Hi C.N. I know that Lester Meyers has small C. gigantea for sale. I'm guessing they are between 1-2inches in diameter, which I guess is beyond the tiny seedling stage. At $3 dollars each thats pretty good. Otherwise you should try Rudolf Schulz, I know that he definitely has good sized plants of Saguro. Last time I was there, they were close to a foot tall. The only problem is that they are a very long spined form, which can be a bit hazardous if yoyr trying to unpack from the box, or if your planning to put in your cactus and succulent garden that would experience high traffic. I bought my first Saguro, just over ten years ago and it was only a small seedling in a 2 inch pot. Now it is about a foot high. it has had to deal with a lot of my early mistakes when I started the hobby. They are quite tough plants. Saguro can actually grow about 20cm a year if you can provide them with the correct heat. They love it hot. Obviusly I can't provide them with those conditions living in cold , windy Melbourne. So they are not as slow as some people may think. If you have ever tried to grow Strombocactus or Ariocarpus, then you will truly know how slow some cacti can relly be. Anyway, good luck with your cactus garden endeavour, I wish you great success. Whatever you do, make sure whatever plants you put in the garden aren't too small, otherwise they may wilt and die because of the sun and heat.

I can find them in my local nursery, but they're grafted on Fortuniana rootstock, which is great here for WA, but not particularly for NSW and other parts of Australia (where Multiflora and Canina, for example, are preferred). Without suitable rootstock roses can only strive in our harsh climate so I suggest you to look further. Try some smaller nurseries, which are usually more passionate about growing better roses and are eager to help you find out some rare rose gems -- in contrast, big nurseries usually stock only "best-buys" and those roses "that can justify people's investment" (let me quote one sales rep. from one big nursery). PS. Re. fragrance, beware -- rose perfume tends to evaporate pretty quickly here in Oz. Thank that to the heat and low humidity. So even the most perfumed rose won't be very fragrant if you keep her flowers opened for too long in your garden. As soon as it starts to open, cut the flower and put in your vase.

Hi HJ. I dont know if they are a weed in Brisbane but here in Logan you cannot buy them any where. I tried to when we started on the garden as there were a few on our block and I though them very pretty but were told by Bunnings and others that they are not allowed to sell them. I asked why and the person went away to find out, and she came back and told me that it the seeds there are thousands on every tree and once the seed pod opens up they germinate everywhere as they are those fly away type seeds, do they call them winged, something like that. So after hearing that we make sure that all the seed pods are cut off our trees, actually we did it yesterday trouble is I dont know how we are going to get them off when the trees get taller but if we pick up the pods every season at least we will be doing something, and if there comes a time we cant well we will cut the trees down, as by then all the good trees we have planted will be so much bigger....Cheers..MM.

I have to post a couple more pictures from the incredible Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah. It was my favorite garden on this trip. Although not having the variety of Rhododendrons that can be found in Olinda, the scenic aspect of it is just mind boggling. I can think of only 2 other gardens I've visited with such an amazing natural setting and attendant sense of place - UC Berkeley, and Villa Taranto on a mountainside next to Lago Maggiore. (In fairness, I should really wrap in Isola Madre and Isola Brissago and just say "the absolutely incredible Gardens of Lago Maggiore". The latter two merely sit in the lake, while Villa Taranto allows you to climb at least a couple hundred feet up and feel like you're in the clouds looking down, as does the UC Berkeley garden. As close to the Horticulturally Edenic as you will find, I think.) Looking at these pics years later, I now spot, for example, that there was a Glyptostrobus (probably!) that I hadn't even noticed. Here were some of their native grass trees, albeit smaller than ones I saw in coastal Victoria: A few more from Australia. Here is the lush undergrowth of the Blue Mountains. The is the biome that the Wollemi pine comes from. Phil explained to me what this plant was. It looks like a South African Erica, but is actually the Aussie version. It's either also in the Ericaeae, or is another plant family that co-evolved to look similar. Sorry, can't remember! Finally a view of the forest-y part of the Sydney Botanical Garden. Looking and feeling every bit like being on a tropical island, but quite a ways from the tropics. Sydney is as far south as Myrtle Beach is north. 33S. Good luck creating anything like this in Myrtle Beach! Practically any plant recognized by northern tourists as a 'tropical' plant grows here, barring coconuts. You have go closer to the Queensland border to find those, they simply can't deal with the frost-free albeit slightly chilly winters of Sydney. On to Christchurch! A quintessential NZ scene at the Christchurch Botanic Garden. NZ Flax, of course! Tree ferns, of course! Weird little conifer - probably one of the shrubby Podocarps, of course! Nearby was the bizarre looking Phyllocladus alpinus, aka 'Celery Pine'. You can grow this in the milder parts of the PNW, definitely not in the eastern US. Typical plantings...a young Telopia, a Callistemon, and Kniphofia northiae. Although clearly not as mild as most of the gardens I saw in AU, it's still pretty damn mild, as is evidenced by the fact they can use Clivias as bedding plants! I suspect Christchurch is probably 10a in the milder parts, 9b if you get away from the coast or 'urban heat island'. IIRC the guy who used to post on GOTE from there put 9b in his profile. I saw, for example, winter blooming South African aloes, but far more infrequently than in AU, and maybe only in sheltered north facing gardens har har har.