By Beatrice Hawkins
Rain, rain, rain!! Over 2.5 inches in my gauge from the storm Sunday night – wonderful! It will be great to have green lawn to look at for quite a while now.
The Christmas dinner in the park by the Warwick Community Van was washed out in the last few minutes and all the helpers drenched in the packing up. I am sure everyone that came had a great time and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Thanks to everyone who helped out in any way and all those that came and enjoyed the friendship and fun.
As I’ve been about town in the last week I have seen, at one of our lovely nurseries, some unusual Christmas trees and ornaments for sale. Christmas trees made from recycled branches and reindeers with the most amazing antlers made from twigs. So creative and so different. Christmas with an Australian twist!
A landscape gardener with a design degree, had some health issues in November 2016 and couldn’t do heavy work for some months, so needed something to fill in his time. He started making these great products as gifts to friends who then put them on Facebook, and the rest, as they say, is history.
People wanted to buy them, another friend and business woman, built a web site. More friends got involved with an interior designer in LA becoming the USA ambassador for Australian reindeer and using them in some well-known celebrity interiors! Reindeer support Wildlife Warriors and the Queensland Children’s Hospital Foundation. The list of high profile people who have become involved is impressive and many thousands have been raised for charity, a shed hired to work from and people employed.
The timber used is all local hardwood donated by North Brisbane arborists from approved felling projects. So “reuse, recycle” is high on the list.
Amazing story of how from small beginnings things grow and we are now able to have truly Australian Christmas decorations to buy in our own town. Thanks Doug for your inspiration!
This year has been one full of challenges in many areas. Drought and water restrictions have been our constant companions and Covid certainly has made things difficult and caused many cancellations.
The Warwick Horticultural Society has had to be in recess as numbers precluded meetings being held. We were finally able to have a small gathering recently and it has been decided to change the meeting times for the coming year. We will now be meeting in the CWA rooms in Grafton Street on the last Friday of each month at 3.00pm.
We were able to have our Autumn flower show but the Garden Extravaganza as part of Jumpers and Jazz had to be cancelled as well as the Spring Flower Show. The very successful Garden competition and Floral window displays still went ahead in October. Thank you to everyone who entered and got involved. Without you these events would not happen.
With a Covid plan in place we are planning the Autumn flower show as usual in March 2021 in St. Mary’s Hall in Wood Street.
A friend gave me some bulbs last year and I put them in a pot. Well you can imagine my delight when I went out the other day and saw this beautiful red head of flowers!
Commonly named “fireball or blood lily”, its botanical name is Scadoxus mutiflorus. It is native to most of sub- Saharan Africa from Senegal to Somalia and South Africa and has naturalised in other parts of the world.
Apparently there few varieties and colours, and also one that is evergreen. The one I have is definitely not evergreen and given its origin, would definitely not be frost tolerant.
They need a light soil with good drainage, partial shade and regular watering. Since they are hardy they do not need re-potting unless they get overcrowded. Apparently it really doesn’t matter how diligent you are with watering, it will not flower until they get the summer rain. My friend now has several in flower and with Sunday’s rain I am expecting more from mine. I have mine in a sheltered area in a self-watering pot and am delighted to have it flowering.
As this will be the last column for the year I would like to thank the Free Times for publishing my ramblings and wish all the readers a safe and happy holiday season.
I trust and pray that the New Year brings God’s blessings of good seasons and good health for all.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
