Crocosmia by Gardener Dave

Crocosmia by Gardener Dave

Occasionally when I find a plant I like and am curious about, I like to research it for more information. Many years ago on a trip to the British Isles, I saw a plant in a garden that attracted my attention because of its bright color and unique bloom shape. I saw a name on a label, and determined to find out more about it when I returned home.  I found that most of its cultivars are not really hardy hereon the Front Range, but wanted to try it anyway. 

Crocosmia – a perennial in the iris-gladiola family – is a South African native.They grow from underground corms which are unusual in forming vertical chains with the youngest corm on top and the oldest buried the most deeply.  The leaves are linear and parallel-veined. The lowest corm is reported to “…have ‘contractile’ roots which try to drag the corm chain deeper into the ground”.  I have had mine for 3 years and have not yet dug them up to examine the corm chain structure, but they may have had problems “sinking” in our mostly non-loamy soil. They like enriched sandy loam soil with good drainage and moderate moisture. They grow 2-4 feet tall in a season in our climate.  I plan to dig mine up this fall after blooming and replant some of the corms. I am curious to see what they look like. The corms should be easily separable for propagation, and should be fall-planted for next season blooms.  Although hardier than glads, they are semi-hardy in our Front Range climate, and should have winter mulch if planted in the open garden. Otherwise, dig and store them like gladiolas.

 

Thanks to Gardener Dave and his love of Crocosmia's has helped me to find out what this plant is I have.  Its flowers are spectacular.  My friend told me her mother called them "Dirty Shirts"  because you always find them in dark corners.

I took some photographs of my potted Crocosmia's and I know you will love them.  I make twine from the green foliage as it is very strong and changes to a beautiful brown colour.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Using the BASKET WEAVE as an analogy of Life.

This is the funniest part. The world needs a percentage of people who will never get it.  That is how it all works.






None of what we see in our world would work if we all thought the same as each other. We would be in a void. It sounds good in theory but in reality the universe is driven by opposition. Things hold together with the under's and the overs.  

The (under's and over's) Weft and the Warp, separately are mere threads, but together they make cloth.   Cloth is then useful for many items where once it was a bunch of threads.

This analogy is easy for a basket maker to understand. A basket to continue with this analogy, would fall apart if there were no tension from apposing forces.

The world is receiving its knowledge from words which can be manipulated.  If we take our knowledge from symbolism we are connecting with a different level because there is far less chance that this can be manipulated ie.  1 + 1 will always eqal 2 some where in the world. 

Our alphabet and numbers are forms of symbols we still use to day in our daily life.  Symbolism is what speaks to the soul.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

DIY Fencing from local greenwaste.

Today we made three metres of fencing / screening from greenwaste from the swampy area not far from our home.   I had wanted to make something that would break the wind off the ocean while enjoying the view still. 

Brice hammered in the three stakes for my loom guides and we set up off the back fence and began to weave the fencing.  Yesterday we collected all the wood and carried that back home and today we went back for more.  There is a steady supply of this material locally.

Me standing next to the fence loom with some unfinished fencing.

This is going to be a permanent set up in my yard.  The imagination is all that limits one with this project.  I have many many ideas I want to try out that have been running through my mind for a long time now. 

I weave baskets and so I would also like to make the twine for the fencing myself from materials from the surrounding bushland, then the project is completely all made from raw materials from the bush. 

Today,  we used heavy duty string on a ball because I was impatient to start this project.  I will make a supply of homemade jute  and have that ready for my next phase of fence weaving.

If hardwood straight sticks were used and fishing line to weave, it would be very strong and you could make a sleeping hammock from this so that you were up off the ground in any wet weather in the bush.  

There are many long grasses and reeds as well as the obvious skinny bamboo that one could use to construct shelter, screening, bedding or garden surrounds.

To learn how to do this I watched a Youtube video and followed all of the guys instructions and it worked perfectly.  Here is the video:

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

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Tjanpi .... means Grass

Grass weaving is something that I have been burning in my spirit to learn, I am just using the Lemandra here in these baskets.  Lemandra grows profusely on the cliff east of my back door.  I soak it and strip it into thinner pieces and let it dry and then re-soak it.

Baskets I made while it was raining

I would love to learn more and use other materials.  I am presently drying out some banana stem pieces to see how they weave.  I am excited by this, besides cooking, there isn't much else to do in this wet weather we are experiencing here on the North Coast of New South Wales.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr