New Winter Rose

We were nursery hopping yesterday, and I finally succumbed and bought myself a new Hellebore. I had to - it was in a purple pot! (Glad I don't use that rule all the time, as I would have bought some truly awful plants).

This one is Mrs Betty Ranicar - a double white.

I am just waiting for my others to come into flower, that I bought in April from Post Office Farm Nursery. And I bought a couple of others yesterday at Big W - a white and a white with a pink flush, which I don't think will flower this year.

If I get them all in the same bed, they are well-known for being promiscuous and hybridising happily. Could be fun.

As for the rest of my garden - it is very weedy, as I have been missing in action on other projects. But I do have two beds almost ready for the tommies - except we are still getting frosts, so not yet. And one of the beds needs a lot of gypsum still.

But all my daffodils are out, and are rather beautiful. Once again I need to list what is where, so I can get rid of a few more of the fairly ordinary ones.

But it is definitely the time of the year when getting out into the garden is wonderful fun.

First Jonquil

Life has been too busy lately, and my garden is showing it. But when it stops raining on my gardening days, I will be back to it soon.

But I just have to stop by to ecord I have my first jonquil flower - and no camera handy!!!!

And it was one of those white ones, not the ones that are usually the first.

Strange.

Green Beans etc

Right at this time of year, I have green beans (I only grow climbing ones), but not a lot, from my second planting. I generally want to preserve some - my favourite mix is green beans, carrot, cauliflower and capsicum, brined and then into vinegar - see picture.

The problem is I never have enough for a big batch, so then I remembered how they were done when I was a child. They were just picked daily, as they mature quickly, and thrown into a stone crock with salt, and brined. They kept for months - they were just thoroughly rinsed and cooked as per normal.

So I have been picking beans, throwing them into abig glass (ie inert) bottle with salt (I haven't got to the stone crocks yet, although I still have them). When I get enough I then add the other three veggies, and brine the lot overnight and then bottle in spiced vinegar the next day.

Why this comes to mind at the minute, is yesterday I had a magic moment. We have been though a long and difficult medical process with my mother over the past two years, and at the same time a former workmate has had an identical series of appointments, and we kept meeting in towns many hours drive from home with out mothers. Mary's mother is Macedonian.

Yesterday was the last appointment, and we added a very feisty elderly German woman and her daughter to the mix, as we all waited for appointments running an hour and a half late. Mary's Mum was a very avid veggie gardener and put a lot of sauce and preserves down. And so did the German lady and her daughter. So there we were, discussing methods in all countries, swapping recipes (although Mary's Mum and I started this a few appointments ago) and engaging in general hilarity.

The long-term brineing of green beans was common in Germany, not heard of in Macedonia. So I asked my mother where she got it from, as it doesn't seem to be something common. "Did you learn it from your Mother?". "No - your father taught me it".

Conversation just kept getting louder and louder in the waiting room, everyone was throwing in recipes and tips, and it was almost a disappointment when we got our time with the specialist.

Has anyone else struck long-term bringing of green beans as a way of preserving them? Curious minds want to know.

And if anyone wants details of exactly how these veggies are bottled - drop me a line.

Catching up again

I have heaps of catching up to do - the Wanderers have hatched and flown while I wasn't watching, we have eaten our last tomatoes, and still have cucumbers and beans. Capsicums were a failure this year. Maybe they wanted watering.

But my big news is that I got to the Garden Show in Melbourne, for a couple of hours, and had a lovely walk around in the rain and wind.

And bought myself three Hellebores - I love Hellebores. And now that I have found a webpage for Post Office Farm Nursery at Woodend, I may be impoverished for ever. If you have a look at this page, I got the blackish, the plum-purple and the white.

The Garden Show was interesting - I haven't been for years. Lots and lots of places selling the same bulbs (only one had anything resembling a white daffodil or blue ixia, and do you think now I can remember which it was), and not a packet of seeds to be seen. Lots of trendy stonework stuff and things like that.

But speaking of white daffodils - look what I found yesterday in Go-Lo. Not pure white, but very nice. And the price, being Go-Lo, was also very nice - $2.99 for 3.5 bulbs. I just hope they grow.

Kitsch in the Garden

Sometimes a girl just gotta do what a girl gotta do.

I went to the Lions Garage Sale a week or so ago, and just had to take this home for fifty cents. I don't have a lot of ornaments in the garden - three dragons and one gargoyle, all carefully hidden.

This one is a light plastic biscuit barrel, and I reckon if I fill it with stones and carefully secrete it somewhere in the garden it will last for a couple of years before it disintegrates.

And will be little bit of fun for just about the right amount of time.

What do others reckon???? Bearing in mind that my garden is definitely a Gnome-free zone. I infinitely prefer quirky ornaments rather than mass-produced ones.

(And all Fairy Fishing rods gone - and there were lots - some went to work with me Tuesday, and the rest went to a trading table for Save the Children. Now, what will I dig out this week - it makes a change from cucumbers to give away).

Fairy Fishing Rods

Maureen was asking for more details - It is Dierama pulcherrimum - one of the Iridaceae. There is a picture in the link. It has bulbs a little like Gladioli, and they stack up, one on top of another. My beloved, who dug them out for me, reckons they had been there ten years, by his count of the bulbs - I think it was more like fifteen!

And, on a sadder note - my beloved was helping me today by doing some whipper-snipping. And Mary Queen of Scots has just been beheaded for the second time. Think I will have to put some worthwhile markers up. :(

More in the Barrow

I've just been putting more out in the barrow. There is a magnificent white iris, and a semi-dwarf mauve one. Both are beautiful.

Tomorrow, with any luck, there is going to be a real lot of pink Fairy Fishing Rod going out. I need to move it out of the shade and divide it up.

Catapillars are Pupae

Well, that was quick!

Thursday I was sure there was nothing there.

Friday there were catapillars.

Yesterday they had almost all disappeared. I was hoping the birds hadn't got them.

Then I found this one:

It had attached itself to the outside power point I use for the mulcher, and could not be gently removed. The tail was attached, and it hung thee all day in this position. I was watching it, and wanted to see exactly how it pupated. Late last night it was still like that.

And this morning it was like this:

I have found two more hidden in a nearby Rosemary bush.

I just hope I am around when they come out, but I don't like my chances. These ones are sneaky.

And I had to use that power point yesterday. I hope it doesn't produce some sort of "Super Monarch