Spider Update

Oops, nearly forgot.  Remember that funky spider I spotted on my rose?  Well, it turns out that she was just a large, but common variety of garden spider.  My bad! {hangs head in shame}  I finally got a good look at her after sunset.  She was not the best subject to photograph as she kept moving or curling up into a tight ball so the quality of the photo isn't that great.

PS - she must not have liked the fact that her picture was going to be posted online as she scarpered the next day.

Weird spider

This has to be the weirdest spider that I have ever seen.  She has built a nest in the petal of my rose bush.  Her green colouring meant that I nearly touched her when I went to wipe what I thought was a catapillers silk off the leaf.  It gave me one heck of a shock I can tell you.

I called out to my aunt, who is an ex-Pest Inspector, to find out if she recognised it.  All she could tell me was that it was a garden spider of some variety.  It's like nothing we've ever had here.  She is a pretty apple green colour with black dots on her thorax similar to a ladybeetle.  On her butt on either side of her spinners are 2 black dots that look like eyes.  Do you recognise what kind of spider she is?  If so I'd love to find out.

Going Potty

Had a great time yesterday scoping out the plants at our local Bunnings Warehouse.  Found the most gorgeous Camellia (R.L Wheeler) that had a single flower the size of a bread and butter plate!  It was a dark pinky red, and blew my mother away.  She desperately wanted one, but with all her other plants, she couldn't afford it then and there.  I think I'll be sneaking back to Bunnings later to get it for her.... aren't I a good daughter :P

All I managed to buy was potting mix, and more potting mix.  Mostly to repot my ferns, but my new roses were in want of bigger pots.  So I spent about 2 hours yesterday mixing potting mix, sand, and other stuff to get the right type of consistency.  We get a huge amount of rain here at times and just plain potting mixture can kill off my ferns quite easily.  I find that cutting it with just plain old white sand helps immensely.  So now all my leafy babies are snug in their new beds, and have been rearranged to get the maximum sunlight available in the courtyard.

Then I chatted with my mum while she was re-potting some of her African Violets and other cuttings she's got growing.  We were interrupted when her chocolate Burmese decided to help.  I couldn't help it, I had to run in and get the camera.  He decided his contribution would be to quality control officer for the potting mix.  He's such a dag!

On a happy note - I finally got my computer back yesterday from the repair guy.  I nearly had 2 fits this morning when I went to get online because it didn't even register that I had a modem!  After much searching and frustration, I seem to have stumbled upon the device.  I was actually able to get online using this computer for the first time in a month!  Thank God!  Maybe now I can get some studying done... but am seriously considering a laptop with wi-fi for study use.

So I will say goodbye for now.  Much to do.  Still more re-potting to do this afternoon.  Wish me luck