In the pink

I first came upon this quote by American photographer Dorothea Lange courtesy of my desk calendar, but it was one that immediately registered with me:  “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

Before our recent storms and the flood damage that followed through much of Brisbane and Queensland, the garden had taken a pounding from the intense heat. On many a morning, I wandered down to the front garden to feed the goldfish, and there seemed to be little in flower. But since I started this blog and have began taking regular photos, I have become more attuned to my garden and see so much more, whether I have my camera with me or not.

One of the little details that I have come to love are the twisted spent blooms of the Leopard Lily Belamcanda chinensis.

Here a spider lying in wait for an unwary visitor mirrors the shape of the flower above.

Continuing the pink theme in my garden and just as reliable as the leopard lily are the cosmos. Both self seed fairly freely, but never enough to be a nuisance.

Cosmos about to bloom

and in full flower with attendant spider

The scabious has been a wonderful addition to the garden this year, and I have enjoyed it in all its phases. There is a very subtle variation in the shades of the flowers; many are more mauve than pink.

Scabious just beginning to bloom.

Scabious with pink salvia 'Heatwave Sizzle' in the background.

Scabious seed heads

A new unnamed  variety of pink salvia that I picked up at the markets.

Another recent acquisition Ginger Globba winitii 'Red Back'

The final pink bloom that I am sharing this post is the beautiful pink cassia Cassia javanica. Sadly, it isn't in my garden, but a tree I spotted on my return from the supermarket. While I have seen a few others around the neighbourhood, they are frequently too tall to be able to get a good photo of the flowers. 

Once I would have driven past probably without paying much heed, but luckily I had my camera on board.

Miss Bella always looks pretty in pink too.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day January 2013

January marks midsummer in Australia, and although we have had a week or so of heatwave conditions recently and the garden is a little dry, it is full of colour for the first Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for 2013.

This was the first year I planted scabious in the garden, and they have been a great success. I sowed the seeds directly into the garden, and it seems that nearly every seed germinated. I will definitely be planting them again next year.

I may have been away for their Spring flush, but the daylilies have continued to brighten the garden with repeat blooms.

'Kent's Favourite Two'

One of my absolute favourites 'Percival James'

Another favourite 'Donna Mead'

'Passion for Life'

'Passion for Life' again

'Isis Unveiled'

A badly focussed photo of the very beautiful 'Jordan Verhaert'

Alongside the daylilies in the front garden, the white ixora 'Kampon's Pride' is a mass of blooms for such a young plant.

The Leopard Lily has self-seeded and sprung up in a few new places but is always a welcome sight.

And the Variegated Alstomeria is re-establishing itself after taking a bit of a pounding while I was away.



One of the showiest bromeliads in flower.

Here is a view of the front garden at the moment, absolutely dominated by the Poinciana Delonix regia.

The white flowers to the right of the poinciana belong to the Hammerhead Frangipani Plumeria pudica.

Elsewhere in the garden, tropical foliage provides almost as much colour as the flowers. Among the more spectacular are the Elephant Ears or Caladiums, a tropical perennial. I am a recent addition to the ranks of their admirers. In just a month I have expanded my 'collection' from two to ten. The second photo is of four new plants I picked up at the local markets.

For December Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I was very proud to report that my Yucca was in flower for the first time. If you were thinking it couldn't get any more exciting than that, you are wrong. Just a week or two back, I was gazing vaguely in the direction of the Ponytail Palm Beaucarnea recurvata when I realised it too had come into bud for the first time since I moved here in 2005.

Here are a few photos tracking its progress.

  

I do love my garden; there's always something new popping up and demanding my attention.

To visit more gardens around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day meme on the 15th of each month.