Repotting

All posts tagged Repotting

Mid-October, Real Spring May Finally Have Sprung

Published October 19, 2026 by helentastic67

Mid-October Real Spring May Finally Have Sprung

Melbourne suffers through something we call Fake Spring on account of spring arriving only to need to pull out the woolens a few days later. This T-shirt/Woolen routine throws everybody every year like it’s the first time.

I have a jungle on my balcony. Half of which is on other people’s balconies while I wait for waterproofing to be achieved successfully. Waterproofing and home maintenance. The never-ending dramas of home ownership. Boo, I say!

So, this baby. If I have a carer visit once over Autumn/Winter, they will see this tree and insist its dead. They will even offer to pull it out and take it to the bin, how rude.

But come October each year for the whole fifteen plus years I’ve had it, it returns making me feel a little smug success at the fact that I’ve done very little and it still thrives. I bought myself this plant for my then birthday when my last boyfriend didn’t take the hint and buy it for me for my birthday.

It has been in its forever home only two years and it was re-potted a year ago. And it’s loving its new home. The green blossoms will be white by the end of the month and about a week after that the wind will likely blow them all away but it’s all totally worth it.

The orchids after spending seven years in the dark on my last balcony actually flowered this year, I couldn’t believe it. After being hidden from the west facing full sun of summer blast in their last home.

They took all winter to open but totally worth it too, so chuffed.


I thought it was worth some good news.

Chocolate

Published March 23, 2018 by helentastic67

Chocolate 1

Chocolate

Again, another post that is telling on how long ago I wrote this. For me, this is possibly the best thing that happens at Christmas. About fifteen years ago, I went to the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show. It’s been running annually since 1995 and I distinctly recall the first time I went because of a purchase I made that time. I’ve maybe only been once since because all the soil I own is in pots and I’m always feeling too poor to go. Paying an admission fee is one thing, but if you don’t have some spending money it’s just easier not to go.

Flower-Show

So, a long time ago I went with a college friend, let’s call her Jane (it’s been a while since we used Jane, right?). We wandered around outside before venturing inside into the Melbourne Exhibition Building. It’s a beautiful landmark as it’s Heritage listed, it’s in Carlton, close to the city.

Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

https://museumsvictoria.com.au/reb/ (Royal Exhibition Building)

As we wandered around we heard a voice calling out ‘Hot Chocolate’ over and over again. It was monotonous. We kept wondering around down stairs, before venturing upstairs. We kept hearing this chant, ‘Hot Chocolate’.

Hot Chocolate

Seriously, when we found him, he stood at an exhibition stand with tall posters made of plastic fabric. We asked him what he was going on about. “Hot Chocolate”.

Their was a spectacular lily with a rich velvety colour and variegated leaves. The product came in a white plastic tub in the shape of a coffee mug. The packaging came with a bag of soil and another bag with a bulb in it. They were $50.00. We both walked away from that stand carrying one each. And he was still alive.

Growing Calla Lily

We were promised we would have flowers the first year. We should have killed him because that didn’t happen. After, I think two years I re-potted it into a bigger pot and some years later, I re-potted it again into an even larger pot.

Repotting

That $50 really was an investment because I think it took about five years just to get foliage and about ten years to get flowers.

Even now, Christmas 2016 I got three flowers the first year I had flowers the requests started from family and friends alike for a part of the bulb when it multiplied.

family

They stopped asking…

At the start of Summer, the pot, a large plastic pot in the corner of my back yard, that I start to water religiously in Spring, starts to get little spikes in it.

I’ve found Jamima nestled on top of the pot and I’ve had to shoo her off.

The spikes become too tall here, leaves open and stretch upwards and around a week before Christmas comes the best reward.

Tell me if you think it was worth it?

Hot Chocolate Calla Lily