Balcony gardening - Peppermint

After moving into a high rise unit, I had to content with growing stuff on the balcony. Now, the balcony of the unit isn't that big. Nay, I should say, it is that small. One of the plants that I started off from cuttings was peppermint. Bought myself a pack of peppermint from Genting Garden, made peppermint tea out of most of it, and saved a few stems. All the plants grown on the balcony were potted in polybags that were either 4" diameter or one with 6" diameter. I prepared two bags of soil in the polybag that gave me a final opening of approx 6" diam. and stuck the cuttings in it.

5th March - In the beginning, they were just sad looking stems/shoots in the bag.

After a while, they started to grow, and grow and grow. Hmm, sounds a bit like the magic beanstalk. Well, I was pretty happy that they grew so well.

The peppermint grew and grew...

A closer look at the peppermints

Then I noticed that the peppermints were sending runners everywhere. One was so long that it reached the left end of the balcony (the peppermints are right in the middle). And another on the right side was trying to beat the record of the first runner! Thank goodness they are in a container on a balcony. Imagine the trouble of trying to remove it had it been growing on the ground.

Jostling with the Dahlias for space - you can see the reddish runners going off the balcony

The periodic harvesting and distribution to friends and colleagues only served to make it grow even faster, like the Hydra chopped of its head and sprouting more to replace the decapitated one. In retrospect, one small polybag would have been enough, unless you adore peppermint so much (read - nuts over peppermint). Having grown spearmint and applemints before, this has got to be the easiest mint to grow; as long as it gets ample moisture, it will run wild and go out of hand. Someone pass me the shears please! It is now smothering my poor dahlias.

Running wild and almost jumping off from the 13th floor.

At this moment, they had grown beyond the balcony parapet and dangle down to the floor below. It makes me want to shout out "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your...peppermint!" every time I take a look at it.

Arghhhh...Nooo!!! Welcome to the dark side...

Got to resist...got to resist...got to...download Chrome. Not that I dislike Chrome (hell it is 100 times better than that whatchamacallit explorer browser thingy), but I feel that Firefox is good enough. And whenever I see friends having Chrome on their computer, I would always question their choice of using Chrome. Then it happened. I was converted to the other side...Chrome user. But, but I only use it for one and only one thing....to play Angry Birds on my computer, offline. Yeah...no thanks to Angry Birds, I am a Chrome user. Which brings us to the next question... There must be some serious S&M thingy going on with the creators of Angry Birds. Yeah like its just a normal game of seeking revenge on the green pigs who stole your eggs. How can it not be...kinky, when the joy of the game is to catapult the birds at breakneck speeds to smash, hit or explode in the faces of pigs that get crushed, blasted or shattered by bits and pieces of debris. Tsk tsk tsk...sounds more kinky than combining Monster Lady with Blond Ambition Tour virgin and the wacko King of Pop all rolled into one. The normal players, however derive pleasure just from getting all so many stars for all the stages, by beating their fingers numb. Hmm, perhaps this is the rise of S&M in the near future???

Autumn colours - Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

When we visited Mt. Lofty Botanic Gardens in late autumn this year, the weather was overcast and most of the deciduous tree have shed their leaves. Even so, there were some that were still holding on to their glorious autumn colours, which provided contrast against the native and coniferous trees that remained green. We got dropped off at the top, and the plan was to walk down to the car park at the bottom of the garden.

A single pink Camellia - looking very dainty.

Since it was beginning to drizzle and the winds picking up, the idea was to hit the shortest trail to get to the car park at the bottom. In the haste, we got a little lost. I had no idea where North was and it was an overcast day, hence I couldn't use the sun to guide us. In retrospect, there were clear indicators which could have helped us determine the direction that we were going i.e. by looking at the transmission towers on Mt Lofty, Carminow Castle and with the angle of the hill ridge, but we did not give it any thought.

A nice white Camellia.

Acer with red leaves.

I blame it on the chilly winds as my brain cannot work below 15^o Celsius. No worries as one only needs to keep going down the hillside and will eventually get to the bottom of the park. We started with the rhododendron path, took a turn and were looking at camellias, then maples, there were some ferns at one point, then it was a stand of young eucalypt trees, then magnolias, then coniferous plants and finally we got to the bottom.

A closer look at the Acer. The intensity of the red channel is so high that it was saturated in the photo.

Toadstools on the forest floor.

Going downhill...somewhere. A stand of Eucalypt trees.

Phew! There were some downhill stretches, some uphill and some steep slopes as we cut through from one to another trail. It was a good walk and the sights of the various trees and plants in different colours was very fulfilling for a plant lover like me.

Carminow Castle from the botanic garden. A Scottish baronial style summer house of Sir Thomas Elder, originally built in 1885. It was damaged in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bush fires, and was subsequently restored.

A view of the different colours of the temperate trees through a stand of eucalypt trees.

The Autumn in South Australia becomes a second Spring for many trees and shrubs.

Nice blue needle.

A bench by the beech or is it a beech by the bench?

Naked trees with green conifers and grasses.

The weeping plant reminds me of Sadako of the famous Japanese horror movie The Ring.

The brilliant fruits of Cotoneaster.

Hmmm, is that a Helleborus blooming in autumn?

The reds...

and the yellows.

A lady An oak tree in red.

At the car park down the hill, we were greeted by deciduous trees in various hues of dazzling yellows, stunning orange and brilliant reds, a sight that was well worth the cold and slightly damp walk in the drizzle.