Saturday 7 November 2020

GPE #4 : Dinahmow's Down Under Jungle

Welcome to the fourth garden of the

10th Anniversary  I N F O M A N I A C  Garden Photos Event 

 We have journeyed to the southern hemisphere to take in the exotic delights of Dinahmow's garden on the east coast of Queensland, Australia where Dinah can often be found "wafting about the yard in my Morrissy Florrissy gown.  Maybe in a sun bonnet with a cute little trug on my arm."*
 First on the agenda is Dinah's triffid, followed by a rant about bananas(?!), and then some choice specimens from her subtropical surroundings...

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 You're welcome to use this, rusty chains an' all, in your triffid collection. I'll try for a photo showing the miniscule flowers. 

[IDV - I happened to mention that the little/normal leaves made me think it was some type of Hoya, and this is what Dinahmow came back with:] 

 Hoya-arghh! Bloody ants! I did have a Hoya, but ants totally wrecked it. I think there may have been one flower... 

 You do know they will NOT flower unless pot-bound? That said, mine should have romped away, but the ants were sheer hell. And I do not spray nasties so... 

 Now, about the Dischidia...I did snap a pic of the flowers; not easy with the wind going bananas on the Beaufort scale. Oh! Bananas... that's another thing! I may come back to England ... where bananas are not a problem! The ones we have in this garden are commonly known as "lady fingers" and I'm not sure why; I'd say they are more like short, fat, man fingers. Anyway, this is the only variety allowed for back yard gardens. The Cavendish, grown commercially, is far superior. But the Man actually LIKES these horrid things! Fine, he can eat them with his breakfast fruit. But any banana plant is horror in a small yard.

 Here's the teeny weeny flower approx .5cm of the Dischidia pectinoides. You can see some of the seed pods (My chap calls them turtle shells) beginning to form.

[Clockwise from top left:] 
1. Dischidia pectinoides  
2. Dwarf heliconia (crab claw) 
3. Tacca (bat plant) 
4. Zyzgium wilsonii - renamed by Jon "Drag Queen"  


 

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5. Green Ice callistemon

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6. Petrea volubilis (sandpaper vine)

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7. partly-open Drag Queen

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8. "Abraham Darby" rose

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9. one of the Zygos

 I'll stop now as I have had a very slack year in the garden and missed much of the best.

 
* All lies, of course, but the image is prettier than the truth!  Elderly woman in grubby denim, stuffing flowers into a daggy old plastic bucket.  Oh! and wearing purple [redacted], but don't tell MJ!

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 Well, that was certainly very informative and exotic, Dinahmow!  As a little treat (because I know you like him - and what's not to like?  Phwoaaarrr!), may I present the lovely Rob Smith fingering a moist, dark pot, and getting his kit off for World Naked Gardening Day!  


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  Next on the 10th Anniversary Infomaniac Garden Photos Event is Mitzi's new lanai and a sad story of a bungled rose propagation operation!

31 comments:

  1. Good heavens! All of this is very exotic, although the Green Ice callistemon looks like it might double up as a loo brush.
    Bananas? Drag Queens? And Lady Fingers - as I said very exotic, and very hot house. I must visit.
    Sx

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    1. Well, the callistemon is also known as the "bottle-brush" plant, but I'm sure it could double as a loo brush, too.

      As for bananas, drag queens, and Lady Fingers - I think it sounds more like Mistress Maddie's place! But, yes, I'd love to visit, too.

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  2. All this talk around here of Jon's back passage, Mistress Maddie's rosebud, Miss Scarlet's bush,, and now Dinah with her bananas, and Rob Smith fingering a moist, dark pot. What kind of event IS this?

    And when is that "partly-open" drag queen gonna spread 'em?

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    1. Don’t forget Dinah’s down under jungle! Bet Dinah knows a thing or two about bushcraft.
      Sx

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    2. What kind of event is this? Seems it has The Mistresses prints all over it.
      (Have mild suspicions as to what was dabbed on the blotter)

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    3. Anyone would think we've been hanging around Infomaniac for too long...

      Oh. Wait... We have!

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    4. Let's not forget about MJ'S full blown bloom!!!!! Complete with seeds.

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    5. "and when is that "partly-open" drag queen gonna spread 'em? a better question is when are mistress maddies legs not spread open?

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    6. I've always thought that Mistress Maddie was very welcoming, and certainly accomodating!

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    7. I see some of you picking seeds out of your teeth from my full blown bloom.

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    8. Well MJ, you could at least offer up some dental floss.....

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    9. Dental floss?
      *tosses g-string at Maddie*

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  3. Fantabulosa! It's like a visit to the Palm House at Kew Gardens, but in the wild...

    Drag queens, fingering, nakedness and extravagant bushes seems to be "the new normal".

    Jx

    PS I would love to be able to grow that Petrea vine!

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    Replies
    1. Be careful what you wish, Jon. It is nigh on impossible to eradicate.

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    2. It's a good job we're all so au fait with this "new normal" - It makes for an easier transition.

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    3. Dinah - apparently all the climbers we already grow - Asarina, Ipomoea, Thunbergia and Cobea - are invasive in Australia and NZ. I somehow doubt Petrea would even grow outdoors here, let alone take over the neighbourhood... Jx

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    4. Life shares its tragedies...

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    5. Indeed - at some stage in the Victorian era, someone thought it was a great idea to grow fabulous "exotics" such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed in the UK. Oops. Jx

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  4. Oh, bananas. Everyone thinks they're lovely and exotic looking, but I know from New Orleans experience they crowd everything else out, the fronds always look tattered and ratty, and they turn into black mush at the thought of frost.

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    1. I agree, Mysterious Stranger. I used to love the exotic look of a banana plam/tree until I got one. Small though it was, and in a sheltered position, the leaves spaghettified in the lightest of breezes, making it look tatty and miserable. To punish it, I did leave it outside for the winter - there was nothing left by spring...

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  5. Oh, sorry, I forgot I'm not signed in from my phone. That anonymous is me, mrpeenee.

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    1. Ah, mrpeenee! I'm glad you came again as I meant to include links to some examples of UK-grown bananas in my reply above, but forgot. So, here they are (although, they're not as bananary as I remembered): From July and August 2009.

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  6. By damned, I just knew that Dinah's garden would please and bring some exotica. And didn't disappoint. Im also relived to see that Dinah's triffid picture was an actual plant and not a S&M picture sent in error.

    Now that Green Ice callistemon sure looks like the brush the houseboys use to clean the loo here.....and who is this Rob fellow dear? You holdin out on me Mr Tallglass of Water??????

    Back to celebrating now........

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    1. Ah, it seems you missed my post about Rob showing off his purple ring, Maddie! I think you'll have to fight Dinah for him, though...

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    2. Oh my. how did I miss that post!?!?!?!?!? If he like allotments, I'll give him an allotment he can come and tend too.

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  7. my personal favorite was the sandpaper vine. look to be fragrant. perfect for a powder room.

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    1. I hope you have a large powder room, Ms Moorecock, as I've just read that the sandpaper vine (or Queen's wreath) can grow up to 12 metres tall and six metres across!

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    2. Keep it well away from the tender skins exposed in powder rooms!!!A tendril whipped around my neck(in the car port, not the powder room)and left a painful red line. as if I
      'd been almost strangled.

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  8. The trees are dropping their autumn leaves here like billyo, creating a bleak landscape, nice to see a bit of colour again. However, the drag queen looks like the coronavirus reminding me of the current situation we're all in, burn her, burn her!

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Tickle my fancy, why don't you?