Micromegas' Secret Garden in Adelaide, South Australia | Botanical garden

Micromegas' Secret Garden

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Address: South Australia 5000 Adelaide, SA, Australia

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03.02.2022 I am singing the song of Summer. In the long ago time, when people lived always in the early red morning, before sunrise, Glooskap (the Creator) went very far north, where all was ice. He came to a wigwam. Therein he found a giant, a great giant, for he was Winter. Glooskap entered; he sat down. Then Winter gave him a pipe; he smoked, and the giant told tales of the old times.... The charm was on him; it was the Frost. The giant talked on and froze, and Glooskap fell asleep. He slept for six months, like a toad. Then the charm fled, and he awoke. He went his way home; he went to the south, and at every step it grew warmer, and the flowers began to come up and talk to him. He came to where there were many little fairies dancing in the forest; their queen was Summer. I am singing the truth: it was Summer, the most beautiful one ever born. He caught Summer up; he kept her by a crafty trick. The Master cut a moose-hide into a long cord; as he ran away with Summer he let the end trail behind him. The fairies of Light pulled at the cord, but as Glooskap ran, the cord ran out, and though they pulled he left them far away. So he came again to the lodge of Winter, but now he had Summer in his bosom; and Winter welcomed him, for he hoped to freeze him again to sleep. I am singing the song of Summer. But this time the Master did the talking. This time his m'téoulin, magic power, was the strongest. And ere long the sweat ran down Winter's face, and then he melted more and quite away, as did the wigwam. Then every thing awoke; the grass grew, the fairies came out, and the snow ran down the rivers, carrying away the dead leaves. Then Glooskap left Summer with them, and went home. (From The Algonquin Legends of New England: myths and folk lore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes, Charles G Leland, 1884, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., USA, pp.134-5.)

24.01.2022 Twice in a week a fox crapped in a patch of newly planted aloes. That seems statistically a pattern!

23.01.2022 91 photos for 91 days of spring... in sequential order. It's been a mild and relatively wet season (just a bit above average), but drying out now... watch as grass goes brown! Explanations in the captions

22.01.2022 It's been raining on and off the last few days, nothing heavy (heavy up north though which is great!), but I always enjoy the cactus colours in the rain!

18.01.2022 I can't remember rain like this. Lasted about 10-15 minutes. Tail end of what's been happening up north I guess! First video, it's a bit fuzzy, not sure how to get it in HD, it's clearer on my phone.

15.01.2022 Proserpine turns Ascalaphus into the screech owl for telling of her eating the pomegranate in the Underworld. But the damage is done - because she ate the pomegranate, Proserpine can only return to the surface of the earth a few months a year. This is the origin of the temperate latitude (European) springtime.

10.01.2022 Faggot case moth, Clania ignobilis

06.01.2022 It's hard to know if this is the last flower of last season or the first flower of this season. Taken this morning.

06.01.2022 Today I found by accident out this hanging nest "thingy" was the cocoon of the faggot (bundle of sticks bound together) case moth, Clania ignobilis, native of all states and territories. It feeds on Eucalyptus, Callitris and introduced pines (SG has all three). The case/cocoon does not always have the one long stick in its silk-and-twig construction, but can be all of a uniform length... the larvae will feed with the head sticking out, and the soft abdomen hidden in the case. The females following pupation remain in the case, wingless (to breed?) while the males fly about, wingspan 3cm. I'll keep an eye out for the moth (though the case is long gone, I saw it last year) and make an album for creepy crawly things in the SG.

04.01.2022 Today there was a strange visitor. After a bang on the window I went outside to find - a racing pigeon! Healthy and happy, but apparently lost. It turns out, a race started today from Adelaide to Mount Gambier, at 7:15am, a 365km journey expected to take five hours. There were 1212 birds in the race. This fella crash landed in the Secret Garden ~ 10am, with the garden on the Adelaide-Mt Gambier flight path. He took off about 1pm from here, I suppose back home? I reported it u...sing the band on the leg and got a call from the owner, who was understandably concerned about his wayward bird. All hopes, s/he flies back to his home in Adelaide. It was a healthy bird, flew off okay after a rest. They can get chased off the path by birds of prey or just get tired. The racing pigeon, called "Racing Homer" is a breed of domestic pigeon, Columba livia domestica, so, it's an unusual way to clock up the numbers, but i'm counting this as a new species for the garden! since we do not have domestic pigeons here normally. Most of all, I hope it gets home okay, it was lovely looking bird and very tame with a bit of a personality watching me from the corner of its eye. See more

03.01.2022 Micromegas’ mythopoesis series#6: Anthus: Get eaten by a horse or turned into a bird? the consequences of fallow fields. Well, it’s supposedly spring. The herniated disc has come 90% good and a thank you to those who sympathised with me and I’ve started the transitional garden spring clean-up. To wit: weeding and mowing. It takes a few months part time and something (minor) always goes wrong. Typically, I either break, to less or worse effect, the ride-on mower, which I...Continue reading

26.12.2021 Happy spring, seed clean out... I copped a herniated disc for the start of spring which has not been fun, but incapacitation has allowed me to revisit my seed stash. For the trichocereus-inclined wanting to get some seeds on the go for summer, I have THREE PACKS EACH of the following varieties in the following amounts at the following prices...... Pics of mother plants in gallery. All flowers/fruits were open pollinated, potential pollen donors are 100s of trichocereus varieties flowering simultaneously. The seed number per pack is a guide, in general there is considerably more per pack than the number indicated (see examples in pic). Postage included for Aussies; happy to ship o/s at buyers risk + postage for whatever method you would prefer. Payment by bank transfer. Send a message through the page if you're interested, with the varieties you are seeking. First in best dressed, I will put a strike through if/when the varieties are sold. Open to trade for coloured flowered trichocereus columnar hybrids. This is the last of last summer's seed. Germination rates are anticipated to be excellent. I'll probably collect more seed this summer but will change up the varieties. $15 (200+ seeds each pack) Trichocereus "cordobensis" Trichocereus "sausage plant" $30 (500+) SOLD > Trichocereus bridgesii "Bruce" < SOLD Trichocereus bridgesii "Psych0" Trichocereus bridgesii "Eileen" Trichocereus "Goliath" Trichocereus "Super Pedro" Trichocereus "Rosei #2" (300+) Trichocereus "Len" (300+) $60 Trichocereus SASS (40+) SOLD > Trichocereus validus "Secret Garden Validus" (50+) < SOLD SOLD > Trichocereus bridgesii Spruce Goose (Bruce x Sausage - created from my own open pollinated fruits) (100+) < SOLD $75 SOLD > Trichocereus bridgesii "Bruce" 1500+

16.12.2021 100 photos for the end of winter The shelducks have been replaced by the ibis next door and yellow-tailed black cockatoos are about - a sign of spring. Twas an alright cold period, about average rainfall and some decent heavy falls in june and early july, but dried up toward the end, no frost to speak of this year which was nice. As always I greet spring with a mix of excitement and anxiety, as things grow, the country dries out quickly unless the rains come, which is hit a...nd miss these days. Got about 650 new plants in, natives, aloes, yukkas, succulents, cactus, a bit short of my goal but a solid expansion, soon the ground will be too hard to turn over. Photos in chronological order with some descriptions here and there. Happy springtime!

01.12.2021 The FB gallery option is a nightmare. Follow the link to see the story that goes with the pictures. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/