Aloe again!

Just after posting photos of my aloes for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, I decided to pick up some things from the local drycleaners. On a nearby corner I noticed a lovely display of aloes outside Villanova College, and luckily I had my camera handy to capture the mid-winter colour.

I think these are all from the same Aloe Aloe collection as mine. I'm not sure of all the varieties, but I think there is almost certainly an Eric the Red, Big Red, Copper Showers and a Moonglow or two amongst them.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day July 2012

It is still winter time here in Brisbane, and we have had it both colder and wetter than usual. All is relatively quiet in the garden. Thank heavens for the aloes. Without them, Casa Bella would be virtually bloom-free for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Aloe 'Southern Cross' in bud

Just a week later, in full flower

Aloes 'Southern Cross' and "Gemini'

Aloe 'Gemini' - its flower

...and its foliage

Aloe 'Diana'

Last year, my succulents like the graptopetalum above were thriving as you can see here. Over the past month they have suffered from a series of misfortunes, generally canine-initiated. Bella and Onslow love playing with empty plastic flower pots, and if there is no empty pot handy, that is swiftly remedied...

At least I managed to salvage this fragment.

My desert rose bit the dust and is in 'rehab'. I am still very inspired by the wonderful specimens I saw in Indonesia, so I am lavishing it with lots of TLC.

And, no dogs involved, but somehow my strawberry pot also took a tumble. Lots of leaf and stem breakages, which I can replant. Some of its inhabitants were getting gangly anyway, so replanting will do it the world of good.

I have moved some of the blue-toned potted succulents to the pool area - off Bella and Onslow's turf. I really like their colours in combination with the blue of the pool. I was thinking of replanting the big pot at the back with more succulents, but on closer inspection, the sad and sorry 'stick' planted in it - a bougainvillea - has lots of little shoots, so it looks like it is making a remarkable come back from the dead.

Apart from that, there are a couple of spot flowers on the osteospermum.

Flowers on the cordyline,

and still some insect life.

There are lots of these in the garden. I think this is just a juvenile without properly formed wings. They don't seem to do any harm, mainly rummaging around in the compost.

A Common Crow

Finally, we have a selection of berries in a range of colours.

Nandina

Liriope

Cestrum

To see lots more blooms, including the embarrassment of riches that is the northern hemisphere's summer bounty, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the 15th of the month.

Home Sweet Home

I have been home four days now since my Indonesian sojourn. In the last week or so, I had been planning what to do in the four days I had at home before I start work again (tomorrow). Should I try to get the recovered couch delivered and play at interior decorating with my new purchases? Of course, there would be a major gardening onslaught, not to mention writing up a report of my last 7 weeks' work, unpacking, laundry, a dozen other chores, but most importantly, cuddling the pups.

Gentle reader, I must confess that I have accomplished nothing - except the cuddling. The bug that I thought I had shaken in Jogyakarta returned, and I have spent much of my time in bed. Onslow doesn't mind at all. It's cold, windy and wet outside. He thinks that if he sinks really low into the doona beside me I won't notice him.

Miss Bella comes up to the bedroom door to check on us from time to time.

But she prefers downstairs on the couch, especially if she has a extra rug or old towel tucked around her to keep her cosy.

And, of course, I had to sneak out for a quick look at the garden.  The weeds are thriving; there have been a couple of losses in the potted plant collection (mainly those that were undercover); and it is mid-winter, but there was still some colour to be found.

Some bromeliads were in bloom...

Guzmania wittmackii

 Aechmea fulgens 'Burning Bush' 

so  too, the little Rondeletia.

Rondeletia splendens 

The aloes and succulents are always stars during the winter months. Mine are just coming into bud.

'Diana'

Aloes 'Gemini' and 'Southern Cross'

One big surprise was waiting for me in the backyard. How often have I complained that my heliconias never flower?

Finally, one of my favorites... The foliage had been given a good chew, but there was still a perfect bloom to welcome me home.

Hibiscus 'Wilder's White'

South of the border

How is that weekends fly past so quickly! I only had time for the briefest of visits to the garden this morning, and yesterday, just enough time to feed the fish before I was out and about. This morning I finally cleaned out the water feature. The fish will be a lot happier now that their home has been freshened up.

After a slowish start, my 'Mexican' garden is finally coming along, although I seem to have relaxed the theme as time has passed.  The Salvia 'Velour White' is flowering happily, as is the Osteospermum 'Double Sensation'. Cineraria 'Silver Dust', between the rosemary and the Aloe 'Diana'  is making slower progress. This part of the garden looks a little bare in places, but I have planted it with a variety of seeds and some gorgeous orange ranunculi bulbs, which should add a bit of a punch to the grey foliaged plants, plus I hope to eventually mosaic the step in the top left corner.

Just beneath the step is a canna, 'Coco' I think, which hasn't exactly thrived, and most of my herbs - oregano, a small leafed basil, thyme and chives - and I have variegated applemint and summer savory nearby. I have also had great success in the same spot with Mexican tarragon and Italian parsley, which I need to replant.

Here is a view from the other end of the garden. The height in the garden near the steps is provided by the hammerhead frangipani Plumeria pudica and the rosemary, and, at the other end, by a yucca and a Hawaiian Fan Palm.

The end of the garden will eventually be a hedge of gardenia 'Professor Pucci' and a lower hedge of box, but in the meantime I have let a pineapple sage have free reign.

Here's how the Mexican garden looks from left to right. The small spiky plant to the right of the aloe is Yucca 'Purple Royale'. In front of that is Agave attenuata, with a little succulent graptopetalum tucked under its left side, and, under the palm I have a couple of bromeliads, Tradescantia 'Purple Heart' and the cycad-like Zamia paucijuga. I have just started to move some of the daylilies from the opposite side, which is getting a bit shady in places, to form a border on this side of the garden too. My ugly garden edging is, hopefully, just a very temporary one.

Elsewhere in the garden, there was a new bromeliad in flower. This is Guzmania wittmackii.

I get a little disheartened when I look over the fence at the back of the garage. I have been just letting the garden settle since I had a big palm removed, but I decided to have a tug at some roots that had got under the pavers. Not surprisingly, I have managed to flip quite a few pavers out of their places. Fixing that will be a task for next weekend.

With a final look at the front, there was no delaying any longer. It was time to head inside to the paperwork. Onslow looked suitably mournful, as he always does.

While Miss Bella seemed absolutely delighted that I was coming back inside her side of the fence.