Never Too Old To Garden

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a light-hearted site for older gardeners

From the archives

November 2019

Conversation over breakfast Champion drinker

Welcome to my site. Let me introduce myself. My name is Tigger. 89 years old and still gardening. This is me doing a quick check on the herbs before breakfast.

USE IT OR LOSE IT

The Occasional Garden Quiz

Answer in subsequent post

QQ1.

A ha ha is:

an implement used for tilling sweet potatoes
a horticultural expletive on discovery of a guilty caterpillar
a wall and ditch garden boundary in 18th C England

QQ2.

What Australian plant sustained King, the sole surviving member of the Burke and Wills expedition?

QQ3

What plant is depicted on the current Australian five dollar note?

QQ4

What parts of a plant are these?

(a) capers (b) saffron (c) popcorn (d) sago (e) cochineal (f) ginger

QQ5

“There’s a daisy; I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died”.

Who uttered these words?

QQ6

True or false?

(a) The jacaranda is a native of Australia

(b) Peanuts grow on trees

(c) Mint prefers moist soil

(d) A boronia flower has four petals

(e) Azaleas like lime

(f) The cannon ball tree is named after the Battle of Trafalgar

QQ7

Eight years of growing over 10,000 pea plants in an abbey garden led to significant scientific advances. Who was the experimenter?

QQ8

In whose garden did Peter Rabbit lose his coat?

QQ9

With what famous characters are these plants associated?

(a) the coolibah tree

(b) waterlilies

(c) spinach

(d) the dig tree

(e) pomegranates

(f) gladioli

(g) bulrushes

QQ10

Botanists describe the flowers as ‘fetid’. Growers say the flowers stink like a herd of dead elephants. Pollination is by blowflies. What is the plant’s name and distribution?

QQ11

With what famous gardens are the following people associated?

(a) Claude Monet

(b) Andre le Notre

(c) Vita Sackville-West

(d) Thomas Jefferson

(e) William Guilfoyle

The Occasional Links Puzzle

Find the one word which, placed after the first word and before the second word, changes them into two different words or names – often garden-oriented.

For example: Norfolk:apple

Answer: pine Norfolk pine: pineapple

Answers will be in subsequent posts.

LP 1.

silver:root

LP2.

kangaroo:paw

LP3

man:at

LP4

a:flower

LP5

pea:meg

LP6

car:ate

LP7

butter:board

Posts

Liquid history
In praise of chives
Border control
Barren?
Temptation
Garden chic
Naming rights – or wrongs
The impact of mass
Double duty sculptures
Rewarded
Wish me luck
!!XX#?!!?
Gotcha
In praise of good lighting
Surplus to requirements
Sky high
Ever optimistic
Unveiled
Lucky me
Conversation over lunch
Doomed to be a one-off
Down south
Fancy, eh?
Conversation over dinner
Just perfect
Lunch?
Springtime at last
Spring??
Free veg
Nice surprise
Palm Monday
Survivors
Conversation over breakfast
A horticultural pun
Pot luck
A short reign
Almost too lush
Conversation over tea
Hidden in full view
Over the garden wall
Until the rains came
A gorgeous glowing weed
Pesto potential
Thank you, florists
A breath of local history
You live and learn
In danger again
Dilemma
Fondly remembered
Conversation over lunch
My silent visitors this morning
Conversation over dinner
Almost too pretty to cook
Productive oldie
Still there
Fallow
Sleeping beauties
Reaching for the light
I wish….
Surprise delivery
Conversation over lunch
Re-cycled
Missed opportunity
Amateur hour
They’re old-fashioned – but so am I
You win some, you lose some
Conversation over morning tea
Puzzled
Blog-worthy pic
Going, going, almost gone
Magic carpets
Imagining the past
Second life
The things they think of!
Plusses in a time of lockdown
Adelaide’s best-kept secret
Conversation over breakfast
The joys of science
Life savers
Xmas in Oz
Conversation over breakfast
Our gorgeous scents
Champion drinker
From the archives
Conversation over breakfast
Thank you, bulldozers
Lucky me
A valiant effort
Free decor
Bee heaven
Two remnants of Sydney’s past
Climate change? I am going to thrive
Conversation over dinner
The highs and lows of winter
Gardens in unusual places: under the aurora
Winter friend
In pursuit of balance
Hand me my sunglasses…
Almost perfect
Conversation over dinner
To each his own
In the ‘hood
Thyme to groan
Baby blue
Remnant
Conversation over dinner
Gardens in unusual places: vertical
Walking the neighbourhood
Recycling with flair
Another puzzle* completed
Conversation over breakfast
Front yard, early afternoon
There’s a track winding back…
Amusing the smaller grandkids
Gardens in unusual places : buried treasure
Conversation after breakfast
Lighting by setting sun
Trying Westies in Sydney humidity
Walking the neighbourhood
Don’t like to boast…
Unexpected
Territorial rights…
Snaggle-toothed
Conversation over dinner
Double act
Simple pleasures
Garden in the desert
Amusing the grandkids: create a carrot basket
Downsizer dreams
Walking the neighbourhood
Unreliable excursions
Delicious
Conversation over dinner
Naughty
Gardens in unusual places: CBD pop-up
Back seat driver
Walking the neighbourhood
Amusing the grandkids: the easy way
Pipe dream
Conversation over dinner
Still life
Walking the neighbourhood
NIMBY
Gardens in unusual places
Conversation over dinner
“Flowering gum”
Amusing the grandkids: with our stories
Bad hair day
3 trees people love to hate
Conversation after dinner
Pastime for winter evenings
Gardens in unusual places: in orbit
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…
Conversation over breakfast
Position, position….but which position?
Back in action after leg collapse
Amusing the grandkids: bottle magic
Unadorned
Conversation over dinner
Lucky a wind didn’t come up
“Rocket salad again!?!”
A time-honoured Aussie tradition
Onwards ever onwards
Conversation over dinner
Gardens in unusual places: en route
Of milk and gardens
Some grumpy classics
le bleu
Amusing the grandkids: seismonasty
Conversation over dinner
Drat – missed it again
Not just any old maidenhair
Gardens in unusual places: nostalgia
Literally…
Conversation after dinner.
Mate, you just don’t bloody get it.
High maintenance
Maybe he’s under the weed
Amuse the grandkids: radish writing
Conversation over dinner
Brutal but effective: our Weber in action
Gardens in unusual places: iceberg lettuce on the menu?
A charming Leunig oldie for us oldies
The joys of travel – not
Garden whimsy
Conversation over dinner
Amuse the grandkids: find Nemo
Gardens in unusual places: holy turf
It sounds like summer