Back to Ballina

I have been thinking that my brother Tony should have his own garden blog. The posts featuring his garden are always among my most popular, but at least now that I have study and my overseas work behind me, I am able to visit more often and bring back lots of photos from his garden to share.

One of the tiniest flowers in his garden is a favourite of mine. I love the Native Violet Viola hederacea, despite it having escaped from the garden bed to run rampant through Tony's lawn.

Another plant in Tony's garden that can quickly become a weed is the ginger or kahili lily Hedychium gardnerianum.  Originally from India, it grows to about 8 foot tall and has become a serious weed in New Zealand. In my state (Queensland), the authorities are trying to prevent it getting a foothold in the wild.

Ginger lily

In contrast, the Eucaris lily Eucharis grandiflora is in my mind a rare and special presence in the sub-tropical garden. It is a perennial with sweetly scented white flowers very reminiscent of a daffodil. I have been meaning to find a spot for this in my garden for a very long time, but don't often see them for sale.

Rose flowered Bignonia Podranea ricasoliana

Crinum - love how these white blooms age to a deep pink

A heliconia 

Apart from a sole representative inside the house, for once Tony's garden had no orchids in bloom, but they are far from forgotten. He is building a second orchid house for them.

A Miltonia orchid, I think

No avocados this visit, but I grabbed some cherry tomatoes, sampled the tomatillos and blueberries, and eyed off the figs for next time!

Although the orchids are starting to be serious competition, the stars at Tony's are usually his extensive collection of bromeliads. There are always some in bloom.

An alcantarea

I'm loving this soft velvety pink one. The tips of the leaves flush red when it's flowering. Tony said he has a pup with my name on it.

This is the one he was most proud of this visit - a tillandsia. Gorgeous grey-blue foliage with a purple flower emerging from coppery pink bracts.

Achmea blanchetiana - the same sunloving bronze-foliaged bromeliad that I have in my front garden

Guzmania conifera

I thought this was the same blue-flowered brom that I admired in my Christmas post , but I am assured it is different.

Finally, I thought you might be interested in seeing a little more of Ballina itself.  Here are some scenes along the river, and in my next post, I will share the lovely beach walk we enjoyed this morning.

The wonderful stainless steel fish sculptures along the river are by Ballina Public Artist Joe Stark.

In the pink

I first came upon this quote by American photographer Dorothea Lange courtesy of my desk calendar, but it was one that immediately registered with me:  “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

Before our recent storms and the flood damage that followed through much of Brisbane and Queensland, the garden had taken a pounding from the intense heat. On many a morning, I wandered down to the front garden to feed the goldfish, and there seemed to be little in flower. But since I started this blog and have began taking regular photos, I have become more attuned to my garden and see so much more, whether I have my camera with me or not.

One of the little details that I have come to love are the twisted spent blooms of the Leopard Lily Belamcanda chinensis.

Here a spider lying in wait for an unwary visitor mirrors the shape of the flower above.

Continuing the pink theme in my garden and just as reliable as the leopard lily are the cosmos. Both self seed fairly freely, but never enough to be a nuisance.

Cosmos about to bloom

and in full flower with attendant spider

The scabious has been a wonderful addition to the garden this year, and I have enjoyed it in all its phases. There is a very subtle variation in the shades of the flowers; many are more mauve than pink.

Scabious just beginning to bloom.

Scabious with pink salvia 'Heatwave Sizzle' in the background.

Scabious seed heads

A new unnamed  variety of pink salvia that I picked up at the markets.

Another recent acquisition Ginger Globba winitii 'Red Back'

The final pink bloom that I am sharing this post is the beautiful pink cassia Cassia javanica. Sadly, it isn't in my garden, but a tree I spotted on my return from the supermarket. While I have seen a few others around the neighbourhood, they are frequently too tall to be able to get a good photo of the flowers. 

Once I would have driven past probably without paying much heed, but luckily I had my camera on board.

Miss Bella always looks pretty in pink too.