Goodbye to Summer

It is always with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to summer, and today is officially its final day. Despite some very uncomfortable days as we experienced our hottest summer on record here in Brisbane, this year is no exception.

My busy schedule has given me little time to bring the garden back to its 'glory' days, but there have been brilliant performances from some of my old faithfuls over the season, who have prevailed in the most adverse of conditions - neglect, extreme heat and minimal water.

First and foremost leading into the warmer weather were the daylilies.

'Francois Verhaert'

'Fetish'

Spacecoast Seashell

'Royal Rego'

'Isis Unveiled'

'Russian Ragtime'

I fell in love with my one and only rose 'Eyes for You' - a gift from my neighbour. The beautiful 'eye' changes to a soft purple as it ages.

The most resilient of all the plants in my garden are undoubtedly the bromeliads. Although I have spent little time in the garden, I have confidently continued to add to my collection, knowing that they keep on keeping on, regardless of the conditions. These are a few favourites...

And here are some of the new additions from the end of last year.  

Neo 'Coolum Lime'

All lined up.

But I had more fun over the weekend.

They're not all mine!  I had a partner in crime, but here are some of the latest acquisitions.

Neoregelia

Nidularium

Saundersii x sucrei

Vriesea Margarita

The fun part is balancing your collection to include a range of beautiful foliage, usually the neoregelias, and the spectacular flowers, like guzmanias, and the different sizes (I have a few new mini neoregelias too). Once again, I seem to have a bit of a pink theme happening.

So that is a quick look at the summer that was in the garden here at Casa Bella. And probably nothing says summer colour quite like the poinciana in my front yard, here with one of the local butcherbirds whose song wakes me most mornings. If you click on this  pied butcherbird song recording, you will understand just how lucky I am.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day February 2015

I thought I was on track for Garden Bloggers' Day back in January, but even though I had selected my photos and written a few lines, something went amiss. So here we are, uncharacteristically early for February's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - the 15th of the month being the day garden bloggers all over the world share what is blooming in their garden, courtesy of our wonderful host, Carol, at May Dreams Garden.

I have hung onto some of those January photos, so my selection this month is a consolidation of what has been blooming in my sub-tropical Brisbane garden over January/February - the two hottest and wettest months of our year.

Plants like the Red Spiral Ginger absolutely thrive in the conditions

My 'Wilders White' hibiscus shrub is a bit ungainly after I had to remove its main trunk, when it was damaged at ground level, but it is such a prolific bloomer.

The daylilies haven't been as good as in previous years, but as the garden matures, more of it is thrown into shade, and I worry I have lost some favourites as I have moved them to follow the sun. 

These two are All American Tiger and  Mildred Mitchell - I bought the latter by mistake (instead of Ginny Mitchell) and confused it with Isis Unveiled, which is similarly coloured but not so ruffled. 

Daylily 'Mildred Mitchell'

Daylily 'All American Tiger'

Daylily 'Double Cranberry Ruffles' which varies according to mood just how 'double' it is

'Finish with  Flourish'

'Jordan Verhaert'

'Irving Schulman'

My pentas along the side fence aren't flowering as well as they should - too little light, plus some bug that attacks the buds. (I use some herbicides but worry about pesticides' effect on the good critters). This one is 'Pink Malay'.

A very showy bromeliad bloom - Bilbergia 'Hallelujah'

Visitor on one of the bromeliads

 The back garden  behind the garage is our wild zone. We had a large carpet python and a grumpy possum emerge from here recently - and yes, the possum's mood was definitely due to having his sleep disturbed by the snake.

The big lime leaves to the left belong to the Brazilian Red Cloak, which will flower in winter. There's a red foliaged cordyline, and above, my neighbour's Murraya in full bloom. On the lower right, the red blooms belong to the Firespike, Odontonemea strictum

Only small critters were visiting when I headed out this time.

This little ginger is Globba winitii 'Red Back'. I previously posted another globba, 'Golden Dragon' here, which I fear I may have lost. Because they die down over winter, they can get dug up by mistake, so I have made sure the rest of my collection are all marked with stakes.

You don't need blooms for colour, when you have crotons.

Another ginger, this is the beautiful Blue Ginger, Dichorisandra thyrsifola

I can always rely on the Leopard Lilies for interest - whether in bloom

...  or in seed

The Purple Basil never seems to stop flowering.

Here the basil has attracted the attention of the native Blue Banded Bee.

Plumeria pudica - the Hammerhead Frangipani

Salvias are another great favourite with the bees. This is 'Heatwave Sizzle'

This more recent addition is Salvia 'Sierra Coral'

Finally, more of that glorious coral from another of the bromeliads, Aechmea 'Burning Bush'