What I want to know about Larnach's variegates is: even assuming that he did use the same pollen parent for all of the Aussie Dreams, why would he not try others? There were hardly any variegates in the trade at that point, so if you're one of the few people who's figured out how to make them, why would you stop at just one grex? I can't imagine not wanting to explore other possibilites. I don't know why kautskyi doesn't want to bloom for me. It could be climate, but a friend of mine has bloomed it. She said it blooms very slowly, only opening one flower every few days, which sounds like practically the opposite of your experience, Jack. Go figure. I didn't know it was self-fertile, but that wouldn't be a problem if you were using its pollen (assuming it produces enough pollen to work with). At any rate, I don't really have the right mother plant to pair with it at the moment. For something like that you'd want a seed parent that didn't have a complicated agenda of its own to muddy the waters. One of Skotak's carolinaes would probably be best, at least until we can break the carolinae hegemony. I had a nice one with a good gloss (also a kautskyi trait), but I lost it. Now all I have to work with are hybrids, which is okay for most of what I've been trying to do, but I really should get a good carolinae. So..... don't hold your breath that I'm going to get on this any time soon, but it is intriguing.

Day 33 Wall tile went up yesterday....and my beautiful blue paint...does not work with it. The blue wall looks like an orphan, unwanted and unrelated to anything. As my mother would have said "damn blast and thunderation". The blue in the accent tile is quite dark, and I don't think I want to have a dark navy bathroom. Sigh. Back to the sludge palette. So off to my local Home Hardware to the resident paint guru. Of course when I got there I only had a sample of the wall tile, so home I trudged again to get the wall and accent tiles, and back into town. Mme guru short listed 3 tones for me as that is the range of choice I can cope with. " How much to you need" " Undoubtedly one quart plus a tablespoon so I had better get a gallon". Handyman Dave (HD) was hard at work when I got back, so I didn't have a chance to paint before the floor started to go in. Good thing last night I had painted sealer on the travertine squares in the accent tile with an iddy biddy 10 hair brush, as the floor is down now so I can't do anything this evening. My the floor is a rich colour. Things are starting to pull together, and even without my blue I think I am really going to like it. The piles of tiles is diminished, although the piles of garbage and detritus are not. I can now manoeuver through the upstairs hallway, and only have to clamber over the piles of tile bits and cardboard boxes piled by the door. Tomorrow is grout time. The end is near, the end is near. and I can always stick in a few accessories to highlight the blue.

I'd just like to say thanks to all those who have given me advice. I used to be in the nursery industry many years ago and did a lot of hands on work but it was so long ago that I have forgotten a lot and new plants, etc have been brought out. Since my kids have come along I haven't really had the time to get into the garden much but now they're getting older, I find I get more time now - a little more anyway. Reading all the items in garden web has really kept my incentive up, brought back a few memories and given me new ideas. Like anything new, gardening can seem complicated but most of it is just a little research and commonsense. If you read a gardening book about pests and diseases you'd wonder how plants survive but in reality only a few of the pests actually cause problems in any given area. It won't be long and you will be answering some of these questions yourself.

Hi You should not feed sick plants and be careful which fertiliser you use as some Natives don't like phosphorus How about asking here on the Oz Garden Galley down the bottom of this Arch and Clematis link Yes we are discussing Kangaroo Paws Here is a link that might be useful: Black Kangaroo Paw.