Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day June 2013

It's hard to believe that it is more than a month since my last post and that I missed May Garden Bloggers Bloom Day completely. However, I am slowly making inroads trying to get the house in order and catch up with study for a short course I have enrolled in.

The garden has been neglected, but being wintertime here in Brisbane, I can almost get away with it. Unusually for this time of year, we have had a little rain. Although the shortest day of the year is only just around the corner and the temperature is dipping to around 20C by day and under 10C in the evening, there is still plenty of colour to be seen in my winter garden.

'Wilders White' Hibiscus

In the front garden, most of the colour comes courtesy of the aloes, several members of the sage and salvia family, and the deep red foliage of the Cordyline Rubra.

Looking across the front garden to the aloe and Hawaiian Fan Palm, the striped foliage in the foreground is a rhoeo.

Aloe 'Diana'

Afternoon light throught the cordylines.

   

Yucca 'Purple Royale' to the right of this Diana spike

Aloe 'Southern Cross' and grapetopetalum

On the driveway, the Strelitzia or Bird of Paradise are in bloom (and  Bella and Onslow are keeping up patrol duties)

Nandina

Interestingly, in the side garden my Brazilian Red Cloak is still putting on a great display, although it was back in March that I was admiring them in the City Botanic Garden. I like it with the dark foliage of the cordylines in the background, and I am leaving a similarly coloured euphorbia volunteer to the left of the red cloak for the same reason.

Brazilian Red Cloak Megaskepasma erythrochlamys

Three of the salvias are adding a pop of colour to the garden bed.

'Heatwave Sizzle'

Pineapple sage

'Hot Lips'

Two of the bromeliads are in flower. The top one is Aechmea 'Burning Bush'. I don't know the name of the other, but the bright purple and red combination make it one of my favourites.

All in all, the garden has held up quite well in spite of having been somewhat neglected while I've been busy.  Like Onslow I have been on the inside looking out, rather than out there getting my hands dirty. Hopefully, I will be able to turn that around by the time of my next garden report.

To see what is happening in other gardens around the world this Bloom Day, visit Garden Bloggers Bloom Day host Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Autumn is well and truly with us here in Brisbane now. The days are getting shorter and the evenings slightly nippier. Yesterday I changed over my doona from my 'token effort' to the 'now we're getting serious' weight, and Miss B is all snug on the sofa in her little red coat for the first time since last winter.

There is always plenty to do in the garden in autumn and we have been lucky to have had two long weekends in a row, first Easter, then Labour Day. I started with the big jobs - some serious pruning for the poinciana and the murraya hedge, and then had some help removing a huge philodendron to free up some space in the side garden at the back of the house. Next, I potted up a Vietnamese mint I had bought at the Farmers Market in the City on Wednesday, which I promptly reversed over on my way to the nursery, before spraying a few weeds around the pool and 'weed and feed'-ing the front nature strip.

Fortunately, my mission at the nursery was successful. I managed to pick up a Brazilian red cloak (Megaskepasma erythrochlamys) which I have been obsessing over for quite a while now. 

I think it will be just perfect in the spot recently vacated by the philodendron.

The star of my garden this week has been the datura which has exploded in a glorious flush of cream and apricot flowers. On a wet and miserable night like tonight, it was wonderful to be greeted by the intense fragrance on my return home.