ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD...

 

I am becoming a plantaholic.

 

Loosely defined:

·        I can no longer drive past a plant nursery, garage sale or store where lowest prices are just the beginning, without nipping in to purchase a potted gem.

·        At weekend markets, I ignore the fruit, veg, crocheted toilet roll covers, other peoples junk and bric-a-brac and make a beeline for the palms and shrubs.

      
Plus  (and I cringe as I write this)

      ·        …I have been known to knock on complete strangers doors to ask about a particular plant in their garden. One lady even gave me a cutting (I think she was relieved I wasn’t selling anything or asking for a donation for the church roof.)

It’s a ferocious addiction.

 

 

 

The other day I went a bit stir crazy at a palm and bromeliad sale.

 

Ian seemed a little nervous as he helped me unload the car of greenery.

‘More plants?’ he asked.

 

I explained to him that tropical gardens don’t grow on trees and that we need all these plants for the new garden bed.

‘What new garden bed?’

‘The one we’re digging out the back.’

It’s true. You cannot have a tropical garden without exotic garden beds.  They hide fences and create illusions. I know this; I’ve been doing the research. And out the back is one ugly fence.

So some of the lawn has to go.

 

The next morning we get to work.

The ground is hard and dry, so we soak it well, edge it with rocks and layer a few inches of the newspaper that I have been saving for this very purpose. Then some commercial poultry pellets, a couple of bales of lucerne and we top it all off with a thick layer of cane mulch.

 

 

I should wait for it all to break down before planting out, but I am not good at waiting. Make hay while the sun shines, I say, and it’s certainly been beaming down lately.

 

The finished result is not quite as lush as I was hoping, but give it time and maybe a few more plants…?