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Lovely to see your Cyclamen blooming away!

We also pay for our water through council rates but, as far as I know, there is no limit to what you can use. Occasionally in drought like years a hosepipe ban comes into force & people can no longer wash their cars or water their lawns (or gardens for that matter!). I use loads of 2lt water bottles, most of which I've had since we moved into this flat over 20 years ago! (How's that for a recycling record! :D)

Thanks! It’s still a baby. It will eventually grow to about 6 ft (2 m).

Me too. They bloom all year. Some grow too tall, so I keep them in pots. In the ground some can grow to more than 12 ft (4 m).

It used to be more common here too. I had to order one last year. I used to have so many years ago.

I have several now from propagating the one plant.

It is, none of the wild jade plants around the sides of the mesas in San Diego are blooming. They’re all still shriveled up from drought and no rain. Typically, they all start flowering in November.

I've been taking my grandchildren there for nearly 15 years now, ever since they were little children. It became a bit of a tradition that whenever I visited them, we would all go to the Parklands.

The eldest doesn't come with me any more, as she's now an adult and often working when I visit, but the ones in their late teens still like to visit the place with me.

Sounds and looks like a wonderful day out BB.I can imagine the delight your grandchildren had whilst walking around...
Especially liked the water feature areas.

Nice selection there Shirley. Hope they do well for you.

A bit of colour for this time of the year Bushbernie.

Beautiful.

What a wonderful surprise!

Yes I agree, I do think the attitude of gardeners in some areas of the world will likely have to change soon, with conditions becoming drier.

In my corner of the world, we have to pay for the water supplied to our houses as part of our rates, and there are excess fees if we go over the yearly limit. Gardeners are often amongst the group that have to pay excess water rates.

When our dam that supplies the water to our city starts to dry up, we then have further water restrictions. We've had years where we have even had to time our showers so that we don't use much water. We have even had to place buckets in the shower to catch the excess water and use on our gardens.

We also use greywater from our kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, showers and bathtubs to water our gardens.

Thanks for all your comments, I'm glad the days are getting lighter now and we can look forward to the spring :)

Great feeling Klahanie...

All are very beautiful.

Oh, Janey. what a sad news about Lottie, Sadness will pass but memories will stay. I still think about our Mr.Kaja (here and there). We had the little smart bird for 29 years.Our pets are definitely a part of our life.
Sending you love and hugs.

I bet hummingbirds love this plant.
I remember that jacarandas in Mexico were blooming in this time of year. They were very beautiful but messy.

Shirley, now I wonder what you can mean..🫢
Rachel de Thame's book sounds really useful for your new plans in your garden. She's a great gardener isn't she. Lots of advice on colours too I bet Shirley.
Jim's sent me quite a few gardening or garden related books over the years. Australian gardens through to Garden Photographer of the year. I love reading them! ☺️

You are doing really good, Wylie! I love to see the pictures you upload of your flowers!

Sheila, we both thought we were whizzing through the questions this year! Perhaps there was a new person compiling the quiz? We always find it really enjoyable so please thank Keith once again for sending the questions ... :o)

You are right about water use, here in the UK water is very rarely a problem so it is often taken for granted. In the coming years, due to climate change, that attitude will have to change as heatwaves are forecast to happen more frequently & be more intense leading to drought conditions in many parts of the country.

People will have to forgo lush green lawns & watering of our plants. We will have to use more Mediterranean style plants that are better adapted to dry, hot conditions.

Well, the quiz wasn’t as tough as in previous years, as you no doubt noticed. Yes, for once we got about 98, though felt some of our answers were just as good as the ‘correct’ ones!

Julia, I will ask OH if he still has the questions on his computer, but they could well be deleted by now …

Oh thanks so much friends for all the lovely messages, they're really appreciated.

You're right Balc, cushings is very common in small elderly dogs. I'm sorry to hear one of yours suffered with it too..

Thank you BB, yes their like our children who never grow away from us,
she was a real firecracker when she was young, she'll always be with me..

Aw Rose, thank you so much, you met Lottie last summer. Pets are our joy aren't they, I remember you telling me about your twin cats from years ago..x

Hello Sandra, I hope youre both well and keeping snug.
I remember you telling us about your Yorkie and now you have Poppy staying with you sometimes. All special little creatures. I still have my old cat Poppy who's missing Lottie too.
We know this will happen someday, but never really prepared.
You take care of yourselves. x

Aw Sheila, thank you, I have been very lucky with all the wonderful kind messages. The sadness will pass and she'll always be here with me. x

Sheila, I have been researching all of them and am very surprised at the difference in height given! RHS, nurseries, plant suppliers often seem to differ which is not helping me plan the garden at all.

Yes please to the quiz answers, did you both complete all of them?

Hi Sheila, would love to see the questions please.

Stunning … added to favourites!

A wonderful collection Shirley, and a lot of hard work to come, but what gorgeous colours. You have a fantastic array to look forward to!

Btw, would you like to see the answers to the Rotary quiz?

Your dear Lottie meant so much to you Janey, and it’s great to read so many heartfelt messages of sympathy for you. We all know that it’s like losing one of the family, and particularly hard just before Christmas. I’m afraid the crying doesn’t stop, but I’m thinking of you and sending you a rather damp hug. xx

Hello Janey, I haven't been on Goy for quite a while now,but always look in now and then,so I've only just seen your sad news about Lottie.
So sorry you have lost your little soulmate, but she couldn't have had a better life in her 14 years than with you.

I can understand how you will be feeling,we had a Yorkshire Terrier for 16 years,and it's like losing one of your Family which they are .
Thinking of you with love. xxx

They are all so beautiful! So many!

So sad for you as I know how much she meant to you.
You have some lovely memories and she had a lovely life with you. xx

Absolutely stunning collection.

So sorry to hear your news. They truly are family members and we feel their loss so keenly.

Both are absolutely gorgeous when flowering.

Lovely to see it blooming.

Fabulous.

They are fascinating flowers! Not commonly seen here.

Love Begonia blooms.

Balcony, I always view the challenges here as opportunities to learn. The technique you described used in Spain for growing vegetables is very similar to practices used here in some areas of Australia. We are always looking for ways to use water efficiently and effectively. It's such a precious resource.

I found a site that had over 100 different Hippeastrums on offer (in the Netherlands). They also have a large collection of lilies (so look for a blog this summer on the ones I have reserved).

While all of these have flowered, there are additional spikes that are still coming up and flowering, so the season of flowers is about 3 months long. There are also another group I have drying out and waiting for spring. Then there are those I have grown from seed that are still growing to the flowering stage.

I like them all but fave I think is the variety that has a cat in one photo. Is that Gervase? My Hip is shooting up nicely, a red one I believe bought for me for Christmas. The one from last year I haven’t started to water yet.

I liked that those little back passages had been cleared & each house had made their own little garden there, such an improvement.

Karen, this is a beauty.

that is so pretty Cottage Gardener.

I am hoping Morrisons will be getting theirs in soon.

Oh Shirley_tulip, that is an incredible bargain in comparison what it would cost here. Looking forward to see it in your garden.

They are beautiful, I didn't know there were so many different types.

David, that's where I bought mine from!

Thanks for posting these photos of your Hippeastrums (Amaryllis) Wylie. They all look wonderful!

I have 2 bulbs in the kitchen that I started off a week or two ago but I have a lot more that I haven't started yet.

I also have 3 pots of Clivias. One is a small offset that probably isn't big enough to flower this year but should do so next year. The other 2 pots have several flowering size bulbs in them but as they take up too much space in the flat I've left them out on the balcony.

I did bring all my bulbs in when we had that week of temps below freezing as they wouldn't have survived otherwise.