Hey, Spike!

I caved in today. I bought more plants from work.

Introducing my brand new, virulent green, native finger lime, Microcitrus australasica. He'd fit into the palm of my hand at the moment, not that I'd want to hold him with all those thorns. One website I've read called him 'delicate,' and I thought, what is so delicate about a plant with more thorns than leaves? Actually, he's quite cute when he's so petite - those leaves are only 5mm long at most - and I'll keep him in a pot so that his future-fruits are easily accessible. This wee lime is a native of the east and northern rainforests of Australia, and I'm told - by my new work-plant-gurus - that he'll do quite well if I treat him as per a normal citrus (IE good drainage, lots of fertiliser) and I don't have to put him in native potting mix or anything. However, he's a very slow grower and it might be some time before we see any fruit on him.


I also bought... drum roll please... a little Pterostylis curta, or blunt greenhood. In years to come I'm hoping that it will multiply to look like this. We have some display pots at work that look like that, full full full of flowers and leaves: amazing, spectacular, and every other adjective you can think of. Customers see those pots and say, 'is that real?' Greenhoods are relatively tough for orchids, and so are good ones for a newbie; it's just lucky that it happens to be a favourite of mine. It's also indigenous to my local area, which is always a plus.


Last but not least, a couple of progress photos of all the seeds I sowed the other day. Predictably, the bok choy is first off the line with it's heart-shaped seed leaves (right hand row), but there's a nice surprise on the left hand row of peat pots: those white nubs are the roselle seeds sprouting (that's Hibiscus sabdariffa, for those playing at home).


And then, same same but different, are the hollyhock seeds which have also begun to down roots and up leaves. So far, so good. I hope this continues and I have a proliferation of vegetable and flower seedlings taking up space on the windowsill in the weeks to come.

Sixteen days until Spring!