"terryc" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:48:40 +0000, 0tterbot wrote:

it's quite a service!
i rather thought the tip should combine with that "men & sheds" thing
someone is trying to get up - one of their projects could be
restoring/making things out of all the good stuff!

Agree with your idea about men's shed.

it's all right, isn't it? one of the tip ladies recently wrote to the paper
to express her shock that good items were still ending up at the tip (where
they don't belong) & that the community wants to do something about this
asap. if the shed thing gets going it would be nice if i could find a way to
express the idea to them. (seeing as how i am not a man).

Unortunately, around the city, they definitely do not allow scavenging and
it costs to enter. bummer/.

but it costs either way, whether through rates or directly (or both). but
one excellent thing about cities is that they do clean-up days so lots of
good stuff can be taken away by interested parties before it even reaches
the tip! in my town, people are very shy to take away any free stuff left
out on the nature strip - so that method of passing things along doesn't
really work here very well. whereas the same pile left where i used to live
in sydney wouldn't last 10 minutes. :-)

Another growing problem is that so much
metal stuff is being thrown out that a few people are making a
living driving the street and picking up any metal, so by the time
it gets to the tip, it really is trash.

well, again, that's really all that should be there, isn't it? (and even
less of it would be good).
kylie

On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:01:53 +1000, LindaB wrote:


I have only recently discovered the world of Freecycling, and it is
wonderful.
http://www.freecycle.org.au/

There is also a group called RecycleIt, which split from Freecyle here
after some rumpus over "rules".

And I should warn people thatyou need to keep in mind that your purpose
for being on the list is to find a better home than the tip for stuff
you no longer want, aka don't get discouraged by the begging, or is it
just my SW Sydney list?

Polly the Parrot writes:
Bought some poppies in Bunnings.

Planted facing westerly sun, carp fertiliser (smelly brown stuff mixed
with water).

Trouble is, either the flowers are very small, or they only half open,
or the stems snap, and the stems are very short.

I believe they need full *morning* sun.

My Mum has been growing poppies for decades. The last two years
have been disappointing--the "Iceland Poppy" seedlings sold to
her by her local nursery turned out as you describe. They grew
into nothing like Iceland poppies. The plants were tiny, stunted,
half of them died, and the few buds that did open were all tiny
and all orange-coloured!

Any ideas to improve the situation?

Perhaps buy seeds and raise your own seedlings. Plant late autumn.
They don't get frosted.

If you can get some seeds of the Flanders Poppy, those plants grow
vigorously and can be divided so you'll have them ever after. Just
be aware the Flanders Poppy flowers are uniformly blood-red.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

In article ,
John Savage wrote:

My Mum has been growing poppies for decades. The last two years
have been disappointing--the "Iceland Poppy" seedlings sold to
her by her local nursery turned out as you describe. They grew
into nothing like Iceland poppies. The plants were tiny, stunted,
half of them died, and the few buds that did open were all tiny
and all orange-coloured!

suspicious

Were they mislabelled Californian poppies?

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:32:56 +0000 (UTC) John Savage
wrote:

I believe they need full *morning* sun.

Gave them a good drink (and it promptly started raining) also Yates
said they need fertilising, so gave them some fish liquid smelly stuff -
cats came from miles around.

Now some good buds ready to flower, but unfortunately only in afternoon
sun, little there is of it in Sydney at present.

"Chookie" wrote in message
John Savage wrote:

My Mum has been growing poppies for decades. The last two years
have been disappointing--the "Iceland Poppy" seedlings sold to
her by her local nursery turned out as you describe. They grew
into nothing like Iceland poppies. The plants were tiny, stunted,
half of them died, and the few buds that did open were all tiny
and all orange-coloured!

suspicious

Were they mislabelled Californian poppies?

Have you come across the Californian Tree Poppy in your travels? This is a
gorgeous plant for dryish spots. English mags say it can be invasive but
I've never had such luck. It's drop dead gorgeous with huge poppy like
flower for an extended time unlike poppies which do their stuff so quickly.

"Polly the Parrot" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:32:56 +0000 (UTC) John Savage
wrote:

I believe they need full *morning* sun.

Gave them a good drink (and it promptly started raining) also Yates
said they need fertilising,

they only say that so you'll buy yates fertiliser ;-). bit of blood & bone
or manure or whatnot is fine. if they've now had two(!) doses of strong
fertiliser in rapid succession, you risk killing them.

so gave them some fish liquid smelly stuff -
cats came from miles around.

Now some good buds ready to flower, but unfortunately only in afternoon
sun, little there is of it in Sydney at present.

really, hold onto your hat until spring. it's all fine!
kylie

"John Savage" wrote in message
...
Perhaps buy seeds and raise your own seedlings. Plant late autumn.
They don't get frosted.

If you can get some seeds of the Flanders Poppy, those plants grow
vigorously and can be divided so you'll have them ever after.

flanders poppies are self-seeding annuals. so yes, they will be there ever
after, but you don't divide them. the old ones just die.

Just
be aware the Flanders Poppy flowers are uniformly blood-red.

they are lovely!!
kylie

In article ,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

The plants were tiny, stunted,
half of them died, and the few buds that did open were all tiny
and all orange-coloured!

suspicious

Were they mislabelled Californian poppies?

Have you come across the Californian Tree Poppy in your travels?

No, but it sounds lovely!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/

"Chookie" wrote in message "FarmI"
ask@itshall be given wrote:

Have you come across the Californian Tree Poppy in your travels?

No, but it sounds lovely!

It is. It's name is Romneya coulteri.

Here's some cites and although some of them say it deciduous, mine never has
been and nor is it as invasive for me as suggested. I wouldn't mind though
if it was.
http://www.wildscaping.com/plants/pl...a_coulteri.htm
http://www.laspilitas.com/plants/587.htm