Artslim
 
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Corymbia (Eucalyptus) ficifolia Red flowering, Gum tree is a true beauty.

Reg and I stayed overnight in Narre Warren at our youngest daughter, Carla’s home. We lived close to her for three years before deciding to sell up the brick and mortar home and change to homes on wheels, swap paying council rates for seeking cheap auto insurance

This morning before I left Carla’s home, I put in place my new action plan to be responsible for my own fitness level. I went for an early morning walk at 6am, through the green belt between the rows of suburban houses and then into the court to stand and enjoy the garden I had created, at my former home. 

I have always loved designing gardens and this one,  is now five years old, the structure and plantings are as I originally planned and planted, the trees are 18 months more advanced and even more beautiful than when I left this garden, to live and travel permanently in the country.

There are two grafted Eucalyptus ficifolia, (flowering gums) in the nature strip, at my former home, looking beautiful. Red-flowering gum is a prominent tree in the sand belts in the southern Melbourne suburbs. Because of its tidy, rounded shape, elegant foliage, and showy summer flowering, C. ficifolia is a breathtakingly beautiful sight in full bloom in sunshine. This tree grows at its best, when grafted onto sturdy rootstock ensuring a stronger growing tree and a more reliable colour than if the tree is grown from seed. 

On our drive home from Narre Warren to Northern Victoria, we stopped firstly at the Glen Shopping centre, I had pleasure in being able to buy two size 12 (US size 10 ), dresses that fitted me, and I had a good mall walk of 45 minutes, then Reg and I stopped and walked again around the town of Yea and it was here I took these photos of a young, spectacular, red flowering gum.

I ate healthy and portion controlled all day,  so feel I scored myself a ‘fitness effort', point for today J.

 
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Goji Berries. 11/23/2009
 
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Lycium bartarum - Goji Berries
Small red berries grow on what is best described as a 'vine-shrub'. Increased volumes and larger berries are produced each year. Plants take up to five years to reach maturity.

Sweet, delicious flavoured berries are delicious, eaten straight from the vine. They may be dried for year-round use.  These berries are great for snacks, used in salads, added to stews or baked goods.

Nutrients in Goji Berries

Goji berries are a very rich source of vitamin C. They are also a superb source of vitamin A, and have vitamins B1, B2, B6, E and are a famous antioxidant.

There have been many wonderful things written about Goji Berries, much of it is true.

Unfortunately, because the fruit of the Gobi Berry is a great healthy product, the fraud merchants use it to make false claims of everything from cancer cure to easy weight loss.  The only truth in these claims is that optimum nutrition benefits both health and metabolism but even here, fresh picked sun ripened fruit off your own bush/vine, will be richer in antioxidants and vitamins that a foreign imported ,highly processed or dried product.

Fresh is best and in many areas of Australia, it will be so easy to grow your own, Goji Berri.

Described as a mix between a cherry and a cranberry, I could not resist buying one today, from Garden Express at 470 Monbulk – Silvan Road, Monbulk, Victoria, 3793.

I saw firsthand the Garden Express staff, carefully packing the mail orders, I saw the healthy plants ready for direct sale or transport and they were all of a consistent quality.

 
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I arrived home with my 140 cm pot bush/vine, Goji berry plant and got to work immediately planting it. Our ground has been freshly soaked with rain and I brought my plant home, dug  the roadside bank, beside the  oat crop stubble paddock and planted my Goji Berry and under a poplar tree where it gets morning and afternoon sun but not the midday  heat.  I will be around to water it through summer and I read that these are drought hardy once established.

Because of some exaggerated claims made by some dodgy overseas marketers, promoting dried Goji berries  as a magic weight loss elixir or cancer treatment, over the internet, I am happy to put a link here to the genuine product available from a company I have always felt confident that I can buy healthy plants from.  Garden Express is a company well known as experts in the delivery of live plants ordered over the internet and by mail order.

Note:- I was not paid a fee for this endorsement.

I have not been paid a fee for making this recommendation of a product, I am doing this because I would love to see this healthy berry become a more commonly grown and eaten plant. Berries are nature’s most superb dessert.

 
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