Make Dr Sharman's blog better

[AussieNeil]

Dr Jeff Sharman has been translating the complexities of CLL and its treatment into everyday language for several years. So it is really pleasing to see that he not only plans to continue to do this, but is seeking feedback on how he can provide an even better service to the CLL community. If you have ever found one of Dr Sharman's blogs helpful, then please take the opportunity to fill in his brief survey. You should be able to complete the 6 questions, 5 of which are multiple choice, in under a minute, but you are able to provide additional written feedback if you wish. The written feedback boxes are resizable via the bottom right hand corner, just as they are on this site.

cll-nhl.com/2014/09/make-my...

Neil

Photo: A Caladenia orchid; common name: Spider-orchid. Thanks again to Jay for the identification.

[Kwenda]

Done....

Dr Sharman's blogs are a real mine of information and it is worth looking through his older posts about CLL.

Dick

[PaulaS Volunteer]

Done - and I completely agree with Dick about Dr Sharman's blogs. They are very human and user-friendly, too.

Paula

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

Dr. Sharman does strong work for the CLL community and deserves everyone's support in this survey.

[buckinhard]

Survey no longer on his site.

The orchid is magnificent. I've had orchids in pots for years but I've never seen a wild orchid in person. Neil, would you tell me the climate, type of soil ( wet, moist, bark, dirt sand etc. ) and temperature this beauty lives in.

Denise

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to buckinhard]

It's a Mediterranean climate very similar to Southern California's. There's a wide variety of native orchids that appear in spring and they are only 50 - 75mm (2 -3 inches) high. Annual rainfall where these were found is about 460mm (18 inches), with most of that falling in winter. Temperatures vary from winter minimums of -5C (23F) to summer maximums of 47C (117F). You can find these orchids pretty well anywhere where the land has been protected from sheep and cattle grazing and the land has been left undisturbed, so that means you need to walk through native scrub to find them (but they can be spotted from the roadside in a reserve as this one was). The soil here is fairly poor, sandy, with clay underneath capping limestone, but I've seen native orchids in higher rainfall areas that are cooler. The orchids die back and disappear in summer. I don't think they like artificial fertilisers; lots of Australian plants can't tolerate them.

Neil

[buckinhard]

How lucky you are to see wild orchids ! Are you in your spring as we just had our first day of fall? I'm thinking so since you are upside down or down under... I would like to see Australia's wild life some day and meet Aborigines. What an awesome ancient ancestral back ground they have !

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to buckinhard]

theconversation.com/explain...

Aborigines certainly know how to survive well and live in harmony with the Australian environment, whereas white settlers have just tried to convert it to a New Europe.

We are way off topic here - so please transfer any further correspondence to a PM.