XeroScape Gardening

San Pedros in Full Flower

2009-05-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

This shot is from mid summer, I think. These San Pedros flowered all summer and so profusely this year it could have been anytime from Dec to March.

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Dracaena Draco

2008-09-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

my favourite Dracaena Draco. I have ten for sale. Each will become a great specimen, eventually growing into a tree. Very tough plant, easily transplanted until about ten years old. The ones for sale are 2-3years old.

plus Aloe pilanties (sp?) and another spectacular aloe.

Been flowering since last autumn

2008-09-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

AGAVE Attenuata Flowering Specimen

2008-09-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

Spectacular long lasting flower. Mine have not flowered in 12 years.

Different plant, just storing notes, which I have Cleistocactus strausii
'The Silver Torch' hardy for any position, but prone to high wind breaking at over six foot. A sheltered position like a fence is an ideal growing position.

and my favourite Dracaena Draco. I have ten for sale. Each will become a great specimen, eventually growing into a tree. Very tough plant, easily transplanted until about ten years old. The ones for sale are 2-3years old.

Found Aloe Flowering

2008-09-04T03:21:00.000-07:00

Discarded and lonely aloe was looking for a home. Sensational flower. Will be multiple flowers next year starting in July/August and flowering in spring.
What is this aloe called?

Red Hot Pokers

2008-07-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

The red hot pockers are looking fantastic this year.
This is the smaller clump growing around a purple cordyline.

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Jade Three

2008-07-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

The mass of pink flowers on this Jade attracts lots of bees. This plant is over 2 metres high.

Jade Two

2008-07-02T02:07:00.000-07:00

This Jade plant is a huge mass of pink flowers.

Bee enjoying Jade

2008-07-02T02:05:00.000-07:00

The Jade plant looks fantastic in flower this time of year. This bee is obviously enjoying the feast.

And finally it flowers

2008-07-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

Finally this succulent is about to burst in to flower. Exciting stuff in my small backyard!
Plants are part of the interwoven thread that has lead me to payconomics.

Same cactus with bee

2008-03-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

If I ever own a slice of country I will set up a cacti garden alongside a bee hive.
I want to taste cacti flower honey before I die.

Do you know the name of this cactus?

Two amazing trumpets

2008-03-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

Two amazing trumpets
These cactus flowers are stunning. I picked the cactus up along with two great aloes the other day. They were left for free on the footpath with many other succulents and cacti.
With Reed and Mia in tow or perhaps towing and little room left in my garden I was happy to leave the dozen or more plants behind that I couldn’t carry. The next day most of the cacti and succulents were gone, but a few new ones had been put out. No room in this garden.

Do you know the name of this cactus?

2008-02-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

Yucca still flowering strongly
This is the second set of flower stalks from this Yucca.
Flowers are just starting to form on my largest Yucca.
This wall of Yucca's flowers for at least three months a year.
I think this one is Yucca Gloriosa

And here are the flowers

2008-02-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a close up of the amazing flowers.
Hopefully you can see the pollen laiden bees.

Plant of the Week Columnar Cactus

2008-02-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

This amazing columnar cactus is covered in bee attracting flowers for at least a couple months a year. I wonder what bee honey would taste like. The large, dinner plate sized flowers are pink tinged and while being a night flowering cactus the flowers do stay open until after lunch.
This plant was a single six foot, two metre column ten years ago. Now it towers over six metres with many columns. I love this cactus and its two little brothers. Yup I have two 2 metre plants which flowered prolifically this year. They can be purchased for two hundred dollars each with free delivery within in Melbourne and parcelled to any where in Australia for the best rate either of us can find.
I happily keep both cacti as they are the only remnants of my tallest plant which was one of two plants from my whole garden which did not survive the mass transplant. As you can imagine moving plants this size or at least a couple years younger was a huge feat. I’d liked to thank Tony, Andrew, Leon, Tony and of course Janet and anyone else who contributed to my moving garden.
If you know the name of the plant can you please let me know via a comment or you can email from www.doyadigit.com

Yucca still flowering strongly

2008-02-07T01:44:00.000-08:00

Yucca
Family: Agavaceae
Botanical name and synonyms: Yucca species
Common Names: Yucca
Yuccas are drought tolerant with dramatic architectural forms and stunning flower heads that suit modern landscaping styles.
There are around 40 species Yucca.
They are native to dry areas of North America.
The flowers are white or cream and organized in panicles.
The branch or the plant that produced the flower does not die after blooming.
The flowers have to be pollinated by the yucca moth to bear fruit.
The frost resistance of Yuccas varies a lot depending on the species, but some are very frost tolerant.
All Yuccas prefer full sun and a good drainage.

Sex in a flower

2008-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

Love it.

2008-01-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Yet another cactus whose name I don't know.
Irresistable.
Love this flower.

2008-01-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

Any idea what cactus this bee is working
its magic on?
It is a glorious specimum
with flowers more beautiful than the San Pedro
and a more striking form which looks
like it will support 6-8mts.
The flowers stay open all morning and the fringing
pink is cool.
Prolific for a couple months.

Pineapple Lilies continue to look stunning

2008-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Pineapple Lilies continue to look stunning
Love them lilies.

Pineapple Lily Again

2008-01-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Georgeous, very stunning floweriong bulb
at home in an exoctic garden
This is my first ever Plant of the Week. The Pineapple Lily.
Here is the best info from google's first page
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/bulbs_and_plants/114280

Pineapple Lilly

2008-01-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

Pineapple Lilly
These gorgeous lilies flower annually with this beautiful pineapple like flower.
The pineapple lilly is a stunning bulb, easy to grow and will multiply readily.
Bulbs from this plant will be sold at www.doyadigit.com from April.

2008-01-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure of the name of this amazing columnar flowering cacti,
but I love it.
The flowers are incredible.
If you know the name please leave a comment.
Jeff gave me the orginal column for my 30th and
Jeremy gave me another a year later
after his son had tried to hack it to bits.
Growing cacti is easy and
they are the best drought tolerant plants around.

www.doyadigit.com for your cacti needs
www.scissorsforstylists.com.au for your hairdressing scissors

Daughter's View

2008-01-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

A wall of San Pedros, Trichocereus panchanoi, as seen by my daughter. These San Pedro are hardy plants and as you can see the three large plants in the photo have flourished outside in Melbourne.If you’re interested in getting into these ancient Peruvian sacred cacti, head to www.doyadigit.com for more tips. The flowers of this species are absolutely spectacular, the next picture should be a close up of the flowers in this.

2008-01-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

The large plant is a picture of the mother plant. San Pedros are hardy plants and as you can see the two large plants in the photo have flourished outside in Melbourne.

If you’re interested in getting into these ancient Peruvian sacred cactuses, head to www.doyadigit.com for more tips. The flowers of this species are absolutely spectacular.
The San Pedro Cactus (Trichocereus panchanoi) is the most common and well known of the Trichocereus and can be found naturally in the Andes of Peru and Ecuador. The San Pedro Cactus is a very hardy and easy to grow branching columnar cactus with 4 – 8 ribs. They often grow over a foot per year and can reach heights of over 5 metres when planted in the ground.
Trichocereus Pachanoi has been known for over 3000 years and there is evidence to suggest cultivation of Trichocerus Pachanoi in Peru from 2200 B. C.

www.doyadigit.com

Massive flowers

2007-12-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

I don't recall teh name of this cactus,
but the flowers are spectacular
every year
there are more flowers
these three flowers are all on the one branch

Looking in

2007-12-24T02:31:00.000-08:00

Bee heaven
open wide
fertilise me

www.doyadigit.com

2007-12-24T02:26:00.000-08:00

Close by www.doyadigit.com is being incubated
J is bubbling with excitement for www.scissorsforstylists.com.au
and still the blossoms come

Do Ya Dig It

2007-12-17T00:57:00.001-08:00

www.doyadigit.com
Features San Pedro and other exotic cacti and succulents

Euphorbia stenoclada

2007-09-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

Upclose with the prickly beast

Princess gum flower

2007-09-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

Eucalyptus caesia 'Silver Princess'

with bee

Native garden looks amazing in Spring

2007-09-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Native flower - gorgeous, must look its name up

Aloe plicatilis Fan Aloe fan flower

2007-09-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.greenhillspropagation.com.au/plantdetail.php?pid=404

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/aloeplicatilis.htm

Aloe forex up close

2007-09-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

Tim's digital

Stunning Colour

2007-01-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Flower over Form

2007-01-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

Spring flowering in an arid garden

2006-10-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Rules are amde to be broken

2006-10-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

I sit front and centre in the Form Over Flower camp; however, as with all things there are exceptions and the cute flowers on this diminutive cactus are wonderful.

Show me the flowers

2006-10-16T23:28:00.001-07:00

Aloe finishes flowering

2006-10-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Aloe pilanties (sp?) at night in wattlebird delight flowers

2006-09-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a much better day time shot of its trunk.

Dracaena Draco at night

2006-09-25T03:14:00.000-07:00

bird of paradise strelitzia

2006-09-21T04:13:00.000-07:00

salvaged bird os paradise florishing in my garden, another four flowers this year makes ten flowers,4,4,2 since I rescused it from a residential development site clear. Credit to the guys they delivered it into the right position for $50, a bargain for a huge three people required plant like this. Massive root system. Said to be hard to transplant, though haven't checked the vorasity of that yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia
http://www.clemson.edu/charleston/local/bird/bopspecies.htm
http://tinyurl.com/p42yn University of Florida pdf

Budding Aloe Ferox

2006-07-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

The wattle birds and I are both excited to see the Aloe Ferox preparing to flower in it's new home.

Jade in full flower

2006-06-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Our Jade plant looks wonderful most times and in full flower it looks huge and magnificient.

Aloe Starting to Flower

2006-06-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite flowerings of the year is this Aloe forex flowering. I only noticed the flower bud starting while on our roof fixed the sunlizard.

Small and beautiful

2006-06-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

This tiny flowering native is a real stunner. The flowers are so small you could miss them, but once glanced your eye will be drawn to their beauty.

Dracaena draco seedlings

2006-05-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

Pretty boring picture of seedlings. My excitment lies in that these are from seeds off my Dracaena draco. Seeds I collected after this flowering. This is the second seed tray, the first is planted out along with a dozen or two other free sewn Draco seedlings. I will have my Draco forest. For now I'll plan a boulevard leading to my shed.

Aloe Trunk

2006-05-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

I love the trunk on this Aloe pillanties (sp?). I have grown this Aloe from one small branch. Love it now and look forward to seeing it grow over the next ten years. Kids are a danger to the well being of this plant. I know kids are a risk, so if damage occurs I should quietly weep rather than grind the kid in to breakfast cereal topping (sorry in-joke I have with Reed)

Jade bringing pink to our world

2006-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Taken today 17 May, the Jade has been in flower since Reed's 5th birthday party. That was a great day. It's wonderful seeing our children and my garden growing in to such wonderful living beings.

Aloe Aloe What have we 'ere

2006-05-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

This monster Aloe is flourished since being moved, it now dominates the path entrance to the shed. Love it. Seeing wattle birds balance on its flower stem in Spring brings much happiness.

Is time relevant

2006-03-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

Oringinally posted at http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=23909713&post=true
Take this post for example. You could be reading this anytime form now. So is future time irrelevant to this post, or is it the only time that is relevant. If it could be any future time then maybe all points in time are irrelevant but time itself is relevant. What does this mean for us? I'm not sure except that I have not thought enough about time and if you have please share your thoughts.

I know that when I look at a plant, I often see it in many forms, at many points in time, for example I see my Dracaena draco, http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/Dracaena.draco.cfm, as the plant it is now, as a seddling and as a mature specimum ten years from now. This confirms that it possible to envisage life without linear time, life without a series of points on a line. Just like a candle graph has more detail than a line graph, the candle letting you move around within the single point on a line; maybe we could perceive life more like that.

The final placements

2006-02-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

I hope today hearalded the final placement of the major plants. Garden layered front to back; water, salads, cacti, succulents, herbs and cacti.

Form over flower

2006-01-25T19:14:00.000-08:00

Form over Flower features in my list of twenty things that define me. Though seeing amazing flowers like this Pineapple lilly in my garden does make me re-examine my position.

Close up on Cactus Flower

2006-01-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

These flowers are so amazing and while other gardens are wilting in 40 celius plus my garden is flourishing.

Anyone for Cactus Honey

2006-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

My large cacti are busy adding flower to form. They entice the local bees deep in to their compex flowers.

Yucca, home to Blackbirds

2006-01-19T03:46:00.000-08:00

Three Blackbird chicks at home in Yucca

2006-01-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

These three Blackbird chicks grew up so fast, that I missed their first flight. Their mum and dad nested in the yucca plant that you can see above.

2005-05-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Plants are all moved ready for the renovation. Special thanks to Newtsie, Joanie, Tony D and Leon for moving muscle. Two thrids of the palnts are in their final homes, the other third have been cleared to for the builders.

Aloe loving new freedom

2005-04-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

Aloe. One of the first plants moved and it loves its new home. Hopefully it will enjoy its next move just as much. Such is the way of dynamic plans.

A feast ignored

2005-04-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

and still the birds ignore the feast. The fruit has burst open splaying itself for all to feast on and yet no-one is coming to dine.

Wanna buy a plant

2005-04-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

all the plants you see are for sale if the price is right.

One garden bed spreads out

2005-04-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

One garden bed spreads out over the garden and hidden stones uncovered now dominant.

Undiscovered Fruit

2005-04-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

The first bird to discover this friut is in for a feast.

2005-04-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

Back garden in transition. All of the plants here and been moved from the other side of the garden. Yes it almost killed me and several friends and family, but it was worth the effort.

2005-03-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

Yucca's autumn flower, the second flower for the year. These flowers glow with Luminescence.

Dracena Draco

2005-03-14T02:51:00.000-08:00

Dracena Draco in full flower. I am waiting for the berries to ripen to collect the seed to plant for my draco forest before I move this last remaining plant to its new home front and centre of the new garden.

Got a garden to move?

2005-03-14T02:46:00.000-08:00

How do you move a garden like that around your property? It seemed everyone was an expert, but levers, pulleys and strength of many people was the solution. This garden bed has been walked all over the back yard without any fatalities.

2005-03-14T02:41:00.000-08:00

The crowd before the move

Aloe Ferox Feast

2005-03-14T02:39:00.000-08:00

Aloe ferox provides a feast for the wattle birds.

Strelitzia reborn

2005-03-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

The kids and I rescued this bird of paradise from the back of a truck around the road. I gave them $50 and they drove around and delivered this large section right away. Said to be hard to transplant, but digger removal and my tender care had this flowering within months.

2005-03-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

Yucca yucca yucca

Inner beauty

2005-03-14T02:12:00.000-08:00

Exploring the inner beauty.Morning sun through a pedro flower.

Balance is the word

2005-03-14T02:10:00.000-08:00

The Xeroscape garden that surrounds my house balances natives with even more arid resitant plants from the Americas and Africa. Bees don't take the time to check if the plants are from around these parts, they know a good feast when they see it flowering.

What way is your blog organised

2005-03-14T01:33:00.000-08:00

Is this the first or last post you are reading at XeroScape Gardening? What way did I organise my posts and what way did you decide to read them. You can see the answer to the first part of the question so why do my posts recede in time, while most diaries move forward in time? Are you reading from first to last or last to first? Knowing the answers to why you and others do things the way they do, no mater how small is an excellent path to follow while seeking constant improvement.

In one week we lost our two big trees. One front, way front, out on the nature strip a Paperbark was partly wounded by the storm, then slain by the council. One back, our borrowed eucalypt, rising high fron our neighbour's property, giving us shade and leading our eye to the sky, when in flower a resting point and feast for bats, was buzzed, shredded and burnt. People were afraid, very afraid of that tree.

This place in the wired world is all about Xeroscape gardening in Melbourne, Australia and where ever else I be.