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- Paul_Tyerman
- MaggieM
- Paul_Tyerman
- Gay_Klok
- Gay_Klok
- MaggieM
- Gay_Klok
- Paul_Tyerman
- Gay_Klok
- MaggieM
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» Paul_Tyerman - Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by Gay_Klok:Gay,
Having read most of your "Paradise" story now I have to comment on a couple of things.....
from your story...
"The trouble is that I am unable to resist the beautiful plants that I find in nurseries. On occasions I will first decide exactly what plant is needed and where it should be positioned but too many times I have triumphantly carried home a "real find". Poor, suffering Kees asks me "And where am I going to plant it?"
Another sin I am guilty of is feeling so sorry for a poor little thing that is pot bound and begging for release, I purchase it. Sometimes the nursery person will give it to me"to see what you can do with it" It never ceases to amaze me how often a greedy gardener, faced with the dilemma of six plants too many, will find the perfect area for every single one. Foliage will contrast well with neighbours, colour blending and the plant will turn out to be just what is needed in that bed. People will say "What a brilliant idea! Do you put all your ideas on paper first, knowing exactly what plant to place where?" How can I reply to them "No, I just looked around desperately to find a space where it didn't look too bad!" All of those six, excess plants will disappear into the garden beds and look as though they have always been there."
I can SO empathise with this. My wife is forever asking me "where are you going to put it" when I look at something in a nursery. Currently I am resisting Camellia 'Takinini' which I desperately want, but we still have 3 camellias at home that I have already sitting waiting for homes for them. We have the TINIEST little corner block in the Canberra suburbs and I need at LEAST 10 times the space for what I want to grow. There's no space for the Coral Bark Maple, or the rest of the Camellia, or the Magnolia grandiflora, the Prunus.... the list goes on. At the moment i have to use a boothorn just to get anything IN to the garden, but they still look great afterwards. It is getting to the stage now that I have to remove something I like less, just to accomodate the new things I want more 
.
I could go on for ages discussing things you've written in 'Paradise' but maybe if you want to we can do so via email. You mention so many things that I grow, although I imagine by now you have them in SO much greater quantities than I do, but I am really only still starting out. Your gardens must be stunning. I don't suppose amongst all of that you happen to grow any Fritillaria persica? The pictures I have seen of the tall almost black scapes of flowers are breathtaking, but I have never seen them available anywhere, and they are one thing that I really want to find. The other Frit I want is a variegated F. imperialis, which unfortunately don't grow true from seed and have to import as a bulb. Not something I'd trust to AQIS unfortunately I have never seen THIS for sale either (sigh!), but to be honest if I had the choice I think I'd opt for a good dark F. persica (hey, I can dream can't I? )
Now I want to come down and visit "KIBBENJELOK". It must be stunning around this time of year, or if not then definitely only a short time from now. It is a shame you are so far away, although having heard the description of your garden maybe it IS a good thing you're so far away..... so I don't have to be embarassed by you visiting my tiny little patch. ;)
Thanks so much for the links Gay. Just lovely.
-- posted by Paul_Tyerman
» MaggieM - Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
Dear Paul, If you can, you must go to visit Gay and Kekes - it is not such a long way, we came from Guelph, Ontario Canada - on purpose!And there are two gardens, town and country and both filled not only with plants, but with family and history and love and cows and peafowl who eat cat food. We were there in eb - Gay was beside herself because it is late summer and she says its not the best time. We did not care one whit. I am not the plantswoman/writer Gay is, and Jack is not the plantsman/keeper of the land that Kees is, but who gives a hoot when they serve champers on the garden walk, introduce you to their plants and homes and children and grands - and make you feel like you are family. All starting out in cyberspace. You must read all of Gay's stories (I will buy the book). Oh how I wish to be in Tassie in the spring! Not this year Gay, so sad. I'd mail both you and Paul some tomatoes, but they'd be eaten up by postal workers before they left the mail depot) she says with much pride - or is that bravado)?
Fritillarias are available here, according to my catalogues, quite readily, even your F. Persica at 10.95 CA per bulb (3 for 28.95). Don't think they would ship to OZ, and they would take at least one season to get the "upside-down" thing right (I think Gay told me this about NA bulbs going downunder). But go herefor a look: www.veseys.com.
Love from Maggie
-- posted by MaggieM
» Paul_Tyerman - Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by MaggieM:Maggie,
Yeah, I'd love to go and visit them, but those pesky banks have security and all that, and don't let people take the money home for a holiday or ANYTHING . It will be a while until my finances can stretch to a trip to Tasmania, but here's hoping one day. There are a LOT of people I'd love to visit down there now as I have a lot of email friends (and have various bits and pieces from various of their gardens already ) who I'd like to actually meet face to face.
Quarantine means that shipping of bulbs to Oz is a pain unless you have your own quarantine station or know someone you can trust to actually know how to grow them.... an it is somewhat excessively expensive if going through the normal AQIS quarantine, with no guarantees that anything will live through the Methyl Bromide treatments that they give. But, it has kept a lot of pests and diseases away from our shores, and although it is a pain I am very glad we have it. I do so wish I could have taken up the offers that I've had of bulbs from friends overseas...... it nearly made me cry to turn them down in some cases (sob!). I will not bypass it though as it is just too valuable in keeping nasties out of the country.
-- posted by Paul_Tyerman
» Gay_Klok - Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by Paul_Tyerman:Paul
I do like this time of year [better than lateish summer] - the garden is not so crowded, fresh and vulnerable and we inherited dozens and dozens of daffodil - old fashioned types - that pop up in all kinds of places, even though we have tried to shift them over the years to let them bloom in two large sheets of yellow and white. Bulbs travel under the ground, they must!
-- posted by Gay_Klok
» Gay_Klok - Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by MaggieM:Dear Maggie
The summer garden is a hangover from the many years we spent up at Orford [remember Orford?] during the long school holidays - I never planted for a Summer garden, let the trees take centre stage.
Save up that money and come again next year! in Spring! - "K" cannot go on forever even though I have a new partner Kekes!!!!
-- posted by Gay_Klok
» MaggieM - Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
Gay and Paul: It won't be next spring, but its on the "wanta go back there, soon" list. How could we forget Orford? the beach shacks! the crabs! Our own cottage and the black widow spiders (dead, but truly fascinating in the bathroom - I've always loved critters of all sorts). As for your new partner, he's the result of me having to get my "fake" nails re-done, because they were in "garden" mode, not keyboarding mode. I can't tell you how good the claws were for digging and deadheading and other garden chores that would ruin even the shortest of fingernails. No good for typing! Because I am a very bad nail biter (me Mom said I was born chewing them) I'm spending the $ to have them maintained. Jack likes them alot (TEE HEE) Get rid of Kekes, and give me back my Kees!What word from the travellers to France?
Paul - what do you and your family do, other than make a garden that we will come and see when we next come back to OZ -
Love from Jack and Maggie (leaves are starting to fall, they say with the weather we've had this summer that the colours will be better than the last few years - that's at least a month or more away).
-- posted by MaggieM
» Paul_Tyerman - Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by MaggieM:Maggie,
I have a garden maintenance and lawn mowing business, sidelining in selling plants at a local market on ocassions....... well I USED to have a garden maintenance business except I have suffered from Chronic Fatigue now for a few years (badly enough the last couple of years that I have not been able to work) and the business has drawn to a close for an unspecified length of time (i.e until I finally get well again). My wife worked with me, so it has been rather bad for our finances with neither of us working, and Yvonne (my wife) has been looking after me most of the time so she couldn't work either.
Other than that I invite friends over to the garden which allows me to at least catch up with people, and on rare ocassions I go to visit friend's gardens. Unfortunately I can't get up to much as I am unwell so much of the time.
-- posted by Paul_Tyerman
» Gay_Klok - Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
In response to message posted by Paul_Tyerman:I am so angry. It is so awful when people like you are suffering, health wise, and people like Gary [who gives you moments of happiness] have to resign because the management here is so blind that they are killing the Suite with their stupidity
-- posted by Gay_Klok
» MaggieM - Re: Re: Re: Re: Beautiful Photos
Paul, Chronic Fatigue is such an awful thing, and I am amazed as to why it always seems to crop up in very active people. I hope you can beat this thing and get back to your business and life. Thanks for sharing this with me. I have made so many real friends here at the Suite, and your plant knowledge and willingness to "type talk" here makes you one of them! So I will ask again (I think I did this in another discussion) what can I do, who should I direct my rage at to be sure this community survives! Hey - your mind and knowledge and wit is as sharp as ever, I perceive. The body is not performing up to your standards right now, so we have to find you more outlets to keep you stimulated! Give Yvonne a hug for me, and take one for yourself. think about the fact that if you were here, you'd be going into winter (5 months of cold, damp, and more) and your garden is awakening! Love from Maggie and Jack, too.-- posted by MaggieM
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