Gardenworld

Shane Warne calls this gardening

Well the last test is over and we have lost the ashes, but it is good to know the Australian cricket team are such a keen group of gardeners. As Shane Watson pictured was opening the batting on a 2nd day pitch at The Oval that was playing like a 4th day pitch, little pieces of dried turf were literally defragmenting from the pitch. Both Watson and Katich were frantically trying to plod the little pieces down - a term that commentator Shane Warne referred to as "gardening". Now doesn't that conjure up thoughts of Warnie walking around his backyard with a bat and plodding at the lawn, slashing some long grass and maybe even hitting some marigold flowers to the boundary for four. I'm sure he even tosses a few of the Wrong 'Un lemons into the compost bin and does some pruning down in the gully! It's just not cricket - its gardening.

An August Garden in Melbourne

August is a funny month for a nursery. It can be bitterly cold and fairly quite around the place, or the days can be blue and buzzing with people. No wonder the wholesale growers have no clue as to how many they should actually have grown for this month. I guess their assurance is that there are good months to follow, and most of the plants will end up with homes. As spring begins to approach, you can feel a low level of excitement start to build. By the time it comes around, gardeners across the land are chaffing at the bit, and the buds on the plants are popping out of their skin.  

Red Hot Poker stokes my fire.

Kniphofia - Red Hot Poker - (Kniphofia Hybrid Cultivar)

There are nearly 70 species in this genus (Asphodelaceae). They are South African clump forming perennials that increase in size each year.