GBBD - May 2013 - A Groaning Garden

Hey Everyone,
Long time no speak.  My school work, as predicted, has exploded out of all proportion, with several thousand long essays and assignments due left right and centre I've barely had any time for gardening, and It's absolutely killing me.  As winter is almost upon us the garden is slowing down, and just about to groan to a halt... good thing it is because otherwise it would be way out of hand by now with the lack of care it's getting.  The Phallies got moved into the house a month or so back to escape the cold, and the Masdies/Pleuros... or at least the ones that are left, got moved out into the shade house to appreciate the cold.  I'm now doing the task of moving things around, getting them into the right positions for winter, trying to give the cold ones the coldest spots possible, and trying to keep the warm growers as warm as possible.  And to top it off some have to stop getting watered, other have to start getting water, etc. etc. and that's just in the shade house, let alone in the rest of the garden.  I still have to whipper-snip around the fenceline of the paddock so that I can turn the electric fence back on, and bring my sister's horses down to get the grass in the paddock under control, I'm worried that the ticks and snakes are about to move back into the yard, and I'd like to tidy it up a bit so it can appreciate the last of the rain before the dry season comes on through again.  I've then got to finish tidying up behind the Garden Wall so that then I can get to wood pile area back in order and use again, but I have to figure out how to do so without disturbing the Bandicoot that lives back there too much.  I then have to move the wood from where it got dumped, over to the wood pile area, so then I can free up the garden it got dumped in so then I can plant the roses in there, and then there's the fifty million other jobs that I've got to do... oy vey, all this along with school work...  But at least the bulbs are starting to come above ground... oh god, that reminds me, I have about 30 bulbs to take out of the fridge and stick in the dirt, should I ever get a chance to do that...

Last night I finished my 6000+ word Study of Religions essay at 10:00pm and decided that screw it, I was going down to the shade house wether it killed me or not... just a word of warning, going down to a shade house, with lots of hanging pots right at head hight, and the floor strewn with all kinds of trip-able things is not a bright idea when you're using the light from your iPhone to see.... I nearly DIED! LOL.  I'd take a step forward and hit my head on a pot of Dendrobium chalmersii, took a step back and slipped on a heap of Lomandra longifolia seedlings that I got given, fell down, put my hand out to break my fall and squished an Echeveria aquarius, then stood back up again and hit my head on the Dendrobium chalmersii pot again... it pretty much just followed that kind of pattern while I was down there... hit this, react and hit something else, react bump something else, etc.  And just as I got everything moved out of the way, and made the shade house safe, I got bowled over by our Giant Schnauzer who was chasing a RAT! Now I know what ate my Dendrobium lichenastrum... >:(



Well, whilst not nearly being killed by my plants or the dog, I had some really nice surprises, my nose led me to my Angraecum eburneum that was has flowered for the first time since I got it 6 months ago.

After sniffing my way to the Angraecum, I then turned around and got hit in the head by the flowers of my Laelia anceps, that I had the pot sitting on a bucket on the floor... and yes, the spike his me directly in the face, it has a 5 FOOT LONG SPIKE!,... I have a feeling that I won't be taking that to the next EDOS meeting...

Well, here are the rest of the flowers that were on show last night:

Encyclia cochleata

One of my paph buds, I've never
seen this flower before

One of my Tolumnias is going to flower :D

Phragmipedium Calurum

Coelogyne trinervis

Mormolyca rigens

My itty bitty baby Haraella

Ascocenda miniatum

Zelonkoa onusta

Dendrobium Maui Rose

All those new growths are indicative of flowers to come :D

Dendrobium biggibum, the flowers are a bit worse for wear due to the bumps and bruises

My new Dendrobium tetragonum, I'm so excited about it.... please ignore the mess...

Nepenthes Gothica

And of course now is the time of year when Bulbophyllum longissimum, and of course so does Bulbo. rothschildianum, as well as Bulbo. Elizabeth Ann, a hybrid of the two

Well, I guess I'd best get back to studying... wish me luck that maybe in the not-so-distant future I may get the chance to garden once more...


Happy Growing,
Michael

p.s. I forgot to mention that I'm joining the wonderful Carol from May Dreams Garden for this wonderful Garden Bloggers Bloom Day :D