Wassup with Harakeke?

Flax, in my opinion, is one of those plants that has its good and bad points, but did you know...



Its real name is Harakeke, a name given to this plant by Maori.



The first European traders called it "flax" because its fibres were similar to that of true flax found in other parts of the world. Though we still call it flax today, harakeke is really a lily.



It is unique to New Zealand and is one of our oldest plant species.



Enough background info...



The good point about this plant is when it's small and cute...



The bad point about this plant is when it's big and overgrown.



So today in amongst sanding, sealing and simplifying the toilet and mowing the lawns, I ripped out the ugly Harakeke at the front of my house and put Ella and Josiah's own little planter boxes in their stead!



Jackie assures me they will now die because they have been moved into a high sun environment from a low sun environment at the back of the house...so I have taken a photo to show how good they look before the inevitable happens...hehe he.

Well done Ella and Joe...sorry if Daddy kills your plants. If I do I promise to the entire Blogland that I will replace your plants with a more sun loving variety.

Wassup 'G'nomes

When we moved into our 1st house, i found a couple of dead garden gnomes. My wife wanted them to stay that way, 6 feet under would have sufficed.

Alas even as a young boy i would rescue worms trapped going the wrong way on the footpath. You know...they are the ones you step over knowing they are going to end up shrivelled up husks of...(breaks off crying)

So i carefully sequestered said gnomes to my parents place where restoration began. I haven't got a before picture unfortunately but they had no paint left on them and were half buried in dirt.

I did a little research on gnomes so i was armed with great explanations should my wife want to kill my resurrected friends.

Here's my top 7 things to know about gnomes:

1. Gnomes are a mythical legendary race endowed with exceptional vision and heightened awareness; their task is to provide assistance to all living things; gnomes symbolise integrity, honesty and hard work.




2. Originating in Germany in the mid 1800's there are estimated to be over 25,000,000 gnomes in Germany alone.




3. A phenomenon known as 'gnoming' exists where people 'return garden gnomes to the wild'. Some kidnapped gnomes have literally travelled all around the world and is the basis for Travelocity's 'Roaming Gnome' - anyone watch The Amazing Race??




4. 'Lampy' the only surviving gnome from the original batch brought back to England in 1847 is insured for One Million Pounds!




5. Gnomes have a life expectancy of 400 years.




6. Male gnomes can be easily identified by their red caps.




7. Gnomes and children under five are banned from the Royal Horticulture Society Chelsea Flower Show.

You may have noticed in point number 1 that the word mythical appears in italics...wassup wit dat you ask? Check out the gnome sighting in Argentina (below) you decide.