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.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day September 2012

Once again I am far from home for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Back home in Australia, September marks the start of Spring, and I can't help but wonder what I am missing in the garden at Casa Bella. However, I do have a lovely garden to share, especially for those like me who live in the warmer corners of the globe or who love tropical plants. These photos were taken in the grounds of the very beautiful Sofitel Hotel in Hua Hin on the coast of Thailand where I visited last month.  I wasn't a guest, but I did have a lovely lunch and visit to the spa there and took advantage of the opportunity to wander.

I absolutely adore the Rangoon Creeper Quisqualis, so I hope you will indulge excessive photographs of a beautiful subject.

And did you notice through the arch, a raised pond featuring another of my floral favourites, waterlilies. I was in seventh heaven.

There were great topiaries

Flock of topiary birds in the distance

Stunning travellers palms  Ravenala madagascariensis

The parrot beak heliconia Heliconia rostrata

More heliconias, this time 'Golden Torch', I think.

Spiral Ginger Costus

I've been a bit neglectful of this fern at home, but after seeing it here I love it all over again now.

Love the contrast of the maroon foliage with border of variegated spider lilies.

Finally, you know I can't help myself  ...

A Secret Garden

With only a couple of weeks remaining of this visit to Jakarta, I thought I would pick up the pace a little and  visit some different parts of the City. Yesterday, I started with a visit to a lovely interiors store 'Temple Trees', which stocks fabrics by Sri Lanka's wonderful Barbara Sansoni of 'Barefoot' fame, and then headed on to have lunch in upmarket Kemang in South Jakarta.

From the moment I caught a glimpse of the entrance to the restaurant 'Payon' (Jl Kemang Raya 17), I knew I had made a great choice. Not only was there a water feature on the step, the entrance itself was swathed in one of my very favourite tropical plants, the Rangoon Creeper Quisqualis indica.

 

This is the double form. The fragrant blooms are the palest of pink when they open, darkening to red as they age.

The main building and restaurant proper is open-sided with bamboo wind chimes to catch the breeze. The figures in this carving are shadow puppet characters from the wayang, Java's famed puppet theatre.

It is completely surrounded by a 'moat' complete with goldfish.

Potted lotus

There is another pavilion directly opposite it, and several to the sides that are used for different functions. The centre pathway is bordered by shallow channels on each side and frangipanis (plumeria).

The channels are planted out with a lovely selection of waterlilies with variety of colour, leaf size and some variegated. (Yes, I know I am a bit obsessed!)

Almost every frangipani is covered in ephiphytes and bedecked with orchids. While I was admiring them, the very gracious owner came out to talk to me and tell me about her collection. She gave me a bit of a tip for my sole Vanda orchid, telling me that they really enjoyed getting a breeze. They are usually planted in open slatted timber containers. You can see one just slightly lower and to the right of centre in the photo below. Hers didn't seem to have any potting mixture in them at all, so I will definitely think about repotting mine on my return. The big difference is that the air is nearly always moist here, whereas things really dry out in Brisbane during our winter months.

One of the things I reflected on after my visit was how interested and happy to chat this lady had been, and I couldn't help but contrast it with a very recent episode.

There is a very big skyscraper on lovely grounds near me (Sapoerna Strategic centre). I asked one of the guards last week if I could go in and photograph the gardens, but no sooner had I entered and started to look closely at the garden beds, when I was unceremoniously asked (clearly by someone more important) not to take photos and, essentially, to move on. I guess the big difference between gardeners and commercial enterprises is that a true gardener always wants to share, whether it is a handful of seeds, advice, or just the beauty of their garden. A commercial landscaping project can be beautiful, but, if it isn't loved and shared, it has no soul.

Payon's garden is clearly loved.



Vanda

Another Vanda. My new-found friend explained this is close to the original colour of the orchid in the wild.

Sorry , not too sure what kind of orchid this is, but I love it.



Another Vanda

And finally, in case you were wondering, lunch was great too. I had fish marinated in coconut milk, spices, and chilli; steamed rice; a side of steamed Asian greens, bean sprouts, and winged beans with coconut and chilli, and a glass of tamarind juice. I will definitely be back to 'Payon'.