Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day December 2012

The final Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for 2012 seems to have come around very quickly. When I compare the garden in its current state to how it was this time last year, it is looking a little sad, but that is only to be expected when it was left to its own devices for over 5 months this year.

I have been home now for nearly two months, but there was no clear dividing line between finishing my work in Jakarta and resuming my regular job, so I have been time poor. Fortunately, a few snatched hours over the weekends and a couple of wet days rather than regular watering have produced the beginnings of a turnaround.

The daylilies and spider lilies looked the most pathetic on my return but have come back with a vengeance.

Daylily 'Royal Rego'

Detail of its wonderful gold braid

'Strawberry Fields Forever'

Native bee visiting bitone 'Raspberry Delicious' 

'Double Cranberry Ruffles'

'Ash Rosie'

'Spacecoast Whiteout'

My new addition from last year 'Russian Ragtime'.

'Frank Teele' is a more Christmasy red than it looks in this photograph. 

'Spacecoast Seashells'

This is how the daylilies looked on my return. This is 'Ash Rosie'

... and 'Cherryburst'. Looks like I got home just in the nick of time.

Spider lily in front of a flush on new growth on one of the cycads

The spider lilies on my return. They had a battle on their hands with opportunistic mealy bugs.

This nondescript flower belies the wonderful perfume of the night-scented jasmine  Cestrum nocturum

Here is the cestrum in full flower behind an Evergreen Frangipani Plumeria obtusa

I love how the Leopard Lily self seeds and manages to pop in all the right places.

Another unexpected pop-up in my oh-so-weedy lawn.

Looks like my very first Yucca flower is on its way.

Jasminium sambac 'Grand Duke of  Tuscany'

Not exactly a bloom yet, but peaking through the soil at top left is 'Kitty' one of the mail order dahlias I planted a few weeks ago.

The variegated alstomeria that was a great cut flower this time last year has taken a thrashing but will bounce back.

The poinciana went from this (on a stormy day)...

...to this in just a week.

Finally, just a sample of some of the bromeliads coming into flower at the moment. To see more of what is flowering around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day each month.

       

Girls' weekend

Regular visitors to Onslow and Miss B will know by now just how much I love the beach. I never really stood a chance of being indifferent after spending my childhood right alongside two of the great beach holiday spots in Australia: Queenscliff on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula, and then Kirra on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Brisbane itself has a beautiful bay, but no really great beaches (sorry Redcliffe inhabitants), but we are blessed by having the Gold Coast just an hour to the south and the Sunshine Coast just a teeny bit further to the north.

For most of the years I have lived in Brisbane, I have generally headed south to the family, firstly the Gold Coast, and now that my parents have passed on, to my brother's in Ballina. Once a year, for many years, my Melbourne cousins visited Queensland, and I would drive up to the Sunshine Coast to stay a couple of days with them at Noosa.

Years later, my trips north to Noosa still hold all the excitement of an occasional treat, and with its up-market shops and fabulous restaurants, it is the perfect spot for a girls' weekend.

Last week two of us headed there to meet up with friends already there: one just back from working in Afghanistan and the other lucky girl, who has made the Sunshine Coast her home.

View of the river from our apartment

Seagulls and crested terns

That's me second from the left at Season restaurant in Hastings Street (and check out the colour of the sea in the background!)

The girls striding along the boardwalk

Plenty of action near the surf club

There was a big beach volley ball competition.

The next morning we hit the local Farmers' Market. It's mango season, and I love mangoes. Heaven!

Breakfast was yoghurt and fruit salad from this stall

We stocked up on mangoes and avocados, but had to forgo the flowers.

After the markets, time for a quick shop at Noosaville

We grabbed at coffee at a cafe opposite the river.

Then it was off to Jo's for lunch, passing this amazing poinciana on the way.

Jo's dog Zulu having a snooze

 I was pretty envious of Jo's colourful hammock...

 and this beautiful grevillea.

After a fabulous lunch (Jo's red pepper and pesto tart), it was time to head home to Brisbane, and once again ponder on the drive home how I could have left it so long between visits, and how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends.

To see more of the nearby beaches, visit here and here.