I used to feel so comfortable and at home in this world, now everything looks exotic and strange. I used to know so many of the plants but that was more than 30 years ago. Now the scenery for the most part jars my senses and jangles my nerves.
We recently went back to Queensland to see a new grandson and family.
I used to embrace the heat and humidity but now I find like a plant out of climate, I don't fare well; my skin doesn't feel comfortable and my hair becomes listless.
This is more the palette of my spring world now and the climate I feel comfortable in. It takes a long time to acclimatise and I am sure I've arrived.
It has made me think about the plants and gardening. We can and often do, blur the climate zones within which we grow things, some survive and a rare few fully acclimatise but for the most part I sympathise with those plants out of zone that fail to thrive but we persevere anyway.
My folly of a Tahitian Lime in Campbell Town is very much on my mind. It's definitely not thriving but....it just might be acclimatising.....?
Are you like an exotic flower and struggle outside of your climate zone now?
I find I like the heat of the sub-tropics less and less as I get older. But then, I feel that the duration and intensity of the heat is changing and perhaps that is why I often find myself thinking I'd like a change to more milder climate in the middle of our Summers. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteI must admit that your collage of tropical plants is stunning and I'm certainly attracted to their vividness, but I do also love the flowers and foliage of cooler temperate climate, particularly those bulbs! Some of the conifers that I've seen in the Dandenong areas also attract me too...they certainly wouldn't do any good in the sub tropics! My favourite flower is the hydrangea and they do much better where it's cooler.
ReplyDeleteI struggled a lot last July with the heatwave in Britain; it was way too much for me and I stayed in a lot. I have a balcony garden and every year I grow runner beans and tomatoes in tubs, along with lots of other plants, including perennials all year round. Sadly, the bean flowers all dropped off with the heat and I only had one shrivelled bean, lol. The tomatoes did okay but even they didn't like it much, and most of my flower plants died off. The funny thing was that I accidentally 'did a Martian'; I keep a planter for veg peelings to make compost and I'd cut up some old taters to go in. They grew! And I had a lovely crop of small ones, and there's another lot on the way. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Tanya, we lived on the Gold Coast for 2years. It was lovely in Winter with a long sleeved shirt being the most you'd need to wear for warmth. I didn't particularly enjoy the weather although Saturday mornings at the beach was very pleasant apart from that I longed for home (Victoria) Four defined seasons and the beautiful flowers and foliage of the plants I grew up with. I understand completely how you felt. Unfortunately, we now get quite a bit of humid weather in Summer and each year I threaten that I am moving to Tassie for it's cooler climate, but I survive. Hope all is well with you lovely....xx
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