Down to Malaga yesterday to deposit my beloved on a plane to England for ten 10 days holiday and bring back the famous Auntie Margaret (88 and all my own teeth
) for a few weeks. My treat was a trip to IKEA to buy smelly candles for me and hurricane lamps as a gift for my neighbour. Of course I looked at the plants they had, mostly cacti, very healthy looking too but I resisted. Then, oh joy of joy, I came across some Kangaroo Paw plants which I have been longing to grow here but hadn´t yet found them. I used to buy them in Cornwall on holiday and they were fantastic plants, stick them in a huge tub and like Topsy they just growed! Being in Cheshire we had to put them in the summer house for the winter but they thrived. Sadly when I moved over here I had to give them to friends but I hear they are still going strong
The official name is Anigozanthos and they come from S.W. Australia, apparently grown in a variety of habitats including winter wet swamps, sandy plains and open dry woodlands - so they have a choice here right?? They don´t like frost though, so will have to protect in winter - it will be joining us for Christmas festivities in the living room ha. Says in the book to protect with leaf bark and good old IKEA have done just that, the top of the pot is covered with lovely, tiny leaf bark, not like the huge stuff you get here. If you look closely at the flowers you can see where the name comes from.
General Gardening Spain