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| "Babylon" Regal Pelargonium |
This is another great Regal Pelargonium originating in Australia - Joyce Ritchie introduced
"Babylon" in 1977 and it is said to be a cross between "Cha Cha" and an unknown Regal Pelargonium. The flowers are a deep red, with almost black blotches and with a large white throat. The leaves are green and the plant has a vigorous and upright growth.
We have had a pond in our garden for many many years – our
now grown up boys were quite young when we built it, so probably about 30 years
ago. But with my poorly knees last
year, it sadly became overgrown.
Although I have had both knees repaired, kneeling for long to clear out
overgrown pots is not possible, so not much done to it this year either. We also found that with the increasing very
wet winters we have had recently, it overflows.
Now I know the fish would not swim out – they tend to spend their time
at the bottom of the pond in the winter, but my husband worried about it and
spent a lot of time out in the pouring rain pumping water out of the pond so it
would not overflow. So, it has to
go. The liner is big, heavy and
unwieldly, so after emptying out the water, plants, four goldfish, and several
small frogs (who kept jumping back across the lawn to the pond) – Brian drilled
quite a few holes in it and we have filled it with rubble: broken pots and
whatever else we could find. We are now
slowly filling it with topsoil.
But – what did we do with the fish I hear you ask? On a trip to Australia several years ago I
saw a half barrel filled with water, waterlily and fish in the garden of a friend
of my sister’s. It was most attractive
and I loved the idea. When my sister
came over to visit us a few years later she bought me a wooden
half barrel and plants for it. The barrel eventually rotted and I replaced
it with a plastic one. It was however,
not placed very well, being in shade for most of the day. This was good in one sense because it meant
the water did not go green, but on the other hand, the water lily did not
flower. So, it is now round the other
side of the conservatory where it gets sun for most of the day, and is shaded
by a potted wisteria. If we get a very
cold winter I will have to wrap it in bubble wrap as I have done in the past in
its original site.
