IN WHICH I REVISIT A FORMER TRADE.

I used to earn pennies as a gardener and am familiar with the sometimes seemingly ruthless tasks gardeners face.

.Every year for the past 4 or 5 years I have threatened to cut down, rip out, remove the wisteria. And every year, before  I’ve pruned it back to a tame and tidy twig of its former self, it flowers! And I haven’t the heart to be ruthless. Also, it’s not in a position that I can tackle without help (someone to call the paramedics if the ladder slips), so when The Man had a spare day…

This was Petrea volubilis  and Wisteria sinensis slugging it out for possession of a 20′ palm tree. Between us, we must have cut and dragged metres and metres of tangled vines. And then….drum roll….I spotted this…

Now, in non-tropical climes wisteria flowers in early-to-mid spring. September-October. Then we gardeners can sweep up the spent flowers, prune it back to short lengths of the just-flowered shoots and wait for the next year’s purple glory.

Here? It doesn’t seem to have the faintest idea of seasons and calendars! Being a softy concerning wisteria I called a halt to the savage reduction. I’ll get back up the ladder when the flowers fade. I promise!

And, having taken out some half-dead and weedy shrubs, I’ve been striking cuttings of this, that and the other to fill spaces. This means, of course, that I’ll have little pots of this, that and the other tucked in the lee of the carport til after Cyclone Season.

I took a short break to check on some glue…all good, so  here are some more yawns   gorgeous shots from my garden. With a couple borrowed from next door. Hey! I’m the water carrier so I can claim some credit!

Platycerium  Elkhorn

Borrowed from the neighbour, Heliconia rostrata, a hanging lobster claw.

The acalyphas (and other things!) are being turned into lace by “very hungry caterpillars” and an assortment of insect gourmands. For the most part, I don’t bother about it, but I do get cranky when they chew through buds of roses, lilies and tomatoes.

An un-named day lily (Hemerocallis), the last of this season. We’ll miss their sunny greetings every morning.And no, we do not eat them. Somehow, I can’t bring myself to sacrifice them to the palate!

 

Hibiscus ” Ritzy”

Over the fence again, this time for a hibiscus. Not as big and blousy as many of its kind, this has a wonderful glow, especially when the sun is low. I think I’ll get a couple and group them with this…

sometimes called a blue ginger, it’s a Dicorisandra thyrsiflora.

Getting fed up? Tough! I have more!

Yesterday, I took a load of garden trash (stuff that’s too big for the compost bin) to what our local council is pleased to call its “green waste facility.” I came home with a splendid rhinocerous!