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'

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.