Art piece and image above is copyright © Helen Flynn

First published 3rd February 2025

Hello everyone, and Happy (belated!) New Year! I plan to make these newsletters monthly or bimonthly from now on just so you know, though future ones may not be as prolific as this one turned out to be. (You can unsubscribe at any time if they get on your nerves.)

*********

Item 1: Things of Beauty
After Sandra’s Bee Hotel, Peter’s Fiddle Leaf Fig, and the Banksia Garden Sculpture I realised I needed somewhere to collate these together, so created the new blog category Things of Beauty.

Please find the first addition to it for the year:

Item 1 as well (it’s unfair to make this Item 2, but I had to mention Things of Beauty first): Fish and Lily Pad Pond Glass Tile Mosaic!
Much thanks to pen-pal Helen in Melbourne for sharing this masterpiece with me — 1200 mm diameter and over 120 hours of work! Every single piece was hand cut and positioned. I have no doubt it looks infinitely more stunning in real life than any photo can give justice to.

It so reminds me of the tranquil koi carp and water lily pond at the nearby Nan Tien Temple about 15-20 minutes drive from the Wollongong Botanic Garden.

This is the second Thing of Beauty for the year:

Item 2: The Narrandera Tree
A chance parking spot revealed this amazing tree.

I welcome anyone’s thoughts as to how this happened, and if anyone knows the gum species please do let me know!

Item 3: New Blog Posts Since Last Newsletter
Peter's Fiddle Leaf Fig in a 38 L Air-Pot Container
This didn’t make the last newsletter so including it again (people subscribed at time of last newsletter would have received an "addendum" email a few days later.)

I was admiring Mum’s fiddle leaf fig just a few days after that post went up. She was rightly proud of it too. I said, would you like to see one over 2 m high?! Her face seeing that photo!!

What is a Succulent?
It is everything, and nothing at all!

Make Your Own Succulent Potting Mix
Not really for everyone, as you really need a large collection and/or large planters to fill to justify doing it in bulk, but here’s my recipe for what it’s worth.

The Rhizosphere Microbiome
As usual, I write about something simple (making succulent mixes) and can’t help but wander into soil microbiology. <sigh>
Seriously pondering the effect of poultry grit over sand though, especially regarding calcium supply.

Identifying a Succulent: No. 1
In which I lay out the truly bodgy method I identified Agave univittata ‘Quadricolor’ by!

These are the Most Excellent Garden Beds
No, really, they are!

Item 4: Newly-Listed Items
Pups from Agave univittata ‘Quadricolor’

Dancing Ladies Ginger (Globba winitii) in 3 L Air-Pot Container

Kaempferia rotunda (Peacock Ginger) in 90 mm Bottomless Pot
A beautiful ornamental ginger, named for the leaf pattern which resembles a peacock's fanned-out tail. Gorgeous deep red-brown undersides. It dies completely down in winter and in mid-late spring the beautiful purple and white flowers appear for a few days, followed by the leaves. (Though with this crazy weather of late, both have been appearing together, which is highly irregular.)

Culinary Red Galangal (Alpinia galanga) in 90 mm Bottomless Pot
This is the galangal used in cooking, grow your own instead of trying to find it in a shop! The rhizome is tougher to grate/chop than ginger, just so you know, and not a sign of woodiness or age.

Fine Peat Coir Brick, 650 g makes about 9 L wetted.
This stuff is great for Air-Pot media. It is fine, which helps pack those cones tightly, and while not rich in nutrients itself, adsorbs and makes available the water and nutrients anything growing in an Air-Pot needs. A brilliant substrate for hydroponic setups and home made seed-raising mixes too.

If you need more than 9 L I strongly recommend buying the larger 4 kg blocks elsewhere, which make up to 15 kg or so wetted, as these are much better value for money. I was selling them myself until a year-long shortage stopped that, but supplies seem more reliable now.

Black and white EnviroPebbles! These are great. Super lightweight, made from recycled plastic which reduces pressure on the demand for imported river rocks, and unless you pick them up, would never know they weren’t the real thing. The white ones are heavier and sink, and could go well in water features as well as in pots and planters, but the black ones float. Though please note I haven’t actually trialled the white ones in water features. Happy to do so for interested parties.

Spring-loaded orchid clips
Absolutely brilliant for holding orchid and other flowering stems in place. These grip more tightly than the light duty trellis clips for very precise positioning.

*********

Thank you for reading! Please never hesitate to get in touch with any questions either as I am more than happy to help in any way I can.

Best regards,

Kristi Ellinopoullos