This was the first year I planted scabious in the garden, and they have been a great success. I sowed the seeds directly into the garden, and it seems that nearly every seed germinated. I will definitely be planting them again next year.
I may have been away for their Spring flush, but the daylilies have continued to brighten the garden with repeat blooms.
 |
| 'Kent's Favourite Two' |
 |
| One of my absolute favourites 'Percival James' |
 |
| Another favourite 'Donna Mead' |
 |
| 'Passion for Life' |
 |
| 'Passion for Life' again |
 |
| 'Isis Unveiled' |
 |
| A badly focussed photo of the very beautiful 'Jordan Verhaert' |
Alongside the daylilies in the front garden, the white ixora 'Kampon's Pride' is a mass of blooms for such a young plant.
The Leopard Lily has self-seeded and sprung up in a few new places but is always a welcome sight.
And the Variegated Alstomeria is re-establishing itself after taking a bit of a pounding while I was away.
 |
 |
| One of the showiest bromeliads in flower. |
Here is a view of the front garden at the moment, absolutely dominated by the Poinciana Delonix regia.
The white flowers to the right of the poinciana belong to the Hammerhead Frangipani Plumeria pudica.
Elsewhere in the garden, tropical foliage provides almost as much colour as the flowers. Among the more spectacular are the Elephant Ears or Caladiums, a tropical perennial. I am a recent addition to the ranks of their admirers. In just a month I have expanded my 'collection' from two to ten. The second photo is of four new plants I picked up at the local markets.
For December Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I was very proud to report that my Yucca was in flower for the first time. If you were thinking it couldn't get any more exciting than that, you are wrong. Just a week or two back, I was gazing vaguely in the direction of the Ponytail Palm Beaucarnea recurvata when I realised it too had come into bud for the first time since I moved here in 2005.
Here are a few photos tracking its progress.
I do love my garden; there's always something new popping up and demanding my attention.
To visit more gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day meme on the 15th of each month.
Marisa, as usual I enjoyed the tour of blooms in your garden.....very lovely.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found fascinating were the blooms of the pony tail palm. I had never seen it in flower before. Mine is a very young specimen compared to yours, so if I'm still here many many years from now, I may be fortunate to see it bloom.
Fingers crossed yours blooms before too long, Virginia. Mine took me completely by surprise. Strangely, I noticed one about a block away in flower too. I'm sure I have heard of plants that flower only once in a blue moon but in synchronicity with others in the vicinity. I wonder if that was the case here, or just coincidence.
DeleteIt's such an exciting time of year for us Australian gardeners.
ReplyDeleteI love your poinciana; that looks like a baby sprouting underneath it. I have four here and they grow well, although I am told they rarely flower this far south. One is even a yellow variety.
I've never seen those tiger lilies before - I will have to keep an eye out for them
The yellow poincianas are gorgeous. Hope they flower for you. Let me know if you want some seeds from the lily and I can post them off to you. I shared some last year and I think they all came up.
DeleteWe have been seeing and hearing some frightening dispatches from Australia here. I am glad there are parts of the country where a gardener can celebrate Bloom Day.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Les. There have been some dreadful fires and extreme summer temperatures down south. Generally, we fare much better in the north, because we have a wet summer, although the rain is late this year, whereas our southern states have a more Mediterranean climate.
DeleteHow magnificent to see your Ponytail Palm in bloom. I've only ever seen them in bloom at the Roma Street Parklands before. It's a beautiful sight.
ReplyDeleteI just adore that Alstroemia of yours. It's always an eye-catching beauty. I'm so jealous that you still have Daylilies in bloom. Mine are all finished, but I'm hoping that as they settle in and mature more, I will get blooms in mid-Summer as well.
I have to commend you for getting Scabious to grow too. I've never heard of it thriving here in Qld. Well done. Your garden is looking fantastic. It's still so green. I'm even more jealous of that!
I think the Ponytail Palm flower is just beautiful too, but when I googled it to see how often they flower I came upon a website where one of the comments was that they 'cut[s] them off as soon as they start blooming, nothing nice to see. They just make a mess everywhere.' Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder! The garden is pretty dry, but I guess some of my plants have been groomed to thrive on neglect, and the Scabious has been a revelation. Who'd have thought!
DeleteAwesome!what a lovely place! The flowers are so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI have problem to upload photo...any idea????
Sorry, Malar. I don't know why you are having problems uploading. I am a pretty simple soul when it comes to technology. I just right click to save the image. If you keep having problems and want a particular photo, let me know and I can email it to you.
DeleteThank you for letting me have a stroll in your lovely garden again, looking really great! I have now added Hemerocallis 'Percival James' on my very long plant wish-list, he is adorable :-) Sadly, most of your other beautiful plants would not survive in my London garden, even though I would love to have them all! Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helene. 'Percival' is very handsome, isn't he. I love those dramatic eyes in daylilies. I envy you many of your London garden plants too, but alas there are very few that will suit both our climates. We will just have to celebrate the contrast between sub-tropical and temperate gardens. Viva la difference!
DeleteI am so jealous of your scabious I have no joy although I have been seen out there pleading with them to stay alive. Perhaps I should try seed? Beautiful arrangement of plants. Best pony tail palm I have ever seen, magnificent
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Jen. The scabious might be worth trying to grow from seed. Mine did really well and without much tlc as I was away during the middle of 2012. The ones I got were from Diggers' Seeds. Good luck!
DeleteI love your tropical foliage, so colourful and such large leaves are a joy. you could link them to my foliage meme on the 22nd of the month,I'm so glad I found your blog. Christina
ReplyDeleteI'll pop a note about the 22nd in my diary, Christina. Happy GBBD!
DeleteHappy bloom day Marisa. You have an exotic tropical show in January. Love the daylilies and that palm is stunning.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna. I am really enjoying the flowers on the Ponytail Palm. Hope you had a great Bloom Day.
DeleteI love your beautiful blooms and especially the'Jordan Verhaert'Lily and Plumeria. Thank you for the stroll through your lovely tropical garden and a happy GBBD to you!
ReplyDelete'Jordan Verhaert' is lovely. I just ducked down to the front garden early this morning. It was the only daylily in bloom and the colours just leapt out at you.
DeleteWith our cold and stark winter here, it is nice to see all of your blooms. And I love the plumeria, one of my favorites. I can even smell that sweet fragrance. Beautiful garden!
ReplyDeleteI love the plumeria, or frangipani as we tend to call it here, too. One good thing about the late arrival of our wet season is that it seems to have delayed the arrival of Frangipani Rust - a recent arrived but very annoying disease.
DeleteHi Marisa, It is freezing cold here and it is so nice to visit somewhere warm, if only over the internet. What a lovely assortment of blooms you have in your garden! You have quite the collection of daylilies. I have never seen a white ixora 'Kampon's Pride' before. What a pretty flower! The blooms on the Ponytail Palm Beaucarnea recurvata are also very striking.
ReplyDeleteI love the white ixora too, Jennifer. Just this morning I cast a critical eye over that front garden bed and I'm thinking of adding another couple of ixoras, perhaps one yellow and another white. I have the pink 'Pink Malay' planted along my fenceline.
Delete