Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day March 2012

Although I have been busy in the garden, applying a thick layer of mulch to help the garden get through our dry season and planting seeds and bulbs in preparation for spring, with the following two exceptions, there are very few changes in what has been in flower since my report for February's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

This little ginger is a Globba 'Golden Dragon'

 Aechmea  fulgens 'Burning Bush'

Dahlia 'Marie Antoinette' is still flowering well.

Despite looking a little washed out in this photo, I love my salvia 'Hot Lips' and the way it varies from all white to all red and two toned.

The Evergreen Frangipani Plumeria obtusa looks a picture of health, but the advent of frangipani rust here in Brisbane over the last few years causes early leaf drop, and it is virtually now 'evergreen' in name only!

Always flowering,  Hammerhead Frangipani Plumeria pudica

I don't know what I'd do without my Rosemary. (Roasted rosemary potatoes are the best!)

The Bird of Paradise Strelitzia reginea are putting on a great show along the driveway.

Lots of storm lilies, Zephyranthes candida, have popped up after our wet weather.

Zinnia 'Summer Brilliance' with salvia 'Heatwave Sizzle' and variegated pineapple (also a bromeliad).

In the back garden there is lots of new growth on the spiral ginger , Costus 

...and plenty of flowers

Not exactly a bloom, but this Ponytail 'Palm' Beaucarnia recurvata deserves its moment in the spotlight. It has fallen into the 'hidden in plain sight' category. I have never included it in the blog because it is on its own by the pool, but it is quite an impressive specimen, despite some unsympathetic pruning by a previous owner.

Finally, my nomination for villain of the month...

Look at the terrible damage to the new fronds of this cycad.  All the handiwork of the blue cycad butterfly's caterpiller.  I have posted about these menaces before, and, although I don't like spraying, I used Confidor on this plant, but it seems to have had no effect, perhaps because of all our rain.

To see more beautiful blooms from all around the world, and hopefully no more villains, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Cycads

This photo shows the only two plants I retained in the front yard after I moved in 6 years ago. Most dominant is the poinciana, which is now flowering, and to the right, a large cycad, Cycas revoluta. I think I have mentioned previously that, at the time, and really until just before the floods of last summer, Brisbane had been in the grip of an extended drought. Because I wanted a tropical feel to the garden, I added various members of the cycad family to the garden to capture a ferny, palmy look that was still compatible with the severe water restrictions in place at the time.

One of my first steps was to plant a row of Zamia furfuracea or Cardboard 'palms' separated by clumps of liriope along the top terrace garden under my pool - a planting pairing I had seen around Southbank. It provides a lush green contrast to the main garden bed below. Despite their common name, the zamias are not palms, but are a kind of cycad.

A coronet of new growth on my cardboard palm Zamia furfuracea

The photos below show cardboard palms incorporated into a tropical landscape at a friend's place.

Cardboard palms with bromeliads and golden cane palms.

Cardboard palm with rhoeo and birds nest fern.

This prickly specimen I think is Dioon Spinulosum. I planted it  to mark the separation point between  the garden along the driveway and the bromeliads planted at the side of the garage.

Zamia integrifolia foreground with the Dioon spinulosum (?) behind it.

Spring foliage on the Zamia integrifolia

Cones on the Zamia

 Zamia paucijuga  (note to self - need to weed this patch!)

Cycas thouarsii - I planted this right at the start of the driveway  for  impact.

Not my garden, but a local street planting, which shows the Cycas revoluta  male and female plants. Despite the superficial resemblance to palms, cycads produce cones, which align them to conifers.

The cone of my female plant.

Public Enemy Number One - the Blue Cycad Butterfly

The photos below show some of the damage wrought by the Blue Cycad Butterfly caterpillars. I am reluctant to spray if I can help it, but I use Confidor occasionally to minimise the damage on new fronds.