Yellow

In the lead up to the biggest Hallmark Holiday of the year, florists are going nuts in preparation for having enough stock to supply for lovers, potential lovers, romantics, sweet hearts and every kind of best friend. Im talking soft toys, chocolates, bottles of wine, balloons, flowers and more red roses than you can poke a stick at. So I thought I would give you some food for thought in the lead up to Friday the 14th of February. Some of the beautiful roses growing in the gardens, and the meaning behind giving that colour of rose as a gift.

First up, YELLOW. Yellow symbolizes joy, happiness and wisdom. It is actually a common colour used as a get well gift, or a congratulations gift. Its warm tones are associated with friendship and if given for events such a Valentines Day its meaning is focused more on platonic relationships, without the romantic subtext. It honestly is the best rose to send to a true friend who needs a smile on Valentines Day.

Something to be wary of, when yellow roses were first introduced into Europe back in the 1800's, yellow had more negative connotations behind it (for example "Yellow Bellied"). So yellow roses back then were symbols of jealousy and dying love. The friendship and happiness meanings have pretty much taken over in the 200 years since they were introduced, however you can still occasionally find people who still hold true to the very old European meaning. My boyfriend, for example, is one of those people. When we began dating, I sent him a card with a yellow rose and wrote inside the card the friendship meaning of yellow roses and a whole heap of romantic stuff that I wont bore you with right now. When he opened the envelope and saw the picture he panicked and thought that it was a fancy way of me breaking up with him. When he read the inside he calmed down, but I still had to explain that we werent breaking up when I saw him next. So yeah, just be wary of sending yellow roses on romantic occasions, just in case.

Gran's Garden

I remember when I was a little girl, my great gran used to have a massive garden. It was your typical "grandma's garden", a mish-mash of what ever will grow that looks pretty. There was no rhyme or reason to it all. It was by no means an exceptional garden, except for the fact that is crystallized in my memory that I used to love it. Im sure its where my love of gardens came from. I would spend hours playing amongst it all and I used to love picking the assorted flowers that grew there. These are a flower that I know my gran grew, African Daisys. They are terrible for cut flowers as they curl up and wilt very quickly, but to a 5 year old girl they were quite the novelty. They are incredibly hardy plants and grow quite happily on very little water when they are established. They get a bit manky after a year or 2, so best to pull them out when they get too big and they usually self seed so you just start the process over again. There are a multitude of cultivars of them now. Some have played with the colour, so you get various shades of white, pink and purpley pink. Others have played with the flower shape, so you get the double blooms (petals in the center) like you see above, or you can have a pin wheel look with the petals curled inwards onto themselves (looking kind of like a wagon wheel), or you can have just the plain old fashioned variety which is just a plain daisy flower. These plants are very rewarding for very little effort, they are great at attracting butterflies an will brighten up most corners of your garden. I hope you will love them too, give them a burl, I dare you.

marathon

This little guy refused to stop running up my arm today. We were under-pruning the ficus in Minnawarra when I felt a tickling on my arm. I tried to set him down gently on a bush but he persisted in climbing up my arm. He managed to run the full length of both my arms twice before I managed to wrangle him off. God speed little mantis.

Subtle Scents and Fashion Trends

Frangipanis have become immensely popular in the last 10 years or so. I dont think I can recall as a kid seeing so many frangipani ornaments or hair clips. They are very popular as wedding boquets, however they are a bugger of a thing to wire up as they are very delicate flowers and bruise easily. The white frangipani flowers have a lovely delicate perfume to them, which is rare among cut flowers so I can see why they would be popular as a bouquet. The flowers come in shades of white, pink, yellow and any mix of the three. They are notoriously hardy plants and are easy to grow from cuttings. Simply cut off a branch, leave it to dry for at least a day, then plant and water as normal. The reason you have to wait is so that the wound heals over. If you plant a limb while the cut is still dripping white sap then you increase the risk of the stem rotting and not forming roots.

Sun Lovers

Ive been going through alot of older photos of late and I came across this little gem. I cant recall if I have posted this picture already on the blog back when I started it over a year ago, so if its a repeat, I do apologise.

The plant is a vinca. They can be a little bi-annual plant (an annual plant that can last for 2-3 seasons) if you look after them. They have a bad habit of developing mould in the winter, which is why we typically use them in the Summer annual plantings. If you spot mould, cut the plant back by about 2/3 and spray it with a copper based fungicide. They thrive in rich soil, but will grow in most soils. They seed quite readily and even thought we havent got any beds of vincas in this summers annual beds, we are getting a couple pop up the displays last year. They have an interesting smell to them. Not unpleasant, but dont go expecting the delight of roses.

One thing to watch, they do have a habit of going a bit yellow when nutrients are in short supply. A good dose of organic matter in the form of manure or compost will fix this up. Alternatively, you could just liquid fertilise once a fortnight, they will look quite magnificent.

So Many Myths

I know there is alot of fear surrounding spiders, but most "arachnophobes" I know all tell me that they are ok with Daddy Long Legs Spiders, and let them live side by side with them in their homes and sheds in the suburban environment that these spiders thrive in. They keep them around as they are not harmful to humans and they eat Redbacks and other spiders, so in turn keep the spider populous down. Both of these house wife tales are true, however as they expression goes, there is always a bigger fish. White Tail Spiders have a particularly bad reputation and people are quick to kill them for fear of being bitten (although a White Tail Spider bite is not as bad as urban legends suggest, I still wouldnt recommend playing with one). White Tail Spiders also feed on other spiders, but unlike the Daddy Long Legs they are hunters and seek out their prey. Their favourite food are the Black House Spiders you commonly see around the home, but they will quite happily take what they can get, which included Daddy Long Legs Spiders. So your great plan of keeping Daddy Long Legs to keep the spider populous down is acutally a round-a-bout way of encouraging White Tails into the home. My best suggestion is to sweep away cobwebs and discourage Daddy Long Legs from setting up camp in your home, unless you wish for other spiders to come visiting you as well.

3 Frog Welcome

My phone is currently in being fixed, so Im down to a loan phone from the shop. So the photo quality is terrible, however these guys were too adorable not to share. I actually saw 3 little frogs in 2 days, the third one was just too quick for the potato of a phone that Im currently using. These look like tiny little Motorbike Frogs. One of the most common frogs in the Perth Metro Area. In the hot weather, these were both hiding under leaf litter, in damp and shady areas. I can always remember my Stepfather telling me when I was younger, that a garden with a frog in it is a healthy garden. So the gardens at work must be doing really well to have 3 healthy little frogs jumping around while the weather is still 35-40 degrees.