During July I borrowed some tools to sharpen the saws I inherited. Some are Dad’s original ones, others are Mum’s gardening saws, as well as her secateurs. I learnt how to sharpen the secateurs at a gardening workshop some time back, which was very helpful as I have four pairs! It’s handy having a pair inside by the back door and one outside in a sheltered spot ready for use. I don’t know about you, but I love chopping things back, tidying thing up and generally being a bit snip-happy around the garden.
After seeing how it was done on Gardening Australia, I thought I might have a go at sharpening the saws. My friend Don from church lent me a vice. Sharpening the secateurs doesn’t take long but a saw with its many teeth is another matter. By the end of the month, I still hadn’t started to tackle the task, although I was going to get onto it several times – but just didn’t. In the meantime I decided to remove the invasive ground creeper I had planted near our letterboxes. It was perfect at the time, being drought-tolerant and once established needed no care, except to be trimmed. It even survived being crushed by the bins, which occasionally were accidently dragged over it. Unfortunately, in the end it was a little too invasive and started to grow through my grevillea, yes up into the branches! I wasn’t expecting that, so it had to go. Then was the quandary of what I would replace it with, something that was just as hardy and low maintenance.
Not far from me, on a very hot exposed verge, was growing casuarina glauca or Cousin It. I thought this would be perfect as well as unique and a bit quirky. They were also very elusive. I eventually bought the remaining six from a nursery some distance from me. A friend from church, Glenda, and I had planned to visit the nursery to pick them up but as she was up that way earlier, offered to pick them up for me while she was there. That Sunday before planting them out I was chatting to Lorna, also from church, who I knew had bought some for their garden. I’m glad I did, for she told me of the serious problem casuarinas can have on surrounding plants. Casuarinas have allopathic properties which is a biological phenomenon where one plant inhibits the growth of another. Most allopathic plants store their protective chemicals within their leaves. As leaves drop to the ground and decompose, these toxins can affect nearby plants. Some plants also release toxins through their roots, which are then absorbed by other plants and trees, killing them.
I was very concerned for the other plants in my garden, so called the nursery where I bought them asking if they knew about this phenomena and if so why weren’t buyers forewarned. After inquiring about what plants I had which might withstand this chemical attack I was pleasantly surprised to hear that bottle brushes should be ok. I hope so! I then decided to sell all bar two, one of which I’ve planted in a pot which I’ll be keeping on the pavers. The other replaced the ground cover I had removed near the bottlebrush. A third one I sold to my neighbour and the other three, although I could return them to the nursery, I thought I’d try to sell online. Within hours I had sold the lot. Praise the Lord! One person was desperate to buy them but just missed out! She asked if I could please keep an eye out for more and let her know if I found any.
Between rain storms, I have been preparing the soil in front of my lounge window, to replace the roses that died when I transferred them there at the wrong time of the year. These were my two favourite ones from Mum’s garden. My very favourite is called Lagerfeld which has a highly fragrant, large, silvery-lilac-blue flower. I have been looking high and low to replace it and it seems everyone USED to have it years ago but no longer. After trying all the local nurseries, I called some of the specialised rose suppliers, leaving messages or emails. I finally found one that supplied them. “Yes, of course we have them” was the response I received. I then invited a few friends to join me for the drive, as this rose nursery was nearly an hour south. Glenda and Brenda, who also love gardening, joined me for the outing.
To make the outing complete, we stopped off for lunch enroute. At the China Rose Nursery was a paddock of potted roses of all types and varieties. We were greeted by a very friendly Jack Russell puppy and shown around by her owner. After selecting my rose bush, I was also given some planting tips and advised to leave the pruning till after the last buds had opened. I liked this suggestion as it had three buds.
I have already pruned the roses in my garden. Although I delayed because they kept flowering and sending out new shoots due to our lovely warm weather, they unfortunately kept being infested with aphids. I tried squashing them in my fingers then in desperation sprayed them with white oil. This was worse than the aphid infestation as the warm sunny weather burned the leaves! In the end they were cut off as a result of a thorough pruning.
I have three of Mum’s roses growing in her old dragon pots, which she had brought with her when we moved to Australia from Christmas Island. Unfortunately one of the old dragon pots was badly cracked and missing some of its rim and although a rose grew in it very successfully, I didn’t like the look at my front door. After a long time of trying to locate another pot the same, I finally found another similar but slightly smaller one to replace it. I transferred the Double Delight rose from the old pot into the prepared garden bed in front of my lounge window. Then repaired the pot for its new plant, the prostrate casuarina, Cousin It. The old pot was difficult to repair as part was missing. I glued the broken part of the rim I had kept, back onto the pot. This was the easy part. The missing portion wasn’t so easy. I needed something that would support itself while it hardened. Still, the repaired rim should soon be hidden under “Its” cascading foliage while also keeping the toxic needles away from my other plants.
To repair the rim, the first product I bought was called Knead It Aqua. As the name refers it needs kneading. It comes sealed like a strip of plasticine with an outer colour of green skin and inner white putty. You knead it together then squish it onto the part you want glued together. It did say its better in room temp but should actually have said warmed up as it was nigh impossible to knead early in the morning when the winter temperature was close to 17 degrees! I did my best on the time limit I was given – ‘must be applied within 12 minutes of mixing! Sets hard within 30 mins!’ After applying the mix I read that it should be all one uniform colour. What! Mine looked like a streaky green and white sausage! It hadn’t set within the 30 mins but the small amount I hadn’t used was now soft and pliable having sat in the sun! Days later the mix in the cracked pot was still soft! Bother! Too late now as I had applied the second product. 
This was a sloppy solution again of two parts. It too stuck to my gloves as I tried to make it stick in place. I had prepared the pot by wrapping a piece of Lino around it, strapping it on the pot to try and provide a backing to hold the gunk in place. The original pot is about 1 cm thick which gave a reasonable edge for the cement type mix to adhere to. The problem was that the mix was too sloppy and kept sticking to my gloves. Instead of a thick edging, it was unevenly spread and very rough, at least on the inside of the pot. Still, I think it will do as I’m hoping the plant will hide all blemishes. Thank God I was able to peel the Lino off once the cement had set. It was definitely hard enough but very ugly and not at all what I had hoped for.
In mid-April I made my first Facebook purchase. I saw a closing down sale for some lovely cotton long-sleeved tops. It was obviously a Christian store because of the designs printed on the tops. One design I liked so much I bought two tops, one large in black and a smaller one in white. I was delighted to see there was no postage and presumed it was an Australian website. I was wrong. A little concerned that I had actually paid twice what I thought, being US dollars not Australian, I was also concerned because of the lack on postage. I emailed the business to enquire. Their reply was very reassuring and in a kind Christian gesture they said they had paid for the postage for me. I had tried to track the package but after the 14th of May it seemed to have got stuck. I emailed several times to see what might have happened but on each occasion was once again reassured. I even asked my postie who regularly comes dropping packages for my neighbour. He said he would keep an eye out for it. During this time, my parcel from Koorong was also delayed. Then in mid-July the postie comes knocking on my door. Hallelujah, my package had arrived. It seems instead of being sent from the States, it had been sent directly from China. I washed my hands thoroughly and left it for three days to decontaminate before opening…… just in case! Both tops fit perfectly, the larger one over my winter clothes and the smaller one when I’m not wearing so many layers.
After our visit to the rose garden, Glenda and Brenda both wanted to visit Zanthorrea, a native plant nursery on the edge of the Perth escarpment, which we locals call The Hills. Once again we decided to stop enroute for lunch, this time at one of the Dawson’s Nurseries. It was a great day. I only bought one plant: a Correr Alba, which is a small native shrub that handles both full sun and part shade and I’m hoping will tolerate the shaded spot between fence and trees on my border.
Another plant I have been looking for, which I have grown as a hedge but unfortunately several, over a period of time, have been dying, is the Leptospermum Sericeum Before coming to Zanthorrea I had rung ahead to see if they had any in stock. This also seems to be an elusive specimen. I have previously bought all my plants from the Lullfitz Nursery, which has unfortunately recently closed down. Zanthorrea didn’t have them but when I asked the horticulturist there, she suggested I call Australian Native Nursery. I did right there and then. It seems they are the only nursery that has them. I immediately put three on order. I also thought I’d take cuttings from my bushes to see if I can grow them myself. They are a lovely silver-leafed bush with a delicate waxy pink flower which grows about 2 meters high and 1 meter wide. Just the right shape for a hedge to shelter the rest of my garden from the strong south-westerlies.
The other plants I’ve bought recently were to replace a beautiful smoky-leafed native plant that was destroyed in our recent high winds. Although a smallish shrub, it had been a great wind break to all my ferns under the tree on the upper level of my garden. To replace it, I bought two Murraya or Orange Jasmine which grow thickly to three meters and have a very fragrant white flower, which should be lovely for my patio area. And another smaller Leptospermum, to fill a small gap called Mesmer eyes.
As you know I have been busy knitting beanies for a community called Red Dirt Blue Sky in Newman WA. I was very blessed to have a friend offer to take over 40 beanies up to Newman when she flew up to meet friends. All went well and the delivery was very gratefully received. I continue to knit beanies, this time for another project.
I had been trying to catch up with a family friend for weeks but both of us were busy till later in July. We had decided we would cook dinner at her place so that her mother, who has dementia could join us as she lives with her daughter. It was a fun afternoon of making gyozas and a good time to catch up with both of them.
Photos: 1. Camelia that has mutated into something very special 2. Growing vegies in a polystyrene box 3. My smallest Leptospermum Sericeum in flower 4. First repair gluing on broken piece 5. Second repair – making a new side and planting Cousin It 6. My new top 7. Lizard seat at Zanthorrea Nursery 8. The Leptospermum Sericeum hedge outside my lounge window.
[If some of the pictures a not quite prefect I apologise as I have tried to correct them without much success. They all look correct on the original page but seem to change going sideways or reversing when posted live. Not sure why!]
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for His continual blessings. I’m very grateful that WA has been free from Covid and pray it remains that way. Pray with me for NSW, VIC and QLD which are having difficulty restraining the virus and for the rest of the world, which is suffering terribly from the ravages of this pandemic.
Please continue to pray for all the health care workers, the scientists working on a vaccine and for those working on fighting this plague.
Pray for the continuing unrest that has enveloped our world. For those without hope, to come to the knowledge of peace and love that can only be found in Christ.
Pray the Lord will help industries and businesses that are suffering from the lockdowns and praise Him for those reinventing their businesses that might otherwise have gone under during this time.
Pray that those who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus will have their eyes opened to His love, peace and saving grace.
I praise God for all our supportive friends and prayer partners as we help each other through these difficult times. We all need each another in different ways and it’s reassuring and encouraging to know friends are not too far away, thanks to technology and prayer.