Hello Greenfingers,
I am not from N.Z. but I would love to talk about gardening with you. I live in Alabama and love growing all kinds of plants. If you would like, I will send you pictures of my garden. Thank you.
Happy gardening,

I'm not sure where we hang out.

It would be nice to use this site to share information and skite a bit and tell about bargains, new ventures, what we did with the Number 8 wire and the baling twine.

Talk about garden-related hobbies and gardens we've visited. Remedies we've tried that worked.

All those things. And do what they've done on the Far North site - like a party-line phone where folks in the wilds of Canada/Alaska stop by at least once a week to chat about life, the universe and everything.

We don't have a plant exchange section, which is a shame. There's only so much one can grow for school galas and plant fairs and so on. After that it would be good to swap with other gardeners - so long as we weren't trans-shipping pests around the country. (Free Old Man's Beard, anyone???!!)

I'd be willing to stop by once a week to natter - and folk from Alabama are welcome, too. I find it's useful to hear about how folk in similar zones cope with the extremes we rarely have.

Anyone else up for sharing?

Hi Ribman and Vetivert,

That sounds like a great idea! It'd be good to natter 'bout things in general - one thing I'm intriged with is that others in Z9 have completely diferent problems!!!! Here was I thinking that z9 refered to temperatures and hence everyone would have similar climates...oh well, I'm still learning! As for trading plants - Wandering Jew or kikuyu grass anyone???
This is our first home and the first garden that I've been able to tinker with and do what I want with, so I would be really keen on garnering ideas from others, as well as trading (within NZ of course)to add to my collection!

Regards to you all,
GF

Sounds like a good gardening combination - shade and sun.

Any schemes in mind? I'm just learning to 'compose garden pictures'. Up to now it's been serendipity all the way. You know, if it grows in full sun it will probably go with... Now, though, I'm thinking about 'and when that finishes this will fill in and change the mood to...' All I need is a smock and a beret and I can kid myself I'm arty!

Went in to the local Warehouse yesterday. Spring Cyclamen at 20c each and a couple of Guzmania at a dollar each. Now I'm wondering how to plant up the bromeliads so I can get them inside for over winter. I have a snow-prone hill very close by which makes for an interesting microclimate.

Just gave away a small bunch of Camellia seedlings to a passing friend. He'd been to load up with a baker's dozen of bluberry bushes from a mate's place. Big plants. Good thing friend has a lifestyle block.

Is spraying successful on kikuyu? Paraquat used to be great on tradescantia but relentless weeding is good, too. The bane of my life and garden are the hydrocotyles - and if you haven't got them - GREAT!

We've had a good season for tuis and kererus so far, and the Clematis paniculata has been rampant. Same for you?

This afternoon's project is a drystone wall/kerbing. I thought about putting Lewisias in the crevices but I don't think the site will get enough sun. Those new Cyclamen will probably fit in behind, though. A little rummage in the potted up but not rehomed collection will turn up a few other treats, I'm sure.

Back to the great outdoors. Catch you later.

Did you see tonights news about the storm going through Hamilton last night? I knew it was rough here, but had no idea it was so bad! I live out the west side of Hamilton (~30 min away from where the worst damage was) and we had thunder, lightning and a howling gale...fully expected to find a very flat garden this morning. Shame about the glass houses at the Hamilton Gardens - they were looking really good last week.

I have to keep on top of the kikuyu - roundup works but needs regular spraying....very persistant weed! It wasn't there last year but has run rampent over the last 5 months. Every time I wipe out one patch, I find another somewhere else. GRRRR. As for the WJ, we have about 500m2 planted up in native bush and the WJ is in amoungst this - it's come through the fence from the neighbours place...I'm not sure what to spray it with - roundup does not work, and anything else leaves a persistent residue in the soil which will stop seedlings growing...so it's back to pulling it up as I go.

I've only just planted a Clematis paniculata last week - it's all ready sent out HUGE long runners, no flowers just yet. Though our Kauris and Cabbage Trees are going nuts - the kauris are running rampant and starting to self-shed their lower branches. Sniff, sniff..my babies are growing up! Looks like it's going to be a stunning flowering season for the CT's, they've also started sending out new shoots from all over their trunks (as well as branching at their heads).

We have tuis, fantails and silver eyes around - no kereru though:( Funny season for us, our 3 kowhais have not flowered yet our neighbours have done brilliantly. Ours just went straight to leaf. Must have been a good season last year for the Karakas though, cause we have seedlings coming out our ears at the moment! Spent the morning digging up and replanting all the totara seedlings popping up in our vege garden - I never see them until I start weeding! Our totara hedge is starting to look really good though :)

My main scheme is for our road side garden (well, that's what we call it - it's a north facing garden between the house and roadside hedge), I'm trying to plant it up with orange, yellow and blue flowering plants that will survive in a garden of clay and builders rubble...over 2 years of heavy mulching is finally starting to pay off - I didn't have to do any watering there last summer!!!! Colour scheme is kinda straying though, white alyssum and penstamons have appeared, and there is now a pink erica growing too! The fruit of the persimmon and mandarin trees planted in it looked quite stunning though.

Another garden I've been scratching my head over is along our driveway - we have a steep driveway with a thin strip of garden seperating drive from neighbours place, measuring about 15 ish metres long x 20-30 cm wide, with 2 grape vines planted along it. Because of the grapes, it's only good from late autumn to nowish (grapes are just bursting into bud), i've given...

I'm listening to the sleet on the roof. The southerly's just heading through. Hasty scuttle round the garden to haul in all the 'tenders' I'd put out thinking spring had arrived. They're all shivering on the porch now.

Good old Warehouse! If they ever work out what we gardeners are after we're in trouble!

I hadn't tried it before but I find that Livingstone daisies take off from cuttings quite easily. Similar to Impatiens. Ideal for frugal gardeners!

The driveway: flower carpet roses, french lavender, rosemary? [Shear gardening...:-) ]

If you have access to a supply of untreated sawdust and put it down thickly it can slow the spread of Tradescantia, and make it easier to pull, plus building up the humus. Watch out for the native Paraphanta snails, though. They seem to like the WJ. (Little, flat, dark brown with blueish coloured bodies.)

I haven't noticed anything from the cabbage trees except the annual leaf drop. Same up the bush - heaps of beech leaves and hinau flowers all over the place. A check to do tomorrow - buds on the Cordylines and yummy scents to follow.

I don't think I could be strict about following a planting scheme, either. Maybe one day, when I'm up to putting a house into a 'setting'. Meanwhile, I'm having lots of fun finding out about different species and how they perform. I've only got a couple of Penstemons. I like the dwarf and dainty ones best. They seem to be just as heat resistant as the biggies.

Catch you later and hope the storm passes you by this time, too.

I got frosted.

The Wisteria buds look like old willow catkins. The white azaleas are all delicate brown, dry, papery. The first leaves on the persimmon are blackened. The Cinerarias are Mush. The struggling vireya got scorched.

On the plus side; the Amelanchier has stayed in flower longer than usual, and some of the mid season daffodils are doing well. Under cover the Lithops are nearly through with changing their 'skins' and some of the other cacti are starting to bud up.

There are flowers on the strawberries - and they're undercover, so my beaked associates can look but not snack! I may even get a small feast, this year. Most years I'm much slower than the early bird!

Next minor project - composing a planter for the Guzmanias. They've all got puppies (awww).

One day soon, when I'm feeling rich, I shall acquire some more frost cloth for those 'sensitive' areas and plants. More action, less sniffling.

Catch you later.

Hello!

Sorry I haven't got replied back sooner - been struck down with the dreaded flu bugs!

That cold snap was a ripper wasn't it? Sorry you got frosted, I know I was going 'round with newspaper for all my wee ones,just in case. I've found newspaper works just as well as frost cloth - a heck of a lot cheaper and when it gets ripped and soggy it goes on the compost heap! We got mainly high winds and torrential downpours instead of frosts so all my veges now look like they are growing horizontally instead of vertically!

Can't wait for strawberry season - they are fattening up nicely, but like you I have had to cover them from the birds. The apple tree and currents are all in flower so looking forward to a fantastic harvest this year!

I never realised how invasive natursiums (sp?) can be - they're putting on a fantastic show but smothering so much out, even growing across the lawn - hubby has threatened to put them on the list of plants I'm not allowed to grow!

You can grow lithops!!!?? I love them but have given up after many deaths - many of my cacti are all in bud too! I love being able to bring cacti inside whenever they're in flower, much more 'conversational' than the 'normal' flowers!

Most of the discounted bulbs I got from The Warehouse have all got healthy green shoots showing - some are even flowering which is a nice surprise. Except for that the flowers are opening at ground level so the slugs and snails are having a field day! Hopefully next year the display will be slightly higher :)

Walking around the garden last night, I saw so many little weed seedlings popping up - hopefully my flu decides to clear up soon so I can get outside - typical, now that it's settled weather, I can't spend time outside!

Hope all's well with you!

I've been out on the trail of the vanishing Hostas. Touch wood, I don't get troubled by snails, but I'd forgotten I'd moved several and I've been looking anxiously in the place where I last had them. Oops!

Agree: a great year for apple blossom. I wonder what Hughie has lined up for later...(Typical gloomy gardener!!)

An innocent lamb over on the main forum wanted to know how to move bark mulch onto a big expanse of garden. The consensus was for tarp and bucket. Oh, well do I remember trying to shovel the stuff off the trailer. Gave up. Got the rake and a pair of gloves.

Sorry to hear the 'flu's caught you. It's so miserable - and the weeds Know.

I have this scheme in mind for a summer planting - in a discreet spot: dark marigolds and pink petunias. I've been busting to be outrageous since last year!

Like you, I'm enjoying my Warehouse bulbs - and the rescues. They're doing very nicely at the moment.

I'm also looking forward to putting in Impatiens. I like the way they glow in the shady places and ask little more than regular water.

Lithops: querulous little items. Shall I? Shan't I? but they're nearly into their new leaves so perhaps it's safe to water them again. They're as bad as Sanseviera for hanging on through a drought.

Agree on the Nasturtiums. Thugs. But I really like the 'Alaska' ones with the variegated leaves.

Have you grown loofah/lufa (bath scrub) at all? I spotted some seeds, gulped at the price, keep thinking about it. I use one and they are SO dear. Even at $6 a packet, though, seeds might be the way to go for a replacement. Info welcomed.

Off now, with my bucket and fork.

Ouch! My back and arms twinges just thinking about much!!!! I have the dregs of 6cu m of mulch left to spread - the only way to do it is lots of trips with wheelbarrow and shovel!

I like your planting scheme idea, sounds very rebellious indeed! The best scheme I ever planted was orange impatients, electric blue lobelia and orange violas - very dazzling and best of all, low maintenance:)

Have never grown loofah, but yes, have gazed longingy at seeds....some of the alternative seed suppliers appearing have an interesting array of plants available, would love to splash out one day.

Not much more to report garden-wise (yet!), although the flu seems to be packing its bags, and as it's such a nice day, I'm off with my box of tissues to survey my kingdom!

Happy Hosta Hunting!

This is a sort of thankful skite: the Melaspherula survived and is in flower again. I hope it sets zillions of seeds - and I remember where I put it and don't pull it up as grass again!

That orange and blue combo sounds delicious! Well worth 'borrowing'...

Only one Hosta still to find. The rest had to rear up and shout, though. Labels. I must make labels. And for the Mertensia sibirica so I recognise it. I'm calling something in the wilds 'Mertensia' but it might be a "Green Goddess' arum which has escaped my fatal fork.

I've been planting out my Pacific Coast Iris seedlings and hoping that they'll flower for me this year. I really enjoy the surprise of them. Seldom like their parents.

Widened the hole on an ancient (relatively) concrete planter and have plans for the vireyas with an underplanting of zygocactus and support for frost cloth.

About the antique-est items in the garden are a trough that won't see sixty again, and a garden fork about the same age. I look at the items in the NZ Gardener and wonder, sometimes. Is that something I'd like to leave for a new gardener? Or would it be more like 'Aunty Alice bought us this'? (I can hear my bank balance howling in the background. Perhaps I shouldn't have entertained the thought!)

Did you have a look at the Cape gooseberry thread? lilyred's got me baffled, no doubting. Sounds like she's got a flood of whitefly - but I'm wondering whether the first flowers on the gooseberries are sterile. And how soon fruit development can be observed. Have you noticed? I've only started to observe when the papers turn brown - for obvious reasons. I'll check with Shauna, too. Several heads are much better than one on gardening conundrums!!!

Thanks for staying in touch. If we make enough traffic we might lure others into joining in - and that would be GREAT!

Yeah, I don't know what to do about lilyreds situation -I've never had any problems getting Cape Gooseberrys to set fruit and they come up like weeds here if I let any fruit drop, yummy weeds at that :) Hopefully your suggestion works, the only thing I could think of is that all the rain is keeping the pollinating bugs away.

Pulling my hair out over the spuds - they look so, mothy. Grew really well to begin with, but foliage is now all floppy and moth-eaten. Not blight (please not yet!) and the tubers are all o.k (had a sneaky dig yesterday), so hoping that they've just taken a battering with all the rain we've had.

I'm drooling at the thought of strawberries - 1st ones are just starting to show a pale red blush. Woohoo!!! Here come the bowls of strawberries and ice cream...

Spent Friday pulling out the Nasturtiums, beautiful display of colour but they were taking over my mandarins, lawn and creeping menacingly towards the house. I even forgot there was a thornless blackberry under them. Opps! poor thing. Lets hope they do not grow from roots left behind.

I was beginning to think our Kowhais had forgotten about flowering this year - nearly all others around the Waikato finished a few weeks ago, but over the weekend, our two burst into a blaze of yellow. This was much to my surprise as I'd been inspecting them regularly for flowerbuds and hadn't seen any. Ah, the wonders of nature!

Hmm, antique-est items...does a clothesline count??? When we moved in there was no clothes line - wasn't till we started clearing rubbish out that we found one carefully wrapped up in the garden undergrowth. Looked like it had been set and reset in many blocks of concrete. Very faithful though, no troubles (yet). Other than that, a concrete outhouse sink-turned-planter - it will be staying if we move! Took me too many grunts, puffs and strained muscles to try to slide it into its current place, let alone trying to move it onto a trailer!

If only I had a creative bone, I'd try to recreate some of the NZ gardener sculptures. There was a picture a few years ago of a wee goblin statue casting snails about...how appropriate! My gumboots were out in full force last night.

I drink to your proposal - here's to luring in many other N.Z (and not so N.Z) gardeners to share their trials and tribulations in the great outdoors!

Hello. I really must work out sometime what the zones mean. All I know is that when gardening programs on Australian tv show a map of where the plant they're featuring can grow, all too often there's that strip labelled marginal or forget it, and we are right in the middle. But I get the impression from some of the US forums that our little frosts here in Canberra aren't actually that impressive.
We holidayed in New Zealand about twenty years ago and dream of going back. How's the gorse? Arriving at one motel we gushed about the glorious yellow shrubs we'd seen along the highway only to be told they're considered weeds. Okay, I'm getting all nostalgic. I think I'll be getting the old photo albums out tomorrow. My husband said six rolls of film would be plenty for a four week holiday. He went through them in a week and the first thing we did on our arrival in Te Anau was look for someplace to buy more film. Yeah, I might just watch my Lord of the Rings DVD's again too.

Hi from a kiwi in Texas...

Clothes lines - oh how I'd love one of those twirly ones!
You cannot buy them here..... sad. Most people use clothes driers.

Anyways, after living in Christchurch, "The Garden City", we lived in San Diego, California for a few years. [My daughter still lives there].

Living in an apartment that faced south had more than it's fair share of challenges - nothing would survive! So outside in pots scattered all over any available space.

Being a drier climate, there were a few trials and errors like having to mist the ferns every day but overall, things grew nicely including tomatoes and beans in pots.

The one thing I didn't count on was I had brought up a Rimu bedroom suite. The sides split due to the dry air!

Moving to South Texas, near Corpus Christi, and this has had to be the biggest challenge of all. With temps regularly hitting 90oF plus, this summer 100oF plus was the norm, and with high humidity, it was an extremely challenging and tiring season.

Tomato plants are in by the end of Feb when a good part of the country is still under snow. We risk a late frost but them are the breaks as they say! By the beginning of June, the tomato sauce and relish is made - by mid-June the plants are already starting to fade rapidly due to the heat.

We have tomato plants in again now for a late crop - so far they are loaded with flowers so here's hoping!

Normally, we just plant tomatos, sweet onions, beetroot, and bell peppers though this year, we planted several different types of hot peppers. We cut our garden down by more than half as it's just too hot to get out and weed.

Growing lettuces here was a hoot. Grew nicely from seed then ran to seed - apparently it's typical due to the heat here. Most of the time, they are only US.99c a head in the store so why bother!

Water is not a problem as we have our own water well. I think had we not cut our garden back so much, we couldn't have afforded to pump the water we have used in previous years!

We grow kumara which grows like a weed here!

This year, we planted passifloras [passionfruit] so we are eagerly awaiting for the fruits to mature.

The one plant that never ceases to amaze me here, is the rose. We have a few that just keep on blooming regardless. Most are florabundas - and rejects from the home improvement store! We have to soak the ground to water because of the humidity / sooty mold.

Our ground is very limey - caliche is predominate.

On the brighter side after Christchurch, we can grow tropicals though they have to be taken care of during the winter. We have hibiscus, plumeria and various gingers for starters.

The plumeria go in the garage when the temps start hitting around 58oF for wintering over; if there is a frost, which is rare, we will put the hibiscus away as well and cover some frost tender plants.

I have some lily of the valley and...

Hello McBirch and texkiwi

How's the gorse? Still doing very nicely, thank you! And the broom is doing well in the river beds, too. I know I have cackled about Aussies growing Crocosmia - and Vinca. Treasured plants across the Ditch. Strewth! What is it about this place that gets the weeds popping up all over?!

Would digital camera storage be more frugal for snap-shotting, perhaps? Certainly easier for composing slide shows and albums - so long as the technology keeps on and doesn't obsolete everything. ;-(

Frosts are frosts wherever. IMHO I think the little five or seven degree ones on plants that were unsuspecting are just as bad as months of -20 where any sensible plant has shut down systems for the winter. I get lured into thinking the winter's mild, then up comes a southerly, down comes the snow, and the following frost swats the lot. And the next year's no better. Eternal optimist? Or slow learner...

texkiwi: and there you are with Wilma on the way. A record 12 extreme weather events this season.

In that fascinating tank set up you described are you growing tropical waterlilies? I love the blue ones and admire them when I got to the botanical gardens but I'm not so intrigued I'd sacrifice good growing ground for all the gear needed to make them feel at home!

An old friend of mine who spent a long time in Malaysia as a newspaper correspondent told about the morning ritual of tapping shoes before putting in toes - to get the scorpions to move out. Poor little beasts would be stiff if they dared enter my gardening shoes. Those have a life of their own.

With all those sweet potatoes at hand - which ones do you prefer? And are there ones for pie, ones for wedges, and ones to go with the Sunday roast or equivalent? I think I'd use the orange ones for pie. They seem sloppier and more amenable to being spritzed with spices than the 'real' kumara which I find more floury.

Lettuce prices range between $2 and 80c or less depending on season. It's still worth growing them, I think, because the leaf lettuces don't travel as well as the head lettuce and they're just as nice. VegFed has been saying the returns to growers aren't great but it certainly makes getting one's 'five a day' a lot easier than when prices are through the roof.

What's indigenous to caliche land? What grows really well? Love to know.

I'm thinking that folk on the coast there must have their 'flee the house' routines down to perfection. Personal documents, food, water, pets, warm gear all ready to just put in the vehicle and head off. I guess when it's our turn again for a big earth wriggle there won't be time for preparation. There wasn't really much time last year when we had bad flooding in the Manawatu and Taranaki. 'God willing and the creek don't rise'...Even if it does - stay if you can.

Thanks for calling by. I enjoy hearing gardening stories from expats and near neighbours probably as much as you...

Hello all.

texkiwi, years ago I read an article by an Aussie living in Los Angeles that mentioned the rarity of clothes lines as most people use dryers. The writer thought it might have been because of the pollution. Interesting to know that they are also uncommon in your area. I feel sorry for the kids. I suppose they have swing sets but it's just not the same as a good spin on mum's rotary clothes line.

Not keen on all the critters you get. I'm quite happy with the kangaroos munching my lawn. Seen a couple of brown snakes over the years so spring makes me a bit nervous. They always do a story on the tv news about snakes round this time of year, just to make sure I don't forget to be nervous.

greenfingers and Vetivert, what critters, welcome and unwelcome, visit gardens in your part of the world?

Speaking of animals, during our holiday a tour guide said that the bones of moas had been found in the caves we were walking towards. DH got quite confused and asked why people threw their old mowers into the caves. It wasn't that he didn't know what a moa was, just a momentary lapse I suppose.

Vetivert, we have to remove a cordyline that's too crowded so I was pleased to come across the query regarding propagation and we'll try your suggestion. Do you know anything about why some stems are bare and some have a lot of dry leaves still attached? We asked about this at a nursery once and were told that it probably depends on if you tidy it up or leave it natural but I'm not so sure. There are two in a garden nearby, about the same height, one a nice neat ball and the other with the grass skirt look. So the owner is going out of his way to make them look like two different plants? I've also seen old ones with multiple branches in places where for one reason or another it's highly unlikely that anyone is doing any garden maintenance and yet there's no grass skirts. For a while I entertained the theory that the cordylines without the grass skirts are in fact yuccas but then I was told that yuccas don't grow in our climate. While on the subject of cordylines, why do they send out new branches at the base and is there any way of stopping them when you have enough? And how often should they flower? Looks nice but, oh, that weird smell!

Oh wow, be away for a week or so and look what happens, visitors!!!! Great to hear from you both Texkiwi and MacBirch, and great to hear what it's like gardening in other parts of the world!

Weeds..hmmm, fighing a loosing battle methinks! I was in Scotland earlier this year and I swear it's different from what we have here - it seems more "tame" and slightly more orangy in flower colour. But after visiting, I can understand why they like it so much!

Oh I'm so glad I don't have your poisonous critters to contend with. I'm sooo naive though-I was admiring a B&B ladys garden in Scotland and thought she was mad when she said it was too dangerous to garden unless wearing leather gloves and brandishing a stick to chase off the adders (I think it was adders, or was it another species?)!

We're quite lucky in New Zealand, no snakes at all (apart from those in zoos), and the only native poisonous spider is the Katipo but it's natural habitat is the marram grass and logs on some beaches.

As for introduced species, MAF must be doing something right as the worst that have succeeded to find their way in are the white tailed spiders hiding in the firewood. I was reading a while ago about some nasty ant that's set up shop here - crazy ants? can't remember which species it was now...guess I'll find out soon enough.

Not sure on why some cordyline stems are bare and some have a lot of dry leaves still attached. I suspect it might be a predator defence mechanism or a protection mechanism. We have quite a few cordylines here -each one behaves differently, even ones of same age and height, etc. Interesting to note that the younger ones definitely seem to retain the skirt to some effect, while the older ones definitely seem to have a seasonal shedding phase - which is what they are doing at the moment! Leaves galore all over the show. We tend to leave the skirts on as the skirt provides a home for all sorts of native animals - wetas, skinks especially. Oh and all the wee bugs that the fantails and silvereyes hunt! Fantastic to watch them flitting around and into the skirts after the bugs.

I wish I knew who to stop cordylines from sending out sideshoots too! One has 18 tiny shoots bursting forth from its trunk - up until now it had a smooth(ish)12 foot trunk with a fantastic head on it. I have heard that wounds/insect damage to the trunk encourages them to develop the side shoots, but as they haven't shot from the area my cat uses as a scratching post I'm not so sure on that explanation anymore! As for flowering ours flower every year - the maori legends say that early/intensive flowering of cordylines is an indication of hot, dry/lengthy summers. I hate to think what summer has in store for us this year as ours are loaded! Some are in full bloom now and look like white clouds, while others have bracts that are still developing. I can't say I've ever smelt them though - far too tall for me to get to!

Good to catch up with you all,
GF ...

Have you seen the orange gorse down on Banks' Penninsula? On the hill road before it drops down toward Ellesmere. Just a patch.

I've also noticed colour variations between a bright yellow and an 'old gold' along the tracks locally.

When you rise in altitude the gorse gets low to the ground. Amazing mounds and showing signs of both wind shear and UV impact. Quite different from the old man gorse you find at the edge of the pine plantations.

Pests: brush-tail possums... There was one skipping round the back garden, taunting the dogs, and munching on a rambling rose. Shredded. It seems to have scampered off, though. And rosellas, especially when the fruit is ripening. The wax eyes do their thing in winter - and I usually leave the Granny Smith apples for the birds so they can delicately hollow out a rind to leave the core inside a green skin still hanging from the tree. Rosellas come early, take a bite, drop the fruit and chortle on their way.
Rats - as we're rural. The dogs enjoy haunting the areas where the rats like to lurk and sometimes there are ominous noises in the night. Head under pillow stuff.

Cabbage trees: my 'oldie' which is around thirty years old (an ancient specimen when I bought it) has no skirt at all. It has just finished doing its pre-summer drop and there are enough firelighters to last for all next winter. It has a multihead and has begun to throw out new shoots from one of its branches.

Both neighbours also have cabbage trees. One has a colony in the far reaches of the garden overlooking our place. About eight plants of varying ages. Only one has a skirt of old leaves followed by a clear stem and a clear head. They are all hit by the southerly. They all have their toes in my compost heap - and contribute fronds in the season. The lazy explanation is 'genetic variation'. I couldn't say for sure whether they're specific to a region, as the pink manuka are. I'll go and have a fossick in the library.

For me, I notice the scent most at night. Quite sweet and sort of reminiscent of, it might be, I wonder what... and then I notice the flowers the next day. Quite pervasive in the way of jasmine and Nicotiana and Matthiola. (Perhaps Queen of the Night - but the frost usually does for her before she can show off.)

Anyone got a foolproof system for removing the nubs of glochids from wincing fingers? I brushed up against the Vicious Cactus yesterday and a few escaped my eagle eye. Yipe!

Can't say I remember the last time I was around Banks' Penninsula, I probably wasn't old enough to notice what gorse is!!! The gold colour is pretty though, not so bright on the eyes. So much for the gorse weevil that was meant to take care of the plant - maybe it's too overwhelmed at the number of plants it has to deal with?!!!

I was so busy thinking how lucky we are not to have more of the nasty poisonous pests and completely overlooked the larger in-your-face beasties! How could I forget about possums though!!!! Being urbanish we don't have as bigger problem as you country folk, but living on edge of town we do still get occasional visits...grrr. Hate them on the roof - that's when my head goes under the pilllow! No rats though as the neighbours cats are very good hunters, ours is a big wimp.

Rosellas aren't a problem here, but wild cockatoos are abundant - huge flocks of them in the ranges not far from us! Lucky they stay away from town, as they are so destructive. Like any parrot I guess.

Do you get mosquitoes? Our section is on the side of a short but steep hill, ending in a valley with a natural spring at the bottom. The lower 1/2 of our property is 20ish yr old native bush which is all nice and everything, but the only time we can go in safely is in the winter! We get eaten alive by mozzies from summer through to mid autumn. The neighbours on both sides are not affected by them only us :( Come dusk we are frantically closing windows and doors to keep them out - even with insect mesh over the windows, they still find their way inside!!!! Didn't used to bug me too much as they feed the birds but what with the diseases mozzies seem to be carrying, I wonder how I can get rid of them without polluting the spring. Citronella candles DO NOT work!!!

Funny how cordylines all differ. I like your "lazy" explanation!

I didn't know there was a foolproof system for removing them from fingers! Know anyone with a microscope? I've been putting off repotting my cacti cause I don't want to tangle with them. It's bad enough when it comes to pruning out the loganberries and raspberries!

Must put "thick leather gloves" on my christmas wish/needs list!

Those Asian imports of little spiral coils of stuff that looks a bit like incense work well for keeping mozzies at bay. Warehouse? Camping supplies? A mate with a bach in the Coromandel used them and they kept the nights quiet. I've also used them here and had the same result. Might work on those seriously tough Waikato mozzies.

One proposal for glochids I read somewhere was to use cellotape, as you would for fluff removal. It might work for folk with tender skin - I'm not sure about my garden-tough paws though.

I have to confess I tend to cheat a bit with the cacti. I acquire such harmless treats as Astrophytum, Haworthia, Gasteria, Fenestaria and other spineless succulents although I got some dot of a thing with very hook-y spines the other day.

For sheer misery in the thorn world - barberry and Chaenomeles - and cherry plum. And Onehunga weed. The curse of the playground, that.

I bought some strawberry plants from Woolworths last year: Yolo was one and it has round berries. The other was, I think, Seascape, which is a long berry somewhat like a fat jellybean. So far they're happy under the plastic. Pajero does seem to have a tendency to botrytis and other fungal treats, I agree.

Until the next wintry blast - happy gardening!

Tonight's episode of the travel program "Getaway" was a special on New Zealand. Such a beautiful country. And no snakes and only one poisonous spider!

Speaking of mosquitoes, when I was a kid it was obligatory to return from summer holidays down at the coast with a nice collection of "itchy bites". What I remember finding worse was sandflies. I'm sure we have them here in Australia somewhere but I'd never encountered them until we visited Milford Sound. Definately worse though are March flies. Only came across them for the first time a couple of years ago, hiking in the Snowy Mountains. We'd been up there many times and never seen them. I'd heard the term before and had a vague impression that they were an impressive size but nobody warned me how persistent, ferocious and painful they are. You can't stand still. If you stop for a drink or something, you have to keep stamping your legs and flapping your arms, which of course means rest stops don't actually give you much rest. I guess you could look at it like you get double the exercise for the distance travelled?

We visited Tasmania about twenty years ago and saw European wasps for the first time. (I believe in the US they are called yellowjackets.) They can be very aggressive. They snuck into the country somehow and since then they have spread to the mainland. A few years ago our local government had an eradication program but they seem to have given up. Another introduced pest is the cane toad. They were brought in on purpose to clear the canefields of snakes I think. The nasty poisonous things are now spreading around the warmer parts of the country. Hopefully it's too cold for them down here. The introduced plant pest we're very aware of at the moment is Patterson's Curse, or Salvation Jane. The fields of purple look so lovely, and bees love it, but it's poisonous to grazing animals. And although it's not that hard to pull out, it can keep popping up for years. On the coast there's Bitou Bush, which was introduced to stabilise sand dunes and worked a bit too well. Now they've introduced a bug to eat it. Let's hope when the bugs are done with the Bitou Bush they don't start on people's gardens.

Speaking of pests ... um, er, about the possums ... sorry, I think that was our fault. Apart from their habit of setting up house in people's roofs they're sweet little things, but I hear they're doing a lot of harm over your way.

Well, we do have 1 poisonous spider - the Katipo. But as it lives in fairly secluded remote spots, it's highly unlikely people will have accidental encounters with it.

eugh canetoads, 'orrible things! Even though the only encounter I've had with them is with dead ones (dissecting in biology 101 ages ago) they still give me the creeps. Did you know they still ooze poison when dead???? Funny how so many socalled "good" critters go bad, isn't it?

Yeah the possums have gone crazy over here, they seem to LOOOOVE our natives! oh, and the fruit trees and the veges....! For some reason they especially love running up and down corrugated tin roofs - makes one hell of a racket at 1am! I do love their fur though, mmmmmmmm, so soft and snuggly and warm!

As for sandflies, they aren't too bad where we are, but my SIL has been overtaken by them...only a km or so away from us so hope they (the sandflies that is!) stay away - don't want to deal with them as well as mozzies.

Possums are all our own fault! We cleared back the introduced deer so we could bring in the start of a fur industry... and they liked it here. Tasmanian blacks, and greys or browns from the mainland.

They are welcome to run up and down on the roof so long as they don't rark up the dogs. There's one fool who comes skipping along the fence rails around 2am - to snack on the roses. It sounds like the cavalry whooping off as the dogs hurtle down the verandah, quiet until the possum sniggers and bolts into the paddock. The language becomes salty then. Naughty dog-words.

We don't get them here but further north there are the mynahs, and they have this Thing about sliding down corrugated iron, scampering back to the ridge, and doing it all again.

Crows are further south, and may stay there. The magpies will do.

We also have the Echium (Patterson's curse) along roadsides near Kaikoura and inland round the Clarence River. Dry country. Some people call it 'borage' - probably because it's sort of blue. Short, scrubby stuff, unless it finds a damp spot to really show off in.

Those Fiordland sandflies! And Jackson's Bay. The rotters even hitch rides to ensure they can feast. I remember ushering several bloated hitch hikers out my vehicle a LONG way from home and hoped their wings would fail before they'd make it back.

The German wasps seem to have cycles of boom and bust. They gather the honeydew in the beech forests, causing a dearth for native species. And a hazard for people travelling in the areas where they gather. Early in the year they can be lured with a bait of fish and 1080. Later, they prefer sweet things. Carboryl powder is good if you can access the nest entry. Or kerosine or petrol glugged in after dark. Well after dark. And a beekeeper's veil is a blessing, too!

We've had a few black widow spiders arrive from California of late, but border control caught (we hope) all of them. White tail spiders do a nasty bite and there's a variety I heard of last night. Body about the size of 5c, legs that fold over the back, big red patch on the back, and distinct mandibles. A wicked bite; the person who shared her experience still had a bruised area about the size of 50c - and that was from being bitten two weeks ago. (Different from a redback which has only a streak of red.)

Things that take over (apart from gorse and broom): Watsonia, wild ginger, Smilax etc. Marram grass, used for stabilising sand dunes at the expense of the local pingao which is, in my view, more attractive. Spartina in the estuaries. Crocosmia... And Hydrocotyle. The latter has me quietly foaming as I prise it out from the middle of my purple Acaena.

I think you've got the winner, MacBirch. Those cane toads sound truly revolting. I believe I can wait to see one.

Meantime, I'd welcome some rain. I'm just not a summer person.

I'm glad I don't get to hear dogs as well as possums! What a rackett!

When I started thinking about all the pests we have to contend with in reply to Macbirchs question, I've found I've missed most of the obvious ones! I'm guessing you're rural Vetivert, so you get a whole host of different pests to me (on outskirts of town), right?

You watched that doco the other night on spider bites didn't you!!!! I didn't, as had my SIL over for dinner - she's terrified of spiders as it is so purposely didn't have telly on.

Mynas and starlings....both of them here! Poor cat gets divebombed when they're around - I know when she's going to come charging inside as they make such a noise, it'd wake the dead! As for crows, I came across a rookery when I was working over in the Hawke's Bay, I'd never seen anything like it! It was a dead gum tree - although it looked far from dead with the amount of birds gathered in it! As for magpies my partner and my father cheerfully shoot them...but being such territorial critters as fast as one family is removed, another moves in. I hate watching magpies divebombing and picking on the hawks and other natives.

You forgot wandering jew/willie!!!! Currently trying my hardest to get rid of it, but it's rather difficult when the neighbouring property is riddled with it. I love watsonias - I only hope that they don't take over. There was a small clump of white ones here when we moved in. 3yrs or so later and the clump has grown quite sizeable...I may have to start digging them out too!

Rain, rain come again....3 weeks without and counting.

First encounter of the season with a redback last weekend. Hoping it's the last. Some years we don't see them at all, though I'm sure they're out there. You just don't pick up rocks or bricks or drain grates or pots or anything without gloves. This time it was under a rock and luckily I had a spade with me. Gives me shivers just remembering it.

We have a problem with mynas here too. I read a few years ago about a man, I think at the university, who was trialling extermination methods. At that stage we didn't see them much round our suburb, but suddenly this year they've arrived in numbers, and they sure know how to make a noise. Haven't seen them divebombing anything. Hope they don't start. Bad enough we have to deal with the magpies doing that every spring. People walk around carrying sticks and bike riders paint eyes on the backs of their helmets because they tend to only swoop when your back is to them. I've had to walk backwards for some distance a few times while the magpie watched and waited for its chance. These days the local government puts warning signs up once they're alerted to the presence of a swooping magpie at a particular location.

Story on one of our travel shows the other day about cane toad racing at a Queensland holiday resort. The poor reporter had to pick one up. Yuk.

Hope you get a nice amount of gentle rain soon. (After a couple of years of water restrictions due to drought we've been getting a lot of rain this spring. There've been floods in parts of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.)

Macbirch, along with fork, spade and loppers, I'd be tempted to make a can of bug spray part of my gardening essentials!

Yay for you guys getting rain, boo about the floods though - N.Zs getting a bit like "if it's not drought its flooding" too in recent years. It's forecast to rain sometime over the weekend, although I'll believe that when I see it!

Every once in a while there'll be a story in the news about attacking magpies, but it tends to be mainly in smaller rural towns. Although saying that, I remember when I was at high school we could never use the field during nesting time 'cause of a pair of magpies. The principal refused to have them removed as she believed "they added to the character of the school" what a load of bull!

Birds must be in a bad way foodwise at the moment. I threw out some stale bread and as I was watching the birds feeding, was surprised to see female blackbirds chasing all the sparrows away. Talk about possessive! They're a hoot to watch, at least all got a feed before the starlings and mynas cottoned onto what was going on.

I just found out something I'd have preferred to remain ignorant about. Our lizards are venomous too! A scientist decided that he didn't quite buy the theory that people sometimes have a reaction to lizard bites because of the bacteria in their mouths. So he had a closer look and found venom glands. I know you have the tuatara but do you have any common garden variety lizards? Do you ever see tuataras in the wild? We saw them in a display in Invercargill.

We've had more rain. And hail. Planting vegie seedlings seems to cause it. No damage this time though.

If you go to google and type in tuatara you will get a site fron the kiwi conservation club and with info on tuatara. The tuatara have been targated by wildlife smugglers as they are sought after and give the smugglers a big financial return!!

Definitely we have other lizards. The little skinks like sunbathing on the warm asphalt paths in the suburbs of Wellington, much to the joy of the local cats. Usually the skinks bolt, leaving a writhing tail to flop around before a fascinated felid. They often hide out under old logs in the company of wetas, springtails, woodlice and other interesting invertebrates. Dinner? Not sure.

I also saw what I took to be a rather elegant gecko in a patch of bush a few weeks back, but I'm no herpetologist.

Tuatara used to be on the mainland at French Pass, Pelorus Sound, living under a woolshed and dozing on the stone step. There are probably still quiet colonies around in the more remote areas as well as offshore islands.

I love our little Copper skinks! They are everywhere where we are - in summer they come out and sunbath on our stone pathway, and live in our retaining walls. Can't say I've noticed any of our other skinks and gekkos running around here, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find them in our little piece of bush though. I know there are several species are in the ranges not too far from us.

Check these 2 sites out:
http://www.mwhglobal.co.nz/About-Us/Lizard-Species.asp
http://www.reptiles.org.nz/

If you ever get to go to the Otorohanga Kiwihouse, they have largeish Tuatara loose in the freeflight avairy. It's so fantastic! I took my SIL and her father through there a few weeks ago to see the Kiwis (they're Scottish and not long been in NZ). We ooh'd and ahh'd over the Tuatara in the cages before the avairy, and weren't paying too much attention to the ground. I thought I was seeing things - there was this Tuatara just sitting there, almost right next to my foot! On closer inspection, there were burrows everywhere, right next to the path and Tuataras just sitting there next to or not far away from the burrows. So close to the path you can touch them! Not that I did, although I was itching to. How many people can say they've touched one, let alone eyeballed one with no glass case between them? I think that was the highlight of the Kiwihouse for me!

The Otorohanga Kiwihouse sounds wonderful! Very sad to hear the tuatara are being targetted by wildlife smugglers.

Here's a little bit of history you might find interesting. The six Australian states became the Federation of Australia in 1901, and almost until the Great War began in 1914 hopes were expressed that New Zealand would wish to join a greater Confederation of Australasia. Accordingly, when Walter Burley Griffin named the eight thoroughfares radiating out from Capitol Hill on his plan of Canberra in 1912, he named them after the capital cities of the six states and the Northern Territory and New Zealand. Wellington Avenue was the name of the road running south and it seemed appropriate therefore to give a New Zealand name to the shopping centre planned to be built on one side of the road and the park on the other. The ti tree is a native of Australia and New Zealand and was particularly prolific in that part of Canberra. Thus the shopping centre on one side and the park on the other side of Wellington Avenue were given the Maori name for ti tree, Manuka. Before the name Wellington Avenue was Gazetted it was realised that New Zealand was not going to become part of a Confederation of Australasia and the road was renamed Canberra Avenue. But the Manuka name remained. The park was officially Manuka Circle Park but became known as Manuka Oval, and is the home of cricket in Canberra.

I grew up in the area and the Manuka Shops were our local shops. I always assumed it was an Aboriginal word and only found out the true story when I was an adult. You can always identify Canberrans by the way they pronounce Manuka. MAH-ne-ka. It's a very fashionable inner city shopping precinct with a lot of restaurants these days. Of the five shopping zones with cinemas, it is the smallest. In fact the original cinema was the first in Canberra. It's since been replaced by a new building housing six cinemas and a number of restaurants.

How's the weather? After the drought we've had we really shouldn't complain about the rain. But when are we going to be able to get the concreting done! Ironically we're doing it as a result of reducing our lawn area because of the drought. We're too far along now to undo it and anyway I'm looking forward to having space for more plants. In the meantime, the rain is very beneficial for the plants, and extremely beneficial for the weeds.

I like that story! Thank you, MacBirch.

The pronunciation is fascinating. I listen to Kiwis saying 'Now-roo' for 'Nauru' and Aussies saying 'N'roo' - with great enjoyment for the differences.

Personally, I think the nicest sound of all is rain on the roof - especially after a long dry spell. And the smell of hot, dry soil becoming damp again. It might not be roses or violins but, for me, it's far more welcome.

Here's to the weeds and the growing of the compost heap!

Hi
I'm out here!
I am on the south Island west coast. after a good start to the season warm and sunny we have had 2 weeks of rain on and off which threatens to ruin all the tomatoes and things will probably come right again after the holidays. The pesky possums shredded our apple and plum trees befor they found the trap.
I love looking in the rescue bin at the warehouse also. some things reward me, the snails ate the petunia I got the other day for 97cents though grrrrr it was raining and I only left it by the back door for the night. i was hoping to get some seed and plant swapping happening from this site, but can't seem to get any email contact working. Oh well

Hi, I'm still here. Sometimes. Computer problems. South Island west coast, that gets a lot of rain, doesn't it? I've been trying to remember when we had decent rain. A few thunderstorms with very little actual rain and one short heavy shower one morning while I was watering. February was the hottest month on record here.

Hi macbirch

At this end of the North Island we've arrived at autumn. We've had around 4" of rain so far this month but no thunderstorms - which is good, because The Dogg does his prunes and races for cover at the first grumble.

I caught a bit in a paper about a couple of cities over your way moving toward recycling water - which sounds a prudent thing to do. And a few advances in composting dunnies wouldn't go amiss, either. Trouble is, municipalities seem wedded to the notion of that great water guzzler, the WC.

I'm not sure the folk in Westport on the West Coast would agree with you... their town reservoir was down to the tadpoles last week but they've had some rain and the reservoir has snuck back up to 40% capacity. Mind you - they're at the 'dry end' of the Coast, so I suppose it's not that surprising.

It's been a mild summer here, with enough rain to keep the chore of watering at the rare and reasonable level. As Huey the Weather God has been so kind I thought it would be a good scheme to rationalise my swarms of pots. I've even gone so far as to make lists - and I'm pondering on making a database so I can see just how much repotting I'm up for in spring and autumn. (I've left the prices out: no one needs that kind of reality check!) Have you done anything similar? If I could just tame the 'rescue instinct' I'd probably be fine (and the bargain hunter habit, too...) Perhaps this will be the salutary lesson I've been needing.

If you've any tips on constructing the database I'd love to hear.

On the weather forecast at the end of the national news they said it was 28 degrees in Sydney today. One day last week it was 35, which is 10 above average for this time of year. Missed the local news but we've been in the high 20's to low 30's lately.

I've seen composting toilets a few times. I think there's one at Orroral Valley, just outside Canberra. It was the site of a tracking station. Kind of amazing that in the sixties and seventies there were three tracking stations in the Canberra region. Tidbinbilla is still operating. It has four active dishes and several other ones. One of them was transferred from Honeysuckle Creek, where it had received the first pictures of Armstrong walking on the moon (the movie The Dish wasn't entirely accurate, although the Parkes dish featured in it was used to receive pictures also). Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral Valley were closed years ago and eventually the buildings were pulled down because they were getting vandalised. The foundations were left and signs put up to indicate what had been there. And Orroral Valley got a composting toilet fot the hikers and picnickers who visit. I don't know if they'd allow them in the suburbs. Then again the drought has been changing attitudes. Water tanks will soon be compulsory for new homes.

Energy ratings were introduced a few years ago. New homes have to be built to a minimum of four stars. Advertisements for houses for sale must include the energy rating. One new suburb is going to have a requirement that households with cats keep them in cat runs or indoors. One thing Canberra has always had is a ban on front fences! It was intended to encourage Canberra to develop into a garden city. The government nursery which grows plants for parks and public areas also gave each new block that was built on a free allocation of plants.

I'm determined to reduce my collection of potted plants by next summer. Most aren't potplants as such, they're just waiting for a permanent home. Some are cuttings, some are bought, sometimes I have some sitting in pots awaiting relocation. Do you think if a plant has been waiting for about twenty years it qualifies as a real potplant? Can plants have dual citizenship? It spent a while unhappily in a garden bed, was put in a pot to recover while we decided on a better location, then we moved house so it came with us, then we moved again, and again. It has moved around this garden and seems reasonably happy where it is now, but where it is now is not a garden bed, and we have enough to do without expanding the garden bed over there. We're halfway through expanding a couple of other garden beds, the purpose being to reduce the lumpy crunchy yellow stuff we used to call lawn. As I write, The Amazing Race is on tv. Everyone is gathering at a sports stadium. Acres of green. Mmmm.

Commentator at Commonwealth Games opening ceremony said the possum cloaks worn by the Aboriginal women were made from New Zealand possum skins because Australian possums are protected. Don't know if New Zealand broadcast mentioned it.

Travel doco on tv had me thinking about moving to New Zealand again. It's been a dream for years but DH's retirement is almost close enough to justify doing some research into our options. There was another doco on an English couple restoring a Tuscan castle, which had me wondering how do you arrive at the decision to make such a move. Some people want the home in Tuscany, or the south of France, or the trip round Australia in a caravan, or the yacht to sail around the world in, or whatever. For me it's been New Zealand ever since we holidayed there. Well, bit early to really think about such things. Apart from anything else the garden still isn't finished.

Hi MacBirch

Our possums are your possums (and you're welcome to the whole lot! Especially the one risking life and limb prancing along the back fence and giving that vulgar possum snigger each night...)

Have you seen the merino-possum knitted garments? A mix of the two fibres. My little mum reckons they're as cosy as polyprops and far more luxurious.

I wonder if there's a formal association for people who'd like to try out living in various parts of another country before upping stakes and shifting? I bet the people who went to Tuscany had done a few tours before they took the plunge.

I remember reading an article about a young chap whose uncle, I think, left him a cottage in Ireland. He'd never been there, thought of selling the place unseen, and then decided to have a look first. Over about fifteen years he turned it into the base for a cottage industry, literally. He became so fascinated that he did what many foreigners do, really got into the local scene and history. It isn't one of those 60-seater bus trip places; just folk who come through word of mouth. Often artists, writers, researchers - mostly civilised folk who know how to treat other people's property with respect. It pays well enough for him to keep a foot in both camps, so to speak.

Do you have any long-lost rellies over here???

On a gardening note: a Brugmansia I gave to a friend about six years ago, later hit badly by frost, has come back and finally flowered. A lovely soft pink and white. Patience, and the drips off the gutter, I'm sure. (He's on tank water so there's not a lot to spare for garden lushness. And the cows can be a bit of a problem, too.)

I agree about the portable plants. Sometimes it feels like waiting for the 'right' garden.

I've finished the paper version of the database and there's now no way I can avoid seeing the consequences of being a plantaholic. So I've resolved to amalgamate many of the contents of small pots. Cuts the numbers immediately. Cunning ploy!

Might you happen to grow Dendrobium speciosum at all? I moved it out of a very cramped pot into a wider hypertufa one with Excellent drainage and it looks very pleased with itself. Dappled light over summer, food and water. (Tried to convince it that here is 'tropical'. Couldn't make it let go of its beanie and scarf, though.) Now the scheme is for a dry spell over winter, and a bit more light. Is that what happens in its local habitat? Or have I got the seasons all confused? (D. kingianum just settles down and flowers, no mucking about at all. A good little Aussie battler.)

Thanks for calling by. It's good to catch up.

Sorry I can't help with the Dendrobium. I've seen them on tv and thought no, too tricky. Can't remember why exactly. Just not something I've wanted to tackle at this stage.

I've planted some of my plants. But I've been to the nursery and bought more and I dug up and potted a few that weren't doing well where they were. Aaaargh, this is not progress!

Lucky man with the cottage in Ireland.

Yes, I've seen merino-possum socks and beanies. They feel so beautiful.

G'day macbirch

If you can get hold of a pot of Dendrobium kingianum - they're worth a go. And they don't mind being pot-bound, which is a REAL plus ;-)
Just a bit of frost shelter and morning sun. The usual bark chip mix and the occasional splosh of Miracid at half strength.

Digging up...ah, yes. Hoot of the week: I acquired a deciduous azalea and thought 'How nice. I'll put it near the barberries with their white and purply leaves. So pretty for spring.' Yeah, right. Out I went with my trusty long-pronged digging fork to get through any tree root-nets and the deeper clay below. Shove went the foot in the gumboot. Lever. Heave. And Muggins here hoisted and snapped the phone line to the sleep out. The live end promptly melted and cut off phone and internet in 'short' order. I'm not going to live that one down in a hurry. Meantime - perhaps the Other side of the barberries would suit.

PS - rain as usual for ANZAC - and it sounds southerly-chilly. 'All the better to colour the leaves, my dear'...

Ooooh! And here I am complaining that whenever I go digging I hit a rock (usually one that subsequently finds a use in a retaining wall or garden edging).