Silent Sunday
Month: January 2024
Gazania, in all its glory.
It’s time for Wordless Wednesday; however, my photo today requires a few words.
You may recall my Tiny Treasures post on Monday. I added a few Gazanias to a small vase, along with a few other flowers picked from my garden. The Gazania petals looked rather bedraggled, having just been brought indoors after a shower of summer rain. I wasn’t sure how the flowers would cope indoors.
As you can see, the Gazanias are very happy! Now the petals have dried, they have a new lease on life. ❤
In other news, my desktop computer is having a hissy-fit! My son-in-law will be here tomorrow to pull apart the computer and give it a good clean. Meanwhile, I have spent the morning saving all my photos and files to my external hard drive. But I may disappear briefly. If the clean-out doesn’t rectify the problems, I will need a new computer. Fun. 
In A Vase On Monday ~ Tiny Treasures
When I went outside to collect flowers between showers of rain, I had not expected to return laden with a large collection of miniatures. My only explanation is that this is the collection of flowers that “chose” to be stars of the vase for my In A Vase On Monday contribution this week, hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
Is that a thing, I wonder – can flowers make their own choices? In my garden, surprisingly, they often seem to!
The native Australian Lilly Pilly buds had already caught my eye today. When I saw them through the kitchen window this morning, the colour of the bud seemed to be a deeper shade of pinkish-brown, compared to two days ago when I took photos of them for my native plants post. I imagined tiny sprigs of the buds looking very pretty in a vase.
In a pot close to the Lilly Pilly bush, I noticed that some of my ‘Chameleon’ roses needed dead-heading. Chameleon – also known as ‘Pur Caprice’ – is a miniature rose, with the blooms changing colour from red to yellow, then pink and white as the flowers age, hence the name Chameleon. Some Chameleon blooms would look lovely in a vase with the Lilly Pilly buds … and so the miniature vase began to take shape.
In yet another pot nearby, the Osteospermum Serenity Pink Magic Cape daisy also needed some attention, so while snipping spent flowers, I chose two healthy blooms to add to the miniature mix. I adore the colour of this daisy! It is not the shade of pink I expected when I first planted the tube stock plant, it’s even more beautiful than I had imagined it would be.
In the front garden, I knew I had some very pretty Gazania flowers in bloom. The colour matches the various pink tones I had already picked, although the delicate petals may have suffered a bit due to being damp from the recent rain. In the garden, Gazania close their petals when night falls, so I will watch carefully as the day turns into night, to see if they do the same when indoors.
When together in the vase, I am quite happy with the selection of tiny treasures I heard calling out to be chosen for my Monday vase!
When deciding on a vase, I chose a tiny jug which is actually a miniature of an old-style wash basin. The design on the side colour-coordinates very well with my flowers as well – perfect!
And my collection of miniature “pets” – the Labrador with four kittens stands guard over the vase …
… with the finishing touch – the tiny bowl under the tiny jug. 🙂
Silent Sunday ~ Allamanda
Australian and New Zealand Native Plants
In previous posts, I have mentioned that during the past year, I have focused on revamping my garden, by removing plants that I wasn’t happy with and trying new plants in their place.
A new plant to me was ‘Metrosideros Little Ewan’, otherwise known as a dwarf New Zealand Christmas bush. I thought I’d give it a go, so bought three tube stock plants. Much to my delight, I noticed this week that I have my first Little Ewan flower.
The clusters of red spires look to be growing from a yellow base; also, there is the tiniest hint of yellow at the end of the soft spires. The plant is still tiny but grows to one metre in both width and height. It will be lovely to see the plant in flower when it reaches its full maturity.
Finger limes are native to Australia. Referred to as “bush tucker” by aboriginal people, the fruit, when cut open, has the appearance of caviar! My tree is young, and this is the first summer it has fruited. I have been lucky enough to try finger limes previously when my neighbour brought some off their tree for us to try. When I cut open my first lime, I will take photos to share here. 🙂
I am still learning the intricacies of finger lime tree growth, but I predict we may have a few more limes appearing before summer is over.
Also in bud is my native Australian Lilly Pilly shrub. This shrub is growing in a pot currently, but I have plans for it to become a feature plant in one of my newly renovated gardens.
A post of Australian natives wouldn’t be complete without a photo of kookaburras. As you can see, we have summer rain here which I am thankful for – it is keeping the temperatures lower each day, even if the humidity is a tad high! During the mid-month of summer, I am grateful for any reprieve I can get from the heat. 🙂
In My World 