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 December 2012

The final Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for 2012 seems to have come around very quickly. When I compare the garden in its current state to how it was this time last year, it is looking a little sad, but that is only to be expected when it was left to its own devices for over 5 months this year.

I have been home now for nearly two months, but there was no clear dividing line between finishing my work in Jakarta and resuming my regular job, so I have been time poor. Fortunately, a few snatched hours over the weekends and a couple of wet days rather than regular watering have produced the beginnings of a turnaround.

The daylilies and spider lilies looked the most pathetic on my return but have come back with a vengeance.

Daylily 'Royal Rego'

Detail of its wonderful gold braid

'Strawberry Fields Forever'

Native bee visiting bitone 'Raspberry Delicious' 

'Double Cranberry Ruffles'

'Ash Rosie'

'Spacecoast Whiteout'

My new addition from last year 'Russian Ragtime'.

'Frank Teele' is a more Christmasy red than it looks in this photograph. 

'Spacecoast Seashells'

This is how the daylilies looked on my return. This is 'Ash Rosie'

... and 'Cherryburst'. Looks like I got home just in the nick of time.

Spider lily in front of a flush on new growth on one of the cycads

The spider lilies on my return. They had a battle on their hands with opportunistic mealy bugs.

This nondescript flower belies the wonderful perfume of the night-scented jasmine  Cestrum nocturum

Here is the cestrum in full flower behind an Evergreen Frangipani Plumeria obtusa

I love how the Leopard Lily self seeds and manages to pop in all the right places.

Another unexpected pop-up in my oh-so-weedy lawn.

Looks like my very first Yucca flower is on its way.

Jasminium sambac 'Grand Duke of  Tuscany'

Not exactly a bloom yet, but peaking through the soil at top left is 'Kitty' one of the mail order dahlias I planted a few weeks ago.

The variegated alstomeria that was a great cut flower this time last year has taken a thrashing but will bounce back.

The poinciana went from this (on a stormy day)...

...to this in just a week.

Finally, just a sample of some of the bromeliads coming into flower at the moment. To see more of what is flowering around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day each month.