Cathy’s Week of Flowers at Words and Herbs is going way too fast. Here we are at Day 6 already! What is it they say … time goes fast when you’re having fun? This week certainly is fun. 🙂
Last year, I started choosing more drought tolerent plants for my garden. One of the first plants I chose was Gaura, which have adapted well to my subtropical garden which is rich in volcanic clay loam soil. I love the dainty flowers – and so do the bees! – so I planted more Gauras early this spring. This morning when I took these photos, my flower garden was abuzz with activity!
Some Daisies (but not all) are happy in my garden as well, and cope very well with the summer heat. Several years ago I planted this pretty lilac variety, and every once in a while I give them a harsh cutting back, usually when they try to take over the garden bed! In August, when this photo was taken, I had a patch of daisies about three metres long by two metres deep, and they looked just beautiful in full bloom! After the flowers had seen better days, I pulled out a few wayward runners and dead-headed the remaining plants. Within a week or two I expect to see the plants blooming profusely again.
My bottlebrush (Callistemon) is one of the first shrubs I planted in my garden after we built our house over 26 years ago, and it is still going strong. Callistemon is endemic to Australia, and a favourite with our small native honey-eating birds. This photo was taken in August as well, when the garden was springing to life after a brief winter rest.
Today the weather has been pleasantly warm and sunny, and in the early part of the day Mount Warning – the Cloud Catcher – lived up to its Indigenous name by “catching” a passing cloud.
Tonight, the darkening view across the valley, complete with orange sunset sky, looked equally as stunning.
In My World 
Well done. Always interesting to see flowers that I don’t see – like the bottlebrush. Then the last photo is a sigh … the day is done.
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Wonderful daisies. I love Callistemon – such a shame that we can’t grow them outside here. Lovely landscapes too! Thanks for sharing!
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Love that bottlebrush. I first learned of it during a visit to California a few years ago. Such an interesting flower. You certainly live among magnificent views.
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Buzzing bees! One of the sounds of summer I love and haven’t heard for a few months. 🙂 Your gauras are so pretty! Do you have tours of private gardens in Australia, Joanne? Around here avid gardeners will let a garden club lead a small group of people on a tour through their gardens one day in the summer. When I see pictures of your garden it makes me think of that. People sign up and pay in advance for the tour of several private gardens in one day. I think the proceeds go to the club or to charity. I’ve always thought it would be fun to take a peek at the gardens behind some of the fences where I can only get a glimpse of what they’re growing. 🙂
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Lovely summer reflection, Joanne! Good for you for seeking out more drought-tolerant plants there. We seem to have the opposite issue, with our abundance of moisture, but the jury’s out on how climate change will affect us all. Take care!
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That view really is fabulous Joanne. Love that little lilac daisy. And your Gaura is wonderful. I grow Gaura too and I was amazed this year at how many pollinators were buzzing around it from dawn till dusk. It’s also good to see plants we can’t grow here, unless you have a heated greenouse perhaps… Bottlebrush is sold as a summer annual patio plant here. Thank you for sharing!
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So much beauty. Sigh.
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I grow Gaura too. I love it. It does well in NJ and the one I planted last year overwintered very well. I added another this year…I’m really pleased with them. They also make beautiful pressed flowers. The anthers look beautiful, alongside the colorful petals, when they are pressed. My pressed flower art is bumped up a bit by their addition.
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Wonderful choices, Joanne! Gaura reminds me of little dancing fairies, which belies its toughness. I love the blue ‘eyes’ on the Osteospermum and your capture of the Callistemon bloom is lovely. Wish I could grow those – they are pretty cool-looking.
Can’t wait to see what you’ll have for us for the grand finale tomorrow! 😉
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Interesting term–the “cloud catcher”. Gorgeous flowers once again. You are a talented gardener.
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Super images … I too have gaura in my garden! It hasn’t started flowering this season yet. Your garden is lovely 🙂 you must have a green thumb!
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Haha, I’ve spent years practicing with plants, lost many, and had great success with others. It’s a lot of trial and error really. Frog Pond Farm, however, is perfection! 😀
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Oh that’s kind of you to say .. trust me loads of trial and error here too .. and I’m behind in pruning as always 🙂
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