Gardening

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GI Jane
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Gardening

Post by GI Jane »

Ummm, looked under the hobbies section for gardening and...... well..... there was'nt one, but I'm sure there are a few people out there that potter around in one of them now and again.....

So here goes....

I have been assisting my parents to move to an assisted living facility for a while due to health problems and the inevitable age issue....

My Dad has always been a very keen gardener, and I spent a lot of time with him working in his show gardens. Later on he spent a lot of time assisting me in my garden when I still had time to have a garden, Due to work pressures and digging boxers, I abandoned the garden for a while. Anyway I have been packing up, renovating and refreshing their home since their move and of course his garden was on my list of things to do. Due to increasing age and health problems he has'nt been able to care for it for a few years so I had quite a job ahead of me.

Anyway it was a treasure chest once I started cleaning it up. Because I am letting their home it needed to be cleaned up and left a basic easy to maintain for tenants garden. So began my garden revival. I can't bear to dig plants up and throw them out and always want to find a home for them.
Cymbidium bromeliad clivia.jpg
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Cyumbidium barrow.jpg
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So my first big treasure was an old blue plastic tub of cymbidiums hidden somewhere under overgrown shrubs in a corner of the garden. My parents were surprised they had survived. Brought them home, bought clay pots, orchid potting medium and repotted them into several pots. They have thrived and I have 2 flower pods ready to bloom in the not too distant future...
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They are doing well amongst the clivia, aggies, geraniums and azaleas. Also found a couple of bromeliads that I've stuck around the area. The old wheelbarrow I put some of the cymbidium pots in was to be thrown out due to rust holes, but makes a great potholder. I am not keen on hothouses so am growing all the orchids I have collected outside.
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Mr_B
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Re: Gardening

Post by Mr_B »

Awesome Val! I do love gardening, especially the landscaping side... and water features, but don't really have green fingers!

Our new place has so much (garden) potential... going to have to you around Val for some advice!
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GI Jane
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Re: Gardening

Post by GI Jane »

The next discovery were some Epidendrums trying to fight their way between the azaleas. Flowering in spite of the lack of ideal conditions. I had a large palm cut down a few years ago and left the stump at knee height to put a potplant on it. It has since rotted in the centre, has a couple of hours of sunlight a day and was an ideal place to plant the epidendrums... In spite of being transplanted they continue to flower and have tons of new growth....So they loving their spot amongst spider lillies, also rescued. In fact the spider lillies were ones I gave to my Dad 20 years ago that I brought from the Drakensberg...
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Okay so what is an orchid collection without a few Phalaenopsis, Cattleya, Polystachya and Laelia Anceps.....??????
Phaleanopsis.jpg
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The zinc came out of my parents kitchen when I had the kitchen renovated. It is in quite a protected area outside, no sun but bright light all day, and protected from heavy wind.
Cattleya polystachya laelia anceps.jpg
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Cattleya polystachya laelia anceps 2.jpg
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Well the bug bit, and I have created a little orchid sanctuary in a protected area of my garden, amongst some small trees, that gets filtered sunlight for a few hours of the day. I had the phalaenopsis on some of the logs and articles hanging in strange places but they were getting a bit to much sun, so have moved them to make space for a couple more orchids I intend getting to add to my collection.

My Mom asked me to recover some Jacobea lillies from their garden, and I found them when cleaning out, found some pots, cut the leaves right back and potted them. To my surprise a number of them have thrown up flowers, and now I know why she said I should find them.
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In the pot on the right hand side of the photo is a red flower from the bulbs I planted. I've never seen one before....they don't last too long, but are striking.

So a tough time emotionally for my parents move, but happily have renewed my relationship with the garden, and find it an amazing place to work out frustrations and maintain my sanity...

By the way pot doll, in the last photo's name is Doris, and yes she does talk back to me, but only when no-one else is around.... :mocking: :mocking: :mocking:
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GI Jane
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Re: Gardening

Post by GI Jane »

Another not so final word from me. I tend to prefer not to use poison in my garden to prevent pests, because of my doggies that eat anything, and young grandchildren and other obvious reasons. So I bought 2 ducks, a black and a white one called "Ebony and Ivory". Yes Andy, I have photo's on my phone which when I work out how to download them will post a photo.. :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: Anyway bought a plastic pool, a ton of duck food, and Ivory either took to the skies or something from the skies took her, and Ebony was donated to a farmer that has a large dam with many ducks... That lasted for about a week... and so now I am back to taking out allllll my frustrations on squashing snails and mixing borax sugar and water into a paste to get rid of ants. Won't even talk about the damn aphids.... I mean really the ants built a nest in my orchid pots, the looooove the potting medium... :banned: :banned: :banned:

Oh and my favorite song at the moment is "I talk to the trees."
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Re: Gardening

Post by pietpetoors »

Looks very nice Val, my Dad loved his orchids as well.

In my garden are mostly wild plants from the area, if they can't look after themselves, they do not grow in my garden.
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GI Jane
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Vehicle: Toyota Hilux 4x4, 2.41t Raider 1998 DC - front & rear difflock, 140lt fuel tank, 31" BFG a/t, snorkel, drawer system, alucab canopy, driver with attitude.
Real Name: Val
Club VHF Licence: X112

Re: Gardening

Post by GI Jane »

Pieter I am trying to get the orchids to adapt to more natural surroundings ie. non greenhouse, but with some considerations of their natures, light, feed watering, so hopefully they will adapt and not die on me. Have read up quite a bit about collectors that have their's growing outdoors, so will see if it works out here.... Bretton will definitely come give a hand once I've wrapped up my parents place. Will be awesome to see Kim and the kids again... :thumbup: :thumbup:
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