Horizon's Gardening Topic

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  • Love the top of its head, LW. I wish I got some exotic birds in my garden, but as for some of your other critters you get LW, no thanks. ^^

    I've been out in my garden far more than usual this winter, simply due to the fact it's been so warm and because I completely rennovated/replaced one of my main beds, until the new shrubs and plants mature, there are lots of spaces which means lots of weeds. Keeps me busy!

  • Speaking of critters in my garden, there is one that never fails to give one the heebie-jeebies. The King Cricket, known here as "the Parktown Prawn". It loves lush undergrowth so finds gardens with lots of shrubbery and settles in, eating snails, so it's good for business. It is also predated on by the Hadeda ibises and thrushes, but ye gods is it a scary looking thing and it's really big. Often comes inside. Can jump a metre high and if you frighten it by mistake it squirts an evil smelling substance to make you go away. Often at night in summer you'll go into the kitchen and find one there, or the bathroom, or they will snuggle into shoes you leave out of the cupboard. =O

    King Cricket

  • Bloody hell! =O Nope, we definitely don't want that in the UK, thank you very much.

    What were those monkey looking birds that you have, which you posted about earlier in this thread LW? Those were my favourites.

  • I can't think what they might have been. :/

    The fig tree outside our back door is in full fruit and it's a birdie food fight in there. Everybody is fighting everybody else for a go and the things are sploshing down on the courtyard paving 8o . Large green metallic fig beetles are zooming in and clouds of tiny fruit flies are drifting about and get swept into the kitchen if you open the door. :rolleyes:

  • Drat... :huh:

    I can only search a whole forum for a person's specific posts, not a particular topic. Thread searching is allowed, but not under a username.

    One to take to the boffins at WoltLab, me thinks.

  • I don't think it was them, but not sure. I'll have to go through all 100 pages at some point to find out. Which, considering the considering the subject, will be rather pleasant. :) (and I have done it before)

  • There is so much wildlife in the garden I was thinking of making a blog about it as much of it isn't about gardening as such. More of a pantomime and a pageant passing by daily, with all the conflict, passion, aggro, poignancy and pain of any human community :)

  • Frost is predicted for the next few nights so I've cut back the banana's fronds, the frost last week had browned off about half the length, and wrapped them and the trunk in fleece. I'll be needing to get out the stepladder soon to do this as it's getting tall.

    The small one is also wrapped and has an extra tent of fleece with three poles like a teepee.

    I've also fleeced up several other tender plants that can't be put inside.

    History is much like an Endless Waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever.

    4312-gwban-gif

  • Almost magical quality to that first pic, LW, with that path and steps leading up to that grand 'ole tree. Like a picture frame. Very nice. And very exotic shrub too. Love its leaves.

    I've been doing some gardening today, as I continue what is in effect, a complete replacement of my garden.

    The squirrels have been burying acorns everywhere and some of them grew into quite sizable saplings over 10ft tall. So, I've been chopping them down. This is by my shed at the end of the garden and the shed wil come down at some point, before it falls down. It's very old and rotten.

    It was lovely and sunny and so felt very warm in the sun. Had a nice, but tiring morning. :)

  • Will be interested to see what you do with your garden restructuring, H. :)

    Another pic from another angle with the new paving starting to frame things and some very new wonderlawn just germinated. We want it to fill up holes between paving and other areas.

    garden3.jpg

  • Your garden looks awesome LW. So nice to have somewhere like that where can sit outside with nature. I'm surrounded by concrete. :(

    Are you in a flat Norra?

    Will be interested to see what you do with your garden restructuring, H. :)

    Another pic from another angle with the new paving starting to frame things and some very new wonderlawn just germinated. We want it to fill up holes between paving and other areas.

    There's lots there which is framing that LW, not just the paving and I don't whether it was all done by design or accident, but apart from the trees and plants, that "lamp" light and bird bath really really frames it for me and the orlaments too.

    THAT'S HOW TO DO A GARDEN FOLKS!

    As Norra said, simply awesome.

  • Thanks, H, but it's actually a bit of a mess right now in places. Going to take a huge effort to get it right. Been there most of the morning picking out weeds and the progeny of berries and seeds. The birds bring some nice stuff now and again, so I'll keep some of that 8)

    Mr Wing made the garden lamp out of bits from an old lamp post and some steel sheet he cut for the lid.

    I so envy your oak saplings!

  • Today cut off my Silver Vase bromeliad flower, after several months of her stoic presence. She came from Mr Wing's mother's patio in a pot and we inherited her when the old folks went to Australia. There she waited, looking drab and terrible and I was convinced she was going to die. But she hung on, through the seasons, never changing.

    When we finished the paving deck under the hackberry tree we moved her and some others over there and my Silver Vase bromeliad was rained on. One morning soon after, we were stunned to see a beautiful bloom rising from her tattered leaves. She folded out over weeks into a magnificent pink spiky petalled job with pale purple buds within the main corolla. Stunning. My camera wasn't working, so here she is on Wikipedia.

    Today I finally cut off the old bloom and there are new daughter plants coming up from the mother stem. I'm hoping for a group of these in the coming years.

    Silver Vase bromeliad

    I don't think I saw this post when you posted it in November, the pic on that link looks fabulous. How is the plant now?

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