Have a wonderful weekend!

Here's wishing you a weekend filled with wonderful gardening!

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Succulent auction

At the end of last month (January 2015), I participated in an on-line succulent auction on a FaceBook group called MinWateR and my bid was the most successful! I patiently waited for over a week for my plants to arrive by courier. What excitement when I unpacked them! Beautifully and safely boxed in little brown paper packets, all with specie names on, they were all none the worse for the wear.

(Plants from Hendri Pretorius).

Then came the big job of preparing soil and pots and planting my 25 little darlings. I'm building up quite a collection and soon I will have to build them their own display house!

Here are some of the first pics I took :

 Euphorbia horidda - rooted cutting

Pleiospilos nelli - 3yr Old Seedling

Aloe comosa - 3yr Old Seedling

Aloinopsis rosulata - 3yr Old Seedling (Rubrolineota)

 Faucaria - 2yr Old Seedling

 Orbea lutea - Rooted Cutting

 Pleiospilos compactus - 3yr Old Seedling

 Titanopsis hugo-schlecterii - 3yr Old Seedling

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Come to tea!

"Let each and all then grateful be

And hail a welcome guest in tea."

- Samuel Pepys

The pleasures of a cup of tea is known the world over. Find a comfy chair and pour yourself a spot of tea, preferably near a sun drenched open window, and revel in the sweet cakes and pastries to go with it.

Take a friend out for Afternoon Tea this week! It will be good for both of you! Nothing beats a cup of tea to promote good health and mental well being. Imagine that a little cup of tea can bring a smile to your face, warming your spirit and keeping your mind and body happy! We've all heard of the antioxidant benefits now consider the fact that going out to tea will boost your immune system by relieving stress! When was the last time you went to a quiet enjoyable lunch with a friend and really took time to listen?

The Preparation of tea is an elaborate affair and taken very seriously in tea drinkers' circles. The perfect cup or pot of tea is determined by the following factors:

• Type of tea

• Amount of tea leaves

• Water quality

• Water temperature

• Steep time

Type of Tea

The amount of tea leaves, water temperature and steep time depend on the type of tea to be infused, whether it is black tea, green tea, oolong, white tea, fruit blend, or an herbal infusion.

Amount of Tea Leaves

Using a teaspoon in your utensil drawer may result in tea that is too weak or too strong, since these teaspoons are not necessarily a standard teaspoon measure. Be sure to use a standard measure to measure your tea leaves, such as a Tea Measure Spoon. When making tea you haven't tried before, start by following the package directions and adjust the amount of tea leaves to taste the next time you make it. A rule of thumb is that fluffy teas, such as white teas, will require more of the leaves for making your infusion.

Water quality

Always be sure to use fresh water that is either filtered from the tap or bottled.

Water temperature

Black teas, herbal infusions, and fruit blends are hearty enough to stand up to boiling water. Oolongs, green teas, and white teas will be scalded if boiling water is used, which results in an infusion that is bitter and un-drinkable.

Steep Time

Black teas, herbal infusions, and fruit blends take longer to infuse and for the flavor to fully develop. Oolongs, green teas, and white teas are more delicate and will get bitter if steeped too long.

And, of course, the crockery and cutlery are of major importance. Drinking tea out of fine porcelain is one of the world's great pleasures. Drinking tea out of a thick mug or tin can only be tolerated under the most dire circumstances, like being on a camping trip and even then, preferably, it would have to be coffee, and not tea!

Throwing a tea bag into just any old cup and quickly pouring on boiling water and then filling up with milk is total sacrilege. Most English people I know have this ritual of steeping the tea (leaves) in a tea pot, and after the customary amount of time, pouring the milk first and then the tea.

Afternoon Tea at the Ritz in London is certainly a grand affair, for which you have to make a reservation. They have Afternoon Tea menus, absolutely scrumptious, Chocolate Afternoon Tea and Celebration Afternoon Tea and they are a member of the Tea Council's prestigious Tea Guild.

Tea at the Ritz, London

The pastries and accompaniments to serving tea are equally important and part of the ritual. Setting your tea table with your best tea pot and cutlery can be an exciting and fulfilling exercise and baking the pastries and biscuits yourself gives it a special, unique touch.

Exquisite cutlery for the perfect tea party


3-Tier biscuit tray

And, of course, a special tea towel is a must, embroidered or appliquéd (by yourself, naturally!) with vintage 19th Century French tea towels being at the top of the list.

Tea towel embroidered with a sprig of Lavender

SOME TEA PARTY RECIPES :

Royal Tea

Beginning with a glass of Pear Sparkler,

Freshly baked Scone with

Clotted Cream & Lemon Curd,

Petit Soup du Jour,

A selection of Seasonal Tea Sandwiches

with Assorted Savouries & Sweet Delights

Tea of your choice

Cream Tea

Freshly baked Scones with

Clotted Cream & Lemon Curd,

Strawberry Preserves &

Tea of your choice

Full Tea

Beginning with a

Freshly baked Scone with

Clotted Cream & Lemon Curd,

Petit Soup du Jour,

A selection of Tea Sandwiches

with Assorted Savories & Sweet Delights

Tea of your choice

Child's Tea

~ 10 and under ~

Peanut Butter & Jam Sandwich

with fresh fruit, home baked Cookies,

Lemonade or Chocolate Milk

Call your girlfriend this week and take care of each other's mind and spirit over a good cup of tea!

(Some pics scanned from a 1979 'Victoria' magazine)

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Graptoveria "Fred Ives"

A couple of months ago I visited a friend who had started a nursery just the other side of Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa) and I was the lucky recipient of this gift - a Graptoveria "Fred Ives", already with a couple of pups, so I now have five plants.

Category: Succulent Family:
Crassulaceae (Stonecrops)
Origin: Mexico (North America)

This succulent should be planted in fertile, free draining soil or a cacti well-drained mix. Water well during the warmer months, preferably from below, and sparingly in winter. Hardy hybrid tolerant of a wide range of conditions including some frost. It is reportedly a hybrid of Graptopetalum paraguayense crossed with a plant in the Echeveria gibbiflora complex.

Graptoveria can stay outdoors in summer. in mild climates it can grow in the garden where it takes lots of water without rotting. It is relatively slow growing and very slow to sucker (if at all). It prefers a bit of afternoon shade but does also well in bright light with high heat situations. It is adaptable to low light situations too.

It produces large clumps of rosettes to 8 inches tall by nearly 1 foot wide with broad bronze and pink succulent leaves atop short stems with 1’-2’ long branched inflorescences bearing red-orange centered pale yellow flowers in summer. The leaves are broad and stiff, overlapping each other, with concave upper surface, rubbery to the touch, waxy pearly-bronze to purplish yellow-orange to blue green (depending on time of year and growing conditons). Often shading from grey-blue at the centre out to orange-bronze-purple. The purple blush is fairly consistent throughout the seasons. Higher light and heat seem to increase the purple a bit, though.

 Graptoveria pups sharing a basket with Lampranthus delosperma

This is a beautiful succulent for container planting, adding colour and texture to mixed collections. Excellent for windowsills or as a colour accent in rock or dish gardens. Ideal for adding dramatic foliage contrast to garden beds and borders and colour to the winter garden. 

The crested form is usually propagated by division of the larger specimen.  The standard (non crested) form is usually propagated by suckers or basal leaves, if If the plant is repotted some of the bottom leaves can be removed, in order to attempt leaf propagation, it is also a common practice to collect the leaves on the flower stem. However many such  cuttings will dry out without producing a plantlet, but with perseverance it is likely to get a few new plants.

 On the right in the plastic tub, some new kalanchoe rotundifolia propagations

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