The Garden Thread that two people wanted

[LilyBLily]

Your garden is full of genuinely exotic plants. Your photos are always fun to see. The fountain is very clever.



 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

What's that white-barked tree in the background?

It's a leopard tree. Apparently indigenous to Australia. Pretty bark, but they can make a mess with the leaves. They have hard, dark brown flat seed pods, which make quite a noise when they fall on the carport roof  ,

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Your garden is full of genuinely exotic plants. Your photos are always fun to see. The fountain is very clever.

Thanks. We are fortunate to have a sub-tropical climate and most plants grow quite easily. People joke that if you push a walking stick into the ground in Durban it will grow. 

The donkey tail grew well in the fountain, but we had a dry winter and the plants round the base died off so I've just planted some Wandering Jew that seemed to survive the drought. We've also had a problem with moles that have managed to make the fountain lopsided.  Haven't figured out to right it without breaking the fountain 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Got a nice crop of papaya growing. They can grow really big. Unfortunately the monkeys enjoy them  I can put nets around the lower bunches, but the higher ones will require a ladder and a bit more skill.

[LilyBLily]

We have our first snow on the ground. Quite a contrast to your papayas!

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

We have our first snow on the ground. Quite a contrast to your papayas!

It certainly is. Christmas is always bitter-sweet here in SA as I lived in the UK until I was 24 yrs and my most treasured memories are those of my childhood and of snowy Christmases and roaring fires. Although I've been in SA for 50 years it still never feels like Christmas when sitting round a swimming pool.  But I don't think I could cope with the cold weather now. Will have to turn the aircon down low and pretend there's snow outside 

[Vijaya]

Jan, I can only imagine how discombobulating it can be to have a warm Christmas in the Southern hemisphere when all the popular Christmas songs have snow and mistletoe... I grew up in India where Christmas is a non-event for most, given most are predominantly Hindu. But we had our quiet celebrations at home. It'd be cold. I never saw snow until I came to the US and I still think it's magical.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Jan, I can only imagine how discombobulating it can be to have a warm Christmas in the Southern hemisphere when all the popular Christmas songs have snow and mistletoe... I grew up in India where Christmas is a non-event for most, given most are predominantly Hindu. But we had our quiet celebrations at home. It'd be cold. I never saw snow until I came to the US and I still think it's magical.

Have to get used to different traditions as well. We don't have holly and mistletoe but tend to use poinsettias as a Christmas flower. We have the ordinary one and the rams horn growing in our village. 

[LilyBLily]

Nice.

[Vijaya]

Lovely! Here in the lowcountry of Charleston, SC, our parish decorates a tree with shells, starfish and sand-dollars. Picture in this post: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas.html

Let me see if I can post the picture directly:

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Lovely! Here in the lowcountry of Charleston, SC, our parish decorates a tree with shells, starfish and sand-dollars. Picture in this post: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2018/12/merry-christmas.html

Let me see if I can post the picture directly:

Lovely idea. We also make sandcastle 'snowmen' 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

[Jeff Tanyard]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

Does that have any kind of aroma?

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

My neighbour's ponytail palm is in flower again. We have a few more dotted about our retirement village. 

Does that have any kind of aroma?

My neighbour's one doesn't have a fragrance as we just pulled one down to try it, and I've never noticed it on others, but they are too high to get close. However, Mr Google says they do have a fragrance 

[LilyBLily]

Quite amazing and lush.

Currently, I have many snowdrops blooming and the daffodils near the house are up several inches. Snow is coming, but they don't care.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Orchids flowering in our gazebo garden. Not sure the name of the orchid. Staghorn fern below them.