Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day March 2013

March 1 marks the first day of Autumn here in Brisbane. The last of the summer flowers are almost finished, but it is little early for autumn beauties like the dahlias, so I expected slim pickings for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I haven't been out in the garden so much lately because it has been so wet, but when I sallied forth, camera in hand, I was pleasantly surprised.

The first bloom is in fact the last photo I took. Just as I was finalising my post, I remembered that the brugmansia was in bud yesterday. I peeked outside my back door and sure enough. How I could have missed the wonderful perfume when I came home from work, I don't know. I intended to duck out in the morning to capture a photo, but couldn't resist seeing how they would photograph at night. 

Bees and other insects have visited the  'Little Gem' magnolia, knocking off the anthers in their race for pollen.

A little, self-seeded zinnia

The daylilies are slowly spluttering to a finish, but each time I think I have seen the last of them for the season, they manage to produce one more flush.

Daylily 'Fetish'

Daylily 'All American Tiger'

It seems as if there is always a Leopard Lily in flower for Bloom Day.

Globba capicola 'Golden Dragon', a member of the ginger family 

'Golden Dragon'

Another Globba. This one is 'Redback'

Aechmea 'Burning Bush' 

Cestrum nocturnum, the night-scented jessamine or jasmine.

Once it has finished flowering, I'll give the Cestrum a light prune to tidy up those errant branches.

'Black Beauty', my first dahlia of the season

An unexpected repeat bloom from the Zygopetalum orchid.

Rejoicing in the rain, the rain lily Zephyranthes candida.

My goldfish continue to vanish. The population had been constant for a long time, but now the secret is out that they are a convenient snack. I am still not 100% sure which of the local birds to blame: kookaburras and butcher birds are the Number One suspects. The sole inhabitant has managed to escape suffering the same fate as his companions so far, but I think a net or wire cover might be needed before I expose any more fish to an untimely demise. In comparison, the miniature waterlily Nymphaea helvola is thriving with not one, but two blooms out.

The water feature has developed a tilt in the soggy ground. 

If we get much more rain, I'll be able to plant the waterlilies directly into the back garden!

Finally, not one of my blooms, but the golden penda have been so wonderful this year, probably as a result of all our rain, that I had to share one more photo of them. (Lots more here).

Thanks again to Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the 15th of each month and provides the opportunity for gardeners around the world to share what is blooming in their corner of the globe.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day August 2012

The fifteenth of the month and Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day has come around very quickly for me this month. I have been in transit the last few days and arrived here in Bangkok last night. Of course, if I had been organised, I would have had my draft post ready, but it was a particularly inelegant and disorganised departure. I was still weeding and mulching furiously on the afternoon before I left Brisbane, and I needed to clean out my water feature, so my fish would be happy for the next few months without me. By the time it came to packing, every muscle was aching and I was just not with it, but fortunately, through all the chaos, I managed to keep snapping in the lead up to my departure, so that I could share what's happening in my late winter garden.

Most eagerly awaited were my first-ever anemones: one red, one blue. I rushed down each morning to check progress of the buds until they finally opened.  Before I left to start work in Jakarta, most of the 25 or so corms I had planted had come up, but when I returned there were only two left, which made them all the more precious.

The osteospermum has been spot flowering for weeks now.

The seedhead from the Bird of Paradise Strelitzia

I'm always happy to see the Brugmansia in flower

This is its corner of the garden. Sort of looks okay, doesn't it?

Appearances can be deceptive. From a different angle, it was not a pretty story.

In my enthusiasm to pull out some old roots, I flicked up lots of the pavers. 

I eventually accepted that I wasn't going to get around to fixing it. Thank heavens for Hire A Hubby!

So, here I am in Bangkok thinking about what I am going to miss in my own garden come Spring (September in Australia), mostly the orchids and the first blooms of the daylilies.

The Dancing lady or Oncidium Orchid already has a flower spike.

So does the Rock Orchid Dendrobium speciosum

I have a day lily border around about three-quarters of my front garden now.

To see more of what is happening in gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens. And do drop back for a visit to see the latest of my adventures in Thailand and Indonesia. My next post will include the fabulous Jim Thompson's house that I visited this morning here in Bangkok.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day April 2012

I am a little early for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, which is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the 15th of the month to enable gardeners around the world to showcase what it is happening in their gardens. My excuse is that I have been frantically trying to get organised to start work in Jakarta next week, and I actually fly out at 6.30 a.m. on the 15th, so no hope of posting that day. I thought I would have already left, but a minor hiccup with my visa has resulted in a couple of extra days to enjoy the pups, home, garden, and fabulous Autumn weather, so here is what's in bloom in my garden for March GBBD and my 100th post.

First up is this bromeliad Guzmania wittmackii. Although I posted a photo a week or two back, the colour has continued to develop, and it is now at its peak. The inflorescence will last for several months.

In another part of the garden, another G. wittmackii is just begin to colour up. This is the purple form, and,  although isn't as tall as the red, it's another very welcome sight. I was worried I had lost these two, among the very first bromeliads that I added to my collection.

The brugmansia has flowered wonderfully over summer and is still in bloom. It currently has one branch that towers above the rest of the tree. I should have pruned back to maintain a more regular shape, but I must admit I love this over-the-top growth spurt. It reminds me of an exotic parasol.

The row of cordylines I planted along the driveway were all cuttings from a very old and overgrown plant in the backyard.  They really seem to love this spot and are all in bud at the moment.

Another star along the driveway is the Bird of Paradise Strelitzia reginae. I hope I will have a chance to weed their bed before I go, and somewhere down the track I will consider the fate of the neighbouring pentas. I love them almost as much as the bees and butterflies do, but if I'm really honest, they clash with the colours of the Bird of Paradise. Perhaps the grey blue of Agave attentuata would be a better companion.

This little salvia 'Heatwave Sizzle' is still flowering and looks very pretty against the variegated alstomeria.

And both the salvia and the alstomeria provide a backdrop to a white Zinnia 'Polar Bear'.

Nearby, a rhoeo Tradescantia spathacea 'Vittata' serves as backdrop to a pink zinnia 'Pastel Dream'.

Cosmos with more of the variegated alstomeria and variegated pineapple. None of the fancy schmancy cosmos seeds I planted have done much, but the self-seeded ones are thriving.

Salvia 'White Velour' with Aloe 'Diana' behind it.

Looking back to last winter, I really enjoyed pots with mixed varieties of succulents. Since then, the different varieties have grown at varying rates, and some of the combinations that worked last year aren't the harmonious balance of shapes and sizes that they were. They would probably all benefit from re-potting, which I won't get a chance to do in the near future. When I do, I probably have more than enough different varieties to work with, but I couldn't resist adding one more into the mix. This gorgeous kalanchoe(?), such a lovely combination of chocolate and teal.

Well, this will be my last post from Australia for a couple of months. Sorry I have been remiss responding to comments and visiting your posts lately. I look forward to catching up on all the latest, and, rest assured, I have already packed the important things and look forward to sharing lots of exciting tropical plants and images from Indonesia.

The essentials!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day January 2012

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the first for 2012. 

On the 15th of each month, Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts this meme, which provides a chance for garden bloggers around the world to share what is happening in their gardens.

Here in sub-tropical Brisbane, it is midsummer. The garden has taken a bit of a hammering since last GBBD as December was as uncharacteristically dry as November had been (and, in the chaos of the holiday season, I was a little remiss with my watering). 

Since then, I have had a big tidy-up and have pulled out most of the 'Wendy's Wish' salvias and the cosmos. There is a bit of a gap in the garden, but it won't be for long. I am replacing the salvias with cuttings, and the cosmos have self-seeded. I have supplemented them with some interesting and different cosmos seeds that I ordered online and have sewn directly into the garden bed. I have 'Psyche' doubles, 'Seashells', 'Versailles' White and Flush, 'Sensation' Gloria and C. Bipinnatus 'Daydream'. I can't wait to see them in flower.

I am really enjoying one of my more recent additions to the garden, Nymphaea helvola, a miniature waterlily, and have bought some new goldfish to add to the existing white cloud fish family.  

Just opening...

The Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet has been a mass of flowers. It is difficult to decide what is more beautiful, the flowers or its perfume.

The brugmansia is underplanted with Costus, or spiral ginger. There is a faded beauty in their spent flowers.

The Leopard Lily Belamcanda chinensis can always be relied on for a splash of colour.

So too, the variegated Alstomeria. I made lovely little Christmas posies using the flowers and foliage, combined with red pentas and parsley flowers.

There's lots of new growth on the Zamias.

And the Hammerhead Frangipani Plumeria pudica is just stunning.

Another pristine beauty is Hibiscus 'Wilders White'

The daylilies are reflowering.

'Fetish'

'Passion for Life'

'Velvet Rose'

Finally, I can always bank on a bromeliad blooming. This Neoregelia is another purloined on a visit to my brother's garden. It is almost a miniature so helps to provide variety of size as well as the contrast of its speckled foliage. Also, for brom growers, I spotted this handy tip on ABC Gardening Australia Magazine's facebook page. Editor Jennifer Stackhouse talked about mosquitos breeding in bromeliad cups - to stop them breeding, regularly add just a few drops of coconut oil, which you can find  at Asian grocers and health food stores