Even though it is mid-winter here, there is always lots to see in my brother Tony's garden, just outside Ballina in northern New South Wales, about 2 hours drive south from Brisbane. I headed down with my canine companions, Bella and Onslow, for a weekend visit as my eldest niece was home from Uni in New Zealand.
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| This lovely wood-rose coloured Cymbidium orchid was just inside the front gate. |
When I last photographed this fence over the Christmas break, our mid-summer, it was a mass of rose flowered bignonia (or pink trumpet vine), bower of beauty and jasmine as you can see
here. In winter, the orange trumpet vine predominates, although I could still catch glimpses of early jasmine. Doesn't the orange contrast beautifully with the blue of the matchstick bromeliad?
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| Matchstick bromeliad Aechmea gamsepala |
Still down at ground level, I spotted native violets in bloom.
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| Viola hederacea |
His camellias and some azaleas were out, b
ut, as usual, the bromeliads put on one of the best shows.
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| This is a very easily grown Neoregelia |
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| A Guzmania |
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| Guzmania conifera |
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| I'm not sure of the name of this one, but I love the combination of showy bloom and foliage. |
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| A better photo of the flower |
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| Aechmea fasciata |
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| These spiky flowerheads remind me of a medieval mace. |
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| This is Tony's bromeliad nursery. The 'pups' are cut or pulled off the adult plant once they are big enough, and then popped though a hole in a styrofoam box until the roots start to form. |
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| The underside of the styrofoam showing the growing root on the bromeliad pup. |
The inflorescence on his octopus palm was looking particularly 'octopussy' this visit.
Of course, it wouldn't be Tony's garden without the orchids, although I fear I have let you down badly on the names this visit.
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| There always seems to be a stunner in flower on the front doorstep. The foliage of this cream and green orchid is like a vanda, although the flower is a different shape. The smaller yellow flowering orchid underneath is one of mine that was ailing and delivered to Tony's for R&R last year. |
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| The flower of the front door orchid. |
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| Dendrobium speciosum |
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| Cattelya |
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| ...and another |
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| A tiny Dendrobium plant that was a mass of buds |
Finally, not too sure what it is, some kind of ginger perhaps, but I love this colourful seedhead.
So much to see! Is it any wonder we were dog tired by the time we got home?
