Have you missed me? We just got back from a month in Australia visiting Larry's sister Evelyn. Here is one of the plants we saw "Kangroo Paw".

WOW I have to say you have missed me.  I haven’t written since Sept 4, 2024.  WHY?  We left Sept 8th for a month visit to Australia.  Larry’s sister Evelyn and Brother-in-law tom live there.  She has been there 50 years as she has made many trips back to see all of us, it is our turn to see her.  We had an awesome time.  It is their spring, and it was cooler than they are used to.  Cold temperature for them in the winter is just freezing which would be 0 C or 32 for us.  It would get down to 1 C when we were there.  They also had lots of wind, and more rain than usual for their spring.  All the rain made everything green and very nice.  Evelyn took us to several gardens, and I have lots of pictures of Australia plants. I don’t know much about them but will share them with you. Hopefully make up a program about the plants from DOWN UNDER. 

What you see in the pictures are Kangaroo Paw.  They come in many different colors.  Now this spring I did have a gardener ask for them, as she has had them in other years.  I have ordered the seeds and see if I can grow them for your gardens for next year. 

We are home.  We got home 9:00 Saturday night (the 12th) and just left Australia at 7:00 Saturday morning. But wait. We traveled over 9000 miles, took 22 hours with the biggest flight was 14 hours. They are on daylight savings time so 17 hours ahead of us.  We are feeling jet lag yet but sleeping well at night.
We had an awesome time. We have lots of memories with family and visiting spots. So much within two hours’ drive from Sale where they live. Ocean, lakes, small mountains, temperate rain forest, gold mines, and at island for koala bears, golf courses that have wild kangaroos on them.
There are lots of small cafes and every little town has small bakeries.  Many family-owned businesses, that makes it interesting traveling thru the towns.  Of course, it is the other side of the road they drive on, and the steering wheel is different from ours.  I would at first smile and laugh at the driving styles.  They have lots of turnabouts, so that was different. 
Evelyn and Tom were awesome hosts. Evelyn and Larry had some great visits, and he helped her in the garden with projects. Evelyn took me to lots of places with flowers and native plants. So different from ours.
Now got back to those freezing temperatures. We are working on watering everything well and putting it into the greenhouse on the wagons. I will need to work to make room for the plants I want to keep in the greenhouse as we get colder.
Larry is cleaning out the three stoves to start the heating season. He has work to do in the shop in a couple of days. Back to what we want to do.  Getting ready for the next season during this fall time.  I must get orders in for plugs for next year.  AND the seasons just starts all over. 
We will share the stories when we see you.  Our world is vast so made us realize how small we are in the scope of things.  We just need to make the best of it each day in our small way.  Till next time this is Becky Litterer Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa [email protected]  641-794-3337   cell 641-903-9365  [email protected]