I photographed these interesting looking plants on the way home from Adelaide- does anyone know what they are called- I know they are not xantheria's. They looked almost sculptural with their twisted seed pods. The seed pods also seemed to be home to a number of white housed snails.Had fun teaching in Adelaide- did dyeing and printing for four days.However I left h my workshop notes home as I bumped my big toe on the way out the door to Adelaide and snapped the nail in half- ouch! I could not wear shoes for three days, and I think holding my foot upright on the accelerator actually helped with the throbbing!
Don't know what is happening about the house- got a rather cryptic message recently from the project home people- suppose I shall have to ring them up!I just need things to go smoothly especially as I am away September and some of October. Unfortunately I am not teaching at Ste Marie aux Mines this year, I was hoping to have done at least a day if not two- ah well! So if anyone would like a workshop in Europe on the weekend of 19-21 September 2008 let me know- it seems I now have time!
Tomorrow it's head down and tail up- I have to make a lot of work for my exhibition time is starting to run out!
4 comments:
these plants look like aliens. sorry about the toe, good luck with the house....
Hi Dijanne
They are Xanthorrhoeas, Grass-trees of some sort - there are several species. (I think the South Aussies call them yuccas.)It's not unusual to see them twist like this. Aren't they sculptural?
I noticed you wouldn't teach in Ste Marie. What a pity. I can't organized a workshop that week end as I'll be in Ste Marie myself.
Hope your toe will be better; I didn't know driving could be a therapy....!
You probably saw those while driving through the area I grew up in ... we called them yakkas (or yacka or yacca - wikipedia has 3 ways to spell it ... I don't remember ever having to spell the word - I just remember how we said it - lol) ... we also called them Kangaroo tails (because that is what the flower spikes sort of look like ... I probably used to use them to pretend I was a kangaroo ... and I remember throwing them around like spears ;) ... the ones that seem to be common in the South East area of South Australia don't seem to have the tall stem that the "blackboys" have - it just grows low to the ground (just high enough that Dad managed to "bog" the farm 4WD on one once - with all 4 wheels off the ground - and had to get out and push to get it off!) ... the curly thing seems to happen to the flower stalks if it gets hot/dry while they are just coming out - the heat makes them wilt and they fall over ... and sometimes they then keep growing up again and that is when they make really interesting curly shapes.
btw, those little white snails seem to be a South Aussie thing too - the photo/post about them brings back memories ... I remember some were all white, but lots of them used to have brown stripes around them and I used to be fascinated by the different colours and patterns (hmmm - could be a quilt/textile art idea there? lol) ... it also brings back memories of the time I counted how many lived in different places (natural vs disturbed bushland) for a university project/assignment - lol
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