I’m a fits-and-starts gardener.
Admittedly I don’t have the blackest thumb in the world. I CAN manage to keep some simple fuss-free plants alive. Cacti, for example, tend to flourish for me because I ignore them COMPLETELY, leaving them to the whim of Mother Nature. As a result, they bloom every spring and always surprise me with their short-lived but very showy little flowers.
Lately however, I’ve rediscovered the fun of grubbing about in dirt.
I’d been having a bit of a dry spell with my painting, so casting about for a new distraction, I caught sight of my backyard. I’ve been blessed with a house that has a nice big backyard which used to be a sheep pasture, so the soil is incredibly fertile. When we first moved in, I put in a few small fruit trees, which again, I have thoroughly neglected. I’ve got a few pots of odds and ends, and a random pineapple top from a shop-bought pineapple (Woolworths, no less) shoved into a corner of the garden. Without needing to invest too much effort, I get to harvest some cherry tomatoes, limes, a pineapple or two, mulberries and even the occasional guava or lettuce leaf several times a year.
Brisbane summer 2018 has been extremely punishing. Even with diligent watering, I wasn’t able to keep even these sturdy plants going, so I gave up planting over the hot months, mulched everything and just waited.
With the arrival of cooler weather, I got bitten by a wee gardening bug. I started examining my fruit trees and shrubs a little closer and discover that they are not exactly in the best of health, being covered with sooty mould, scale and all matter of parasites. Bunnings gets more of my income, and I come back with a small supply of assassin’s tools. Everything pruned, branches trimmed back and thoroughly sprayed with stuff to get rid of these bad suckers. My mulberry and citrus trees are not looking so forlorn anymore.
I’ve also decided to treat myself by enlarging my small collection of succulents. It’s been terribly addictive!
Anyway, one of my acquisitions a couple of months ago is this little hanging pot of what is known as “string of pearls”. It’s known for being a little bit fussy, as the pearls will shrivel up if you don’t water it enough, or they will swell up and rot if you water it too much. Needs better treatment than what I’ve been doling out to my cacti, so I hung it up carefully and kept a close eye on it. To my amazement and happy surprise, it put out this little flower one day.
I didn’t know that these flowered! I assume it’s happy where it is, as I see new growth of tiny itsy bitsy pearls, and a few more flower buds coming up. Happily it has a delicate scent. So I make sure to walk up to it each morning, admire its little green pearls, and tentatively sniff at the small bloom….and to remind myself to stop and smell the flowers around me.
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