Hundscheidt Tropical Gardens

The Hundscheidt Tropical Gardens are open over this weekend (22-24 February) as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme. I visited them yesterday afternoon and it was worth the drive. There were quite a few people there , but not so it was difficult to see or to move around.

The gardens are amazing. You have to remember that you are in the middle of suburbia and not in some topical paradise. The gardens feature water features, pavilions and balaliness inspired outdoor areas as well as bamboos, gingers , palms and bromeliads.

2008 Ginger Flower Festival Yandina

Visited the Ginger Factory at Yandina today for the 2008 Ginger Flower Festival. When we pulled up at around 11:30 the carpark was full as will both sides of the street and centre strip. I can't imagine what it is going to be like over the (long) weekend! There were quite a few people there but it wasn't uncomfortably crowded. It was quite easy to move around and see everything.

There was a number of talks where you could hear about cooking, health benefits, and growing gingers, though I didn't attend any of these. I stuck my head into a cooking session but it was overflowing.

Aside from the talks the festival is a great opportunity to view the fantastic sub-tropical gardens that make up the grounds of the Ginger Factory and at this time of the year most of the gingers and heliconias are in bloom.

The festival also features a nursery selling a large selection of gingers and heliconias, with a smattering of palms. A lot of the plants where in flower and if they weren't cut flowers were arranged so you see what they looked like. I picked up a Heliconia Caribea, Ice Rose Ginger (Etlingera elatior) and Red Tower Ginger (Costus Comosus). (this was quite restrained compared to some others at the checkout)

Here are some pictures from the gardens:

Chocolate Beehive Ginger

Red Torch Ginger
Heliconias

Roma Street Parklands

Dropped into the Roma Street Parklands last Saturday (19/1). The gardens are a real inspiration with the Spectacle Garden with it's palms, gingers, heliconicas and bromeliads all putting on a fantastic summer display.

Beehive Ginger (Zingiber Spectabile)

Bromeliads

Passionfruit

Two weekends ago (5 Jan), in between the rain, I planted a Big Boppa and a Panama Red passionfruit along the bottom fence in the back garden. Both are going well and climbing along the wire I ran along the fence. The only issue is that it's complicated the mowing along the fence.

Wild Weather

We have been spared the the usual hot and humid Brisbane Christmas weather this year with a large low sitting off the coast. Instead of the usual 35+ degrees (C) we've had temperatures in the high twenties but quite strong winds and overcast skys.

So far the garden has held up quite well although the winds have dried out some plants. We've finally got some rain last night and today is looking like it's going to shower on and off for most of the day. The low is meant to hang around for the rest of he week and hopefully we'll get a bit more rain and the winds will ease off.

Xmas Gingers

What with a bit of time off to wander around garden centres and Christmas I managed to pick up four new gingers over the last couple of weeks. I managed to get a Beehive Ginger (Zingiber Spectabile) and a Silver Streaks (Zingiber Collinsii) both have gone into the back garden and are shaded by existing plants.

The Silver Streaks has beautiful dark foliage and I can't wait to see what the flowers look like up close. From the tag and other information it appears that it become dormant in winter. Grows to about 1 metre and is planted behind a golden cane palm. I'm hoping that as the palm grows that it will be more visible but still have adequate shade.

I've been looking for a Beehive Ginger for a while and have finally managed to get my hands on one. I'm still after a chocolate version. This one has been planted out with a little more exposure and is already produced a second shoot.

I purchased a Variegated Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) and have added it to the southern extension to the back garden.

For Christmas my Mum got me a Red Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) from an garden that my parents visited as part of the open garden scheme. This one when in the northern extension of the back garden. From what I've read the foliage can grow anywhere from 3 to 6 metres (it's already at about 1.5) so I'll have to see how it goes. From photos I've seen the flowers are spectacular.

West Indian Lime not flowering

I have 2 citrus in the garden, a Meyer Lemon and a West Indian Lime. Both went in about 3 years ago and are doing quite well. While the Lemon has had plenty of fruit (currently about 15-20 mature fruit that should be ready for the new year) the Lime just hasn't produced. Over the 3 years I've probably had 4 limes from it, which I don't mind given it's quite young, however it hasn't had a decent flowering at all. I noticed a single flower on it today. Perhaps it's just a matter of waiting.