February, March, April/Autumn in the southern hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Aberdeen has been the home of some very accomplished Founders, Lesley  but it has always been tricky to get a parcel properly sent, of whatever size!

[Lesley Cox]

Here's a first small batch to set the mood. Taken on the road into the Cranbourne Botanic Garden near Melbourne and more at this fascinating place will come later. Australia is full of all kinds of wonderful wildlife. I saw many animals, birds and butterflies but almost nothing stayed still long enough to photograph. The snake below is the only one I saw.











Just to set your mind at rest Maggi, the snake in the bottom pic is a fake but has been known over a number of years, to scare the living daylights out of many people, especially in the almost dark, when I first met it. It's made of a rubbery material and is quite mobile when touched.

[Maggi Young]

Goodness me, I had no idea that koalas could go so fast.... 25 mph is really moving!

[mark smyth]

I havent folowed through from the emails to this thread. Great to see gardens and plants down there

Fermi how hardy is your Monsonia? If it is could I beg some seeds?

Australia seems to have moved to take up residence in one of my troughs

[Lesley Cox]

What is it Mark?

[mark smyth]

Australia!

The plant? Erigeron chrysopsidis

[mark smyth]

it too has put on huge growth since the end of May last year when this photo was taken

[Lesley Cox]

NOW I get it - but Australia after a couple of tectonic plates have moved a bit. Sorry I was so dense.

[fermi de Sousa]

Mark,
you had me there; I thought it was an aberrant form of helichrysum!
Here is a pic I've been waiting 7 years to take!
Galanthus peshmenii grown from seed from Rannweig Wallis sown in 1999!
I think it did manage to flower a couple of years ago but I never saw it in bloom, just found the spent stem!
Note the improvised flower-holder-upperer fashioned from a dead conathera flower-stem!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Mark,
sorry, I'm not sure how hardy the Monsonia is but it survives -7^oC here.
I'll try to catch some seeds for you! Like most Geraniaceae they tend to be a bit quick out of the gates!
Lesley,
we're waiting for those pics!
Glad you enjoyed your time over here on the west island!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi I'm sort of waiting too in that I'm trying to work out an organized way to do them. I'll probably start with the latest and work backwards, perhaps start tonight. I have a lot of Market stuff to do today (shouldn't be here) and I'm also suffering very badly from an appalling game of cricket through the early hours. Please someone, pat me on the back, let me cry on your shoulder, hold my hand and whisper in my ear that it will be all right dear.

And the autumn which I'd hoped to use for major garden works and seed sowing, has turned to drear, with just 1 good day since I came home, the rest rain, drizzle and cold, thick fog. Suitable for ANZAC day I suppose.

[fermi de Sousa]

Lesley,
what I would give for a bit of drear and rain! We've had a whole 5mm (rain, not drear) for April so far! Should get some on the weekend (when else!). At least you don't have to worry anymore about the blasted cricket!
Perhaps you could start a new thread for all your pics? "Lesley's Look at Lovely Localities"?
I've finally potted up the bulb seed from the overseas seedexes before heading off to Prague next week; I'll save the other sorts for when I get back at the end of May. I can't believe the time has arrived! I'm looking forward to the conference but also to meeting other forumists there!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Right, I'll go with that then.

[Anthony Darby]

Fill your boots Fermi!

[Maggi Young]

For Anzac Day, the poignant song by Eric Bogle:
"The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"
When I was a young man I carried my pack
    And I lived the free life of the rover.
    From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
    I waltzed my Matilda all over.
    Then in nineteen fifteen the country said, "Son,
    It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done."
    And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun,
    And they marched me away to the war.
         And the band played Waltzing Matilda
         As our ship pulled away from the quay,
         And amidst all the cheers, flag-waving and tears
         We sailed off to Gallipoli.

    And how well I remember that terrible day,
    How our blood stained the sand and the water.
    And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
    We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
    Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well,
    He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell,
    And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell,
    Nearly blew us right back to Australia.
         But the band played Waltzing Matilda,
         As we stopped to bury our slain.
         We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
         Then we started all over again.

    Now those that were left, well, we tried to survive
    In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
    And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive,
    But around me, the corpses piled higher.
    Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
    And when I woke up in me hospital bed
    And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead.
    Never knew there was worse things than dying.
         For I'll go no more Waltzing Matilda
         All around the green bush far and free,
         To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs,
         No more Waltzing Matilda for me.

    So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
    And they shipped us back home to Australia.
    The armless, the legless, the blind and insane,
    Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
    And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
    I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
    And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
    To grieve and to mourn and to pity.
         But the band played Waltzing Matilda
         As they carried us down the gangway.
         But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
         Then they turned all their faces away.

    And so now every April I sit on my porch
    And I watch the parade pass before me.
    And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
    Reviving old dreams of past glory.
    And the old men marched slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
    They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war,
    And the young people ask,"What are they marching for?",
    And I ask meself the same question.
         But the band plays Waltzing Matilda,
         And the old men still answer the call.
         But as year follows year, more old men disappear,
         Someday no one will march there at all.

    Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
    Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?
    And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
    Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me ?


A fine song, showing the futility of conflict, I am pleased that we can come together from aroundthe world in friendship in this forum.