In the Garden

It’s easy to pretend with photos that everything in the garden flourishes, but I can’t deny we have had a few fails, the worst of which have been kangaroo paws. We’ve planted a succession along the limestone retaining wall, where they've struggled along for a month or two, then died a slow death. Undeterred, we tried different varieties, as some are less fickle than others; the common red and green plant that is the state emblem, the tall black and green paws which are my personal favourite, and others with deep red flowers, specifically bred for home gardens; all have failed. One though, planted a little further from the retaining wall than the others, has flourished and has been covered with these gorgeous silver ‘paw’ flowers for months. 

With this one success in mind, and not being a couple that give in easily (or maybe we’re just gluttons for punishment), we have again replaced the dead kangaroo paws with three new plants.  This time though, we’ve planted them well away from the retaining wall because, yeah, we’ve finally worked out they don’t like limestone.  

These are Gold Velvet. I wasn’t sure when we brought them home if I liked the colour in the garden (much to SP delight.... not), so positioned them in their pots for a few days, just to see they grew on me. In the end though, the honey eaters made the decision easy as they love them, and I'll get used to the yellow.

This one though I love; it’s a new variety called Ghost Paw. The flowers here look green but are actually an unusual pale blue in colour. They are also more delicate than other kangaroo paw. We only bought one of these, as being a ‘new’ variety it was expensive, and we’re not sure how it will go. If it grows well though, we'll get few more and fill the back corner of the garden.