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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I want two volunteers for the terrace


It is time to go through the annual ritual of choosing two plants which will give up their lives to grace our terrace for summer.
This is a daunting prospect as no one likes to send plants to their death – although – one of last year’s plants has sort of made it.
Sort of made it in the sense that if you wired it up it would not be flat lining – there would be a faint pulse – and we will try to bring it around during the warmer weather. 
I am putting it on a diet of Extra Strong Bushells Tea and Vegemite. 
So it is not a suicide mission – there are some chances for survival – and I will outline these when I talk to the plants chosen for this dangerous mission. 
There are two problems faced by our plants.
Our terrace is exposed to the elements and these are the blazing sun and the snow and icy cold in winter. It also gets bloody windy in Vienna.
The other is what was once a small black cat but is now a cat the size of a panther. She likes plants – a lot. She has probably been black-listed by the Royal Horticultural Society.
So I need hardy plants. When I go to Dehner (the plant nursery)  I don’t want plants that shout how pretty they are. I want plants that shout how tough they are. 
I want plants that shout ‘Hey – I could get through the Navy SEALS course’.
The photos shows Sissi when she was very, very small. She is about ten times this size now and eats her own weight in raw chicken every day. In summer I shall put a saddle on her and give rides to children in Stadtpark.
But if you do want to see nice photos of Australian flora you should visit freefalling because she gets about a bit and is a truly excellent photographer. She has a number of blogs so you have to ferret about a bit to find the nature and Australiana photos.
Cate is in Algiers. She is mightily unimpressed and sadly disappointed. I am guessing that it lost all of it’s cosmopolitan-ness when the French left and is now – by our standards - a dull and lifeless Arab country.

5 comments:

  1. I think you need a potted tree, something native to the area. Sissi will thank me.

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  2. P.S. Freefalling takes the most excellent photos, I agree!

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  3. Ha! I was just cackling at Sissi planted in the tree ... (it reminds me of when I proudly moved into my first flat and potted up my first pot plant at the front door with basil. I caught the bloody cat next door mid-poo sitting atop my poor little herb pot. Dirty bugger.)..And then I saw my name - and I got a fright.
    Thanks for saying about my photos.
    I do like to get out and about and fling the camera in the direction of stuff.
    Did you see my Australian War Memorial site?
    I know you like that kinda stuff.
    I've got a stack load of photos to upload when I get around to it.
    They always break my heart - not so much the dead soldiers but the little communities that they were taken away from.
    There used to be a really excellent site that listed every tiny memorial in the whole of victoria with little photos - imagine putting that together.
    But that fellow died and they closed his site.
    Shame.

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  4. Wanderlust: Sissi will not care what sort of tree she nests in.

    freeefalling: Yes I like your War Memorial site.

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