy ripped through.

We are hoping for rain soon as the heat is drying out the gardens so we are going to have to start watering the gardens very soon.

With the rain and the heat I have not done much in the way of gardening during January.

There’s been lots of growth and a fair bit of cutting back and trimming to do, plus having to mow the lawns almost every week.

I have taken out a couple of Heliconias that have not flowered and now have some room for some new plants, looks like a trip up to Nambour to see Maureen Simons for some new gingers.

Our Swiss visitors left mid January; they had a rough time with the weather and did not do much sightseeing.

I am getting a new presentation ready for this year entitled ‘A passion for Plants’, already booked at a number of garden clubs, also quite a few bus trips coming here.

December 2010 Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:37:00 +0000

What a wet month it’s been, we have had 710 mills of rain during December, and I have to go back to the 1970s to remember rain like this.

Thank goodness I made sure that our drainage was good with plenty of outlet pipes and drains to take away excess water.

Could not do a lot of gardening as the ground has been completely waterlogged and on the few fine days I have had to mow the lawns which are growing so fast.

Everything is growing well especially the Heliconias and Gingers and even though it’s been very wet we have not lost any plants.

The Caladiums are putting on a great show (see video below).

The insects have been bad especially the black lily grub, I have had to keep a daily eye on the plants they love. I am also on the lookout for lawn grubs as they should appear soon.

We had a new back patio built as the old one was hot and leaking; this one is 50mm insulated and is above the gutter line allowing air to circulate, so far we are very happy and much cooler.

We have decided to open our garden again in 2011, it will be our 10^th successive year in the scheme, and how the garden has changed in that time. When I look back at the photos of those first few years I get embarrassed.

I would love to open in February for a change but Judy will not hear of it, pity because the garden looks really tropical at this time of year, perhaps not as colourful as in November.

We have a family visiting us from Switzerland for six weeks, mum; dad and three small boys aged 2, 4 and 6. Life has changed for Judy and I during this period.

Caladium Garden video....

November 2010 Garden News

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:27:00 +0000

What a busy time it is during the lead up to our ‘Open garden’, so much to do and of course with the cold spring things are different in the garden.

Bright points were the great show of Caladiums and Oncidium orchids that looked stunning.

On the down side leaves were dropping everywhere and no Cape York Gingers or Scadoxus ‘Blood Lilys’ were in flower

Everyone’s favourite plant was Costus vargassi, it had both base and top flowers on and combined with the segmented stem it looked stunning.

We had a gale on Saturday which ripped the roof off one of our car shelters.

The whole garden looked really good and there was plenty for everyone to see, as far as I know all 630 visitors left with a smile on their face and happy.

As usual we enlisted the help of family and friends to help us on the gate and with plant sales.

The raffle and catering raised $2000 for charity and we sold a good number of plants.

Bromeliads are so plentiful these days that it is getting very hard to get rid of them.

I was very disappointed with the ‘Open Garden Scheme’s’ publicity as the interview on morning radio 4 BC was confused with another garden, good job Colin Campbell had previously visited our garden and was able to part correct the misinformation. I was interviewed on ABC radio and promoted the garden best I could.

After it was all over, it was two days of cleaning and getting things back to normal then a relaxing few days in a unit at Mooloolaba for a very well earned rest.

No rain in November but we have plenty of water stored in our seven tanks.

Will we do it again? I think it will depend on Judy’s health as her Arthritis is not getting any better and this year was a real struggle for her.

Garden News November 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Ian) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 06:04:00 +0000

It’ been a very busy month with three bus tours through the garden.

We had Caboolture and District Bromeliad Society, Bundaberg gardeners and the Stafford garden club; I also had a garden presentation to the Royal Horticultural Society at Mt Coot-tha Botanical gardens.

With all the visitors the garden has required a lot of upkeep; I suppose it will mean less work to prepare for Open garden coming up in a few weeks time.

Judy and I celebrated our 42^nd Wedding anniversary this month, and became grand-parents for the second time to a little premature baby girl named Charlotte; she spent three weeks in hospital but is now home with her loving parents.

I have delivered 4500 open garden flyers to every club and nursery I could find, what with that and the channel 7s ‘The Great South East’ we should have a good ‘Open Garden’ and Channel 10 will be doing an outside broadcast here for the weather on Thursday 18 November.

The garden is looking good, greener than ever, only problem is the Custard Apples are late losing their leaves due to the cool start to spring.

The really good news is that we have had 220 mills of rain or 10 inches in October, to think this time last year we went almost seven months without any rain. It’s such a bonus not having to spend hours each day watering.

Judy and I had a nice trip up the coast and firstly going to Yandina markets, then to see Maureen Simons nursery at Nambour then finally to see Paul and Margaret Lancaster at Sunshine Coast Water gardens.

We obviously came home with a car full of plants, I was especially please to add another six Costus to my collection.

All systems go to our Open Garden, hope the weather is fine for us and that we get lots of visitors.