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 December 2014

I love our Brisbane summers: sultry days and fragrant nights, with a wild late afternoon storm often marking the divide. The colours of our summer are red, white, and blazing blue skies as on my driveway with the poinciana, frangipani, and spider lilies in bloom. As the poinciana blooms fall, my visitors walk a red flower carpet to the house in the sunshine and negotiate a treacherously slippery slope after rain.

A fierce afternoon hailstorm that punched holes through the polycarbonate panels in my veranda roof.

Poinciana

Frangipani/plumeria

Spider lily Hymenocallis littoralis

There are more daylilies in bloom. Each morning after greeting the puppies, I walk down to see if there are any new blooms and make an mental note to write an identifying tag for it. I know I have lost a couple over the past twelve months, and many tags were missing at the beginning of the season, so I am anxiously waiting for each and every favourite to make its appearance. Identification can be challenging. Sometimes the colours vary with the weather, and many of the photos in an old catalogue I have bear little resemblance to their real selves.

'Douglas Lycett' 

'Spacecoast Whiteout'

'Spacecoast Seashells'

'Jordan Verhaert' 



Magnolia 'Little Gem' with the petals full of stamens shaken loose by the bees.

Gardenia

I have let the murraya hedge go shaggy, so I can enjoy the fragrant blooms that follow the rain.

A visitor to the frangipani

I popped a mass of caladiums into my wheel barrow so I could sweep the garage floor. I put a river pebble in each pot so I remember something precious is sleeping when they are dormant and don't throw it out as 'empty'.

Finally, another daylily. This one is 'Frank Teele', a gorgeous cherry red for the festive season.

The deep purple salvia to the left is a new addition 'Love and Wishes'

Seasons Greetings to all and a very happy Bloom Day.  To see more of what is blooming in gardens around the world on Bloom Day - the fifteenth of each month - visit our host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens.

Kookaburra Cottages

In my previous post on the Great Ocean Road (click here to visit), I mentioned the wonderful cottages where we stayed in Apollo Bay. We had one of the front rooms looking out to a little private garden and the sea. I think the photos pretty much speak for themselves. It really is a magical place.

 

 

 

 

Our veranda

Summer might have been just round the corner, but the weather was bleak. Both Jayne and I opted for Michelin Man style gear.

Was this a sit-in protest by the local cockatoos to have the cottages renamed Cockatoo Cottages? There were certainly more cockatoos than kookaburras on our visit.

 

We both clambered up the hill to the first of a series of lookouts.



The cottages are home to more than 60 Shetland ponies.

The little chestnut foal was only about 5 days old and the dark one, even younger.

Cuteness overload!

Jayne purposefully striding uphill to the most impressive lookout.



Inspiration for the throne in Game of Thrones??

The babies were snoozing on our way back.

Was tickled pink to see this little guy waddling determinedly towards the fence. Earlier on the walk, I had come almost nose-to-nose with a fox - too stunned to take a photo. They are the very devil for Australian wildlife, but still so beautiful.

An echidna or spiny anteater.

The vegetable garden

Inside the reception area

The cottages are called Kookaburra Cottages and are on the Great Ocean Road on the Melbourne side of Apollo Bay (and you can like them on Facebook).