Wednesday, July 10, 2013

North Moreton Qld Orchid Council Inc Show

Mormolyca hedwigiae
Hey Everyone,
Boy have I been busy, here was me thinking that the holidays would be the perfect time to catch up on blog posts.... nup, when I wasn't gardening, or driving around adventuring in my car, then I was working to earn money to buy more plants or pay for fuel to do more driving around in my car :) hehehe.



Well, as some of you may remember, I mentioned here, and here, I visited the North Moreton Qld Orchid Council Inc Show and the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and boy was it AMAZING!  I took heaps of photos too, so without further ado, here are some of the lovelies that I saw.....


Pterostylis tenuicauda
Oncidium Twinkle 'Fragrance Fantasy'
Spathoglottis Premier x bulbosa
Mediocalcar decoratum
Tolumnia Capalaba Sun
Dendrobium archipelagense
Pleurothallis matudana
Dendrobium Alick Dockrill
Dendrobium spectabile
Camaridium cucullatum
Camaridium cucullatum
Dendrochilum luzonense
Dendrobium affine
Coelogyne rumphii

Bulbophyllum Herlyn's Delight

Well, I guess it's time for me to say "Happy Gardening", and I'm off to bed,
Michael

p.s. More photos from the show and gardens still to come

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Really Cool Plant: Ruscus hypoglossum


Hey Everyone,
Yeah, yeah, I know, I promised Botanic Garden photos, and they still aren't coming... hopefully tomorrow night I'll sit and write something :), but for now... my cool plant...

I was given this plant last year by one of my friends in my orchid society, and she told me that she'd gotten it, named as "Dinosaur Plant" from a friend of her's way back when, and she's had it ever since.  Well, after a bit of searching, and the wonderful help of a dear friend of mine, I got it identified as Ruscus hypoglossum.  I've been doing a bit of research on it (yeah, I know, big surprise on that fact) and I've learnt a heap of stuff.



The plant was absolutely covered in flowers
What I thought were it's leaves are in fact Phylloclades, which are pretty much flattened stems that look, and act like leaves, and that the weird "trapdoor-thingies" as I've been so scholarly calling them, are in fact it's true leaves.

The only thing this beauty has in common with my beloved orchids is that they are both classified, way back there, as being Asparagales, but that's about their closest commonality.

Now, this lovely plant here, is apparently native to Western Europe all the way through to Iran.  It's common name is Butchers Broom because apparently the butchers used to use the bunches of these to scrub their benches and floors.  And according to Cambridge, Caesar's Laurel Crown was made of this same species.

Some places say is flowers in spring, some say in summer, some say autumn, but in my shade house, I've seen if flower all year round, and sequentially blooms on the same flower spikes, so don't remove them.
Well, I'm off to bed,
Happy Gardening,
Michael

Monday, July 1, 2013

Sleepy Sunday

The Tropical Dome at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens
Dendrochilum luzonense
Hey Everyone,
Just a quick post today.
Today has been one of those blissful rainy days when you get to rug up warm, and do something relaxing... Or at least it usually is.  I dug out part of the chook's pen today to try get rid of the mud, and I'll finish doing it when the weather permits, then I'll replace it with a nice deep layer of bark chip, which should take ages to break down, and stop the place turning to a slipper, poop filled quagmire, which would be lovely!  While I was doing that the rain picked up so I tidied up and took refuge in the shade house, and did a bit of pottering, and a bit more re-arranging, I'm trying to get everything looking nice and organised... I might achieve that one day... maybe.  Then this afternoon when I'd gotten so cold I couldn't feel any of my appendages I came inside and did one of the weirdest things... I acted my age and...*Queue dramatic music*... played a video game!  It was so odd, but I nice change, but I couldn't have been able to sit still long enough if it hadn't been raining, so I enjoyed it :D

Well, that's about all to report on, so I'll share some photos from yesterday, and toddle off to bed, I'm working tomorrow, so I should hopefully earn some money to buy fuel to go on more adventures, or to feed my many botanical addictions :)

Happy Gardening,
Michael
I thought this was very cool, smelt delicious (inside the pot was a twig)


Arid Area of the Bromeliad and Cactus House
Dendrobium spectabile, one of my favourite species
Pterostylis tenuicauda
Dinema polybulboa