Lilly Pilly
The Lilly Pilly that stood for several years in the middle of our back yard seemed like a good idea when we planted it, but it became somewhat of a problem. When we bought this house we thought we’d plant native trees to attract and feed native animals. Since then we’ve changed our ideas about our yard and want to grow more food for us. (The irony being that we attract a lot more native animals with food crops than with native shrubbery.) This Lilly Pilly ended up in the middle of what we envisage as our next row of veggie beds.
Neither Frank nor I were keen on the idea of killing a perfectly good tree so we looked around for a new home. Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidence) friends of ours were in need of mature trees to plant as part of their renovation plans. The council specified very few varieties that were acceptable. This Lilly Pilly just happened to be one of them.
So, out of our back yard it came.
And into their back yard it went.
About 3 hours later, we were left with a really nice hole in the ground and Chris and Linda had a perfect tree in their garden (it suits its new location a lot better than its old). A truly happy ending for 4 humans and a tree. (The icing on the cake was that the chickens were 100% behind the creation of this new digging, bathing and playing spot.)
Now the count down to the next veggie beds begins. I hope it’s soonish as I have way too many seed trays on the go for the number of beds I’ve got. It’s always something with a garden…
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
Love the idea of finding good homes for unwanted or superfluous plants/shrubs. Such a nice feeling!
Also, for any readers who don’t know of this site, ‘Gardenate’ enables you to subscribe to their email and they inform you the correct date/season to plant vegies/fruit. http://www.gardenate.com/
Thanks for that reminder. I use gardenate all the time. In fact I rely on it so heavily that I’ve had a link to it on the right hand side of this blog for months. I call it “Planting tips by climate zone” because you can select your zone and it customises the information for that. So if you lose the link to it, you can always find it here.
Gardening is a continual re-assessment of what works and what doesn’t, I find.
It is. What can be maddening is when the things you REALLLLLLYYYY want to work just don’t. I’m still not very good at accepting defeat. This time however there was no defeat in sight – the lilly pilly thrived and I’m sure will continue to do so in its new home.
Speaking of defeat, should I just give up on growing rosemary? No matter what I do or where I position a rosemary cutting, some kind of bug will find it and chomp on the leaves. Millions do it, why can’t I? Whenever I pass a house with a huge, healthy rosemary bush in its garden, I just want to cry.
I feel for ya’ sister! Rosemary I can grow, I can even get cuttings to strike and produce new plants. It is a huge success in my garden. I have no advice because I’ve never had any hurdle to overcome. I figure the taste is too strong for any bug to like. You must have sterner bugs than I.
But so many plants that are weeds for many just won’t grow for me. Chives are impossible to kill – I’ve yet to produce a good batch. Dill can take over a suburb, unless I live there and then it will sprout and whither. Coriander – don’t mention it – it’s too depressing.
Which does beg the question – is gardening more of a science or an art (with a huge dose of luck)? I sometimes think it’s as much magic as anything else.
Never say die! Go Rosemary Go!