Fawnridge, there are too many great gardens on the east coast of Oz to mention all. And apologies in advance to anybody's garden that does not get a mention here. Cairns - Wyambeel Arboretum, run by Peter Sargeant - an absolute must! An hour drive north of Cairns, in the Daintree Rainforest, near Mosman. Also a doctor named Arden Dearden in Cairns, has a huge collection of tropical plants from worldwide. Brisbane - The Olive Branch (thousands of broms) and Roma St Parklands (as Rick suggested) Gold Coast - several private brom collections. Sunshine Coast - too many to mention, but some great ones. Sydney - Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens - agree with Rick. Also the Royal Botanic gardens right on Sydney harbour - beautiful venue. Melbourne - don't know. South of Gold Coast - my humble abode! :) (about 2 hour drive from G.C.) Kathleen Henderson has a great cactus/succulent garden, an hour drive from here - I could escort you. Also, a beautiful garden 10 minutes from here, owned by my good friends Gloria and Tom Dunbar. Up the road from me is Protestors' Falls and Nightcap National Park - beautiful easy walk to the falls - fantastic rainforest canopy. Do you want to see general gardens, or specialist ones - like natives, or specific exotics? If you give me enough notice, I could line up some appointments and introductions for you - especially gardens in and around Brisbane area. I assume you will be hiring a car? You'll need one - us Aussies have to travel far to get anywhere! Hope this helps, and whets the appetite :) Cheers, Kerry

Wonderful pictures again Ricky. You and Karen look like you are having a GREAT time. The flowers that caught my eye are reddish brown and the picture is right under Karen's. Those flowers are really unusual. The rest are beautiful and that opal, oh my. The critters cute. DH was wondering what kangaroo tasted like. FlowerLady

Hi Arthur, Your photos are beautiful! As a real novice, I can only appreciate the beauty of the flowers, and not their rarity. And, because I always go for bright, solid colours, my favourite is the lycaste, with the violacea a close second. Ah! the Botannical Gardens! Childhood memories flood in. One of my very first is of my third birthday party, celebrated as a family picnic on the lawns near the water. It was 1940 (Yes, yes, I'm that ancient). Another time I fell into the duckpond - fortunately only a few inches deep. Last time my husband and I were in Sydney, we revisted the Gardens. Lots of memorabilia remain - the Nude Boxers and the Four Seasons to mention a few. But what are they doing about the fruit bats? THAT is something new and not very pleasant! Are the orchids on permanent display, or a seasonal thing? I'll time our next visit to coincide, if possible. Judy

Hi Donna, Joey, Fred and Carl ( and everyone else ), Stella Lace came my way early this year as a mislabel from a very generous gardening friend of mine. Not the one I expected when it came to flowering, but most welcome. No seed was set this time round for me, but I have read of one other gardener having no trouble with seed production from this variety, but she didn't mention if the resultant plants looked anything like their parent. I will be happy to send over any self-seed or pollen produced on the next flowering- although I think seed would be the safer of the two. The plant looks healthy and happy enough, but I haven't had it for all that long, and I would hate to send any unknown problems along with the pollen. As for the other varieties- if seeds matures next year from the ones you like, you are welcome to it. I have more than I can possibly use. The Maguire's are very strong pod producing plants and germinate well ( except for 'Nana Parnell' and 'Margie Bruton'...I haven't had any luck with them so far ) . Maybe I could try sending seed over to a few of you ( if it manages to get through ) and you could distribute it among yourselves once over there? I know, Fred, had his eye on one or two of them :) Joey- I will look after that spotted one a little better, and try for seeds for you next October/November. Let me know what others you are interested in. Thank you for your generous offer- I'll keep an eye out for your blooms ( you never know! ), but to tell the truth, I think I have already over-done it here! The above is not a complete list! And then there are all the seedlings coming on! I really will have to do some culling over the next year or so.....but which are the ones that should go? Not a decision I can easily make!! The seedling table! These three pots are last year's seedlings. They grow quickly here, and it's easy to be over-run with hippeastrums in a very short time ( happy thought! ). Julie