Silent Sunday ~ Kookaburras in the Mist
Category: subtropical weather
In A Vase On Monday ~ Rain
There were times this morning when I thought I may have to forego my contribution to Cathy’s In A Vase On Monday this week. We have had several days of rain, and I know from past experience that with the amount of rain we’ve had, flowers need time to dry out. They look rather droopy and frazzled otherwise.
This is the scene I was met with when I reached the pink Gerberas. With heads laden with raindrops and drooping towards the ground, they otherwise looked okay … ish! I thought I’d pick them all, and see how they faired when taken inside the house and left to dry out for the day.
A very lovely Jude the Obscure rose tempted me; however, with that amount of water on her petals, I know that Jude would not be any happier indoors.
Likewise, Desdemona appears fresh and beautiful now the weather has cooled slightly, but she needs to dry before she can visit a vase indoors.
By later this afternoon, the Gerberas were beginning to dry off. Their petals are not as perfect as I have seen them in the past, but given their appearance this morning, they look much happier now.
Even the back off the Gerbera flowers are rather attractive!
Today, I gained a new appreciation for IAVOM contributors who manage to arrange a single species of flowers in a vase successfully. Who knew how difficult it would be!
When the pink Gerberas flopped to the side of the “vases” I knew I needed more flowers to hold them in place, so dashed outside again to grab a few red flowers.
A great advantage of Gerberas, however, is how photogenic these beauties are, when photographed individually. ❤
So my contribution this week to In a Vase on Monday, albeit late in the day – and using imperfect flowers – was once again an enjoyable challenge! 🙂
Feels Like Autumn
We had 15 mm of rain – 0.6 of an inch – yesterday, and so far today we have had double that. The temperature has dropped substantially as well, today reaching only 23 degrees Celsius – or 73 Fahrenheit.
Finally, it feels like autumn is in the air!
The wet garden looked so pretty, so I took my camera out to the front veranda and took a couple of photos, nothing spectacular, just “feel good” photos of my garden soaking up the refreshing rain and cooler weather.
Just the other day, I dead-headed the summer-tired flowers on the Magnolia ‘Little Gem’, leaving just new buds on the shrub. Today, the pure white flowers have opened – shown in the first photo. I was sorry I couldn’t take my camera out into the rain for a closer look! So zooming in on the flowers from the protected veranda gave me a clearer view.
The second photo is of a plant my mother always called a Jade. I’m not convinced that’s it’s actual name, as I have seen Jade plants that look different to mine, but to me, it will always be Jade.
This Salvia is looking lovely right now, although it has been, at times, a tad frazzled over summer. The Hydrangea next to it provides some protection from the hot afternoon sun. As for the Hydrangea, I am amazed that it is still covered in so many lush green leaves at this time of year! It is really enjoying the rainy weather.
The Gardenia is beginning to flower again now, after a quiet summer of dormancy. It’s a shame these flowers do not last for long looking this soft and velvety or I would bring them indoors for a vase.
Yesterday morning, when choosing flowers for my vase, I didn’t pick any Chameleon Roses as I can see they will drop their petal soon. Today, however, they are still hanging on, possibly due to a new lease on life with the rain. The lilac bud in the top-left of the photo is a new Society Garlic flower.
And finally, I promised I would share a photo of a Finger Lime fruit – and here it is. Those tiny caviar-like balls are so full of limey taste; I am surprised there isn’t a Finger Lime tree growing in every garden in Australia!
Who knows if this lovely autumn weather will continue, but for today, I am enjoying every cool minute of it. ❤
Silent Sunday ~ Kookaburra, alone in the rain.
In A Vase On Monday
When I went into the garden this morning at 8:30 am to choose flowers for my contribution to Cathy’s meme In a Vase on Monday at Rambling in the Garden, I didn’t have any plan other than to pick roses and hydrangeas.
Armed with only secateurs and a plastic container of water to put the cut flowers in, I went straight to the main rose garden, dead-headed the old roses, and chose the best of what was available of the Olivia Rose Austin and Desdemona – both David Austin roses – and one lonely red rosebud whose name I cannot remember.
As usual, a random weed here and there distracted me, so they had to be pulled out. The gerberas have consistently flowered since … when? Late winter, perhaps. The more I dead-head the gerberas, the healthier the new flowers look, and currently, apart from being a tad bedraggled by the overnight rain, they look beautiful.
Now I have the Shining, Happy People song by REM in my head! So here’s the link, if you need to listen to it, like I just had to. 😉
Next, I went into the arbour garden, named for obvious reasons – there’s an arbour there, with a Pierre de Ronsard rose growing on either side. It’s a fairly new garden which I worked on just before The Hill Project, and I have read that it takes three to four years for the roses to cover and arbour. I will add photos of the garden soon. 🙂
There are two other roses growing in the arbour garden as well, a Jude the Obscure and a Roald Dahl. The Roald Dahl in particular needed some attention, but I did cut a couple of the roses to bring inside.
Once in the arbour garden, I spent more time than I planned on doing – I couldn’t find a Gordonia tree I had planted nearly a year ago! It took some clearing of a Baby Sun Rose ground cover, which has really taken off, to find the tree. The ground cover had grown over it! The tree was bought as a tube stock plant, and was minute when I put it in the ground. The last time I checked on it, it was beginning to become established, growing healthy new leaves, so I knew it was in there somewhere. Needless to say, I removed the Baby Sun Rose, to give my Gordonia a chance to grow. I can plant more Baby Sun Rose, which is easy to strike from a cutting, when the tree is bigger.
Between pulling weeds, dead-heading spent blooms and choosing flowers, time got away on me. When it started to rain, I ran indoors feeling hot, sweaty and wet, and discovered I had spent three glorious hours in the garden. 🙂 After a shower, when I arranged the flowers, I found I had enough for three vases!
And here are the Hydrangeas ~~
Somehow, one of my Hydrangea bushes has ended up growing green flowers this year. I wonder why that is, when in previous years the flowers have been blue?
Four Hydrangea blooms filled the vase, leaving just enough room to add a few stems of beautiful lavender.
As you can see, the vase is almost lost beneath the showy Hydrangeas.
A couple of roses had short stems, so they went into a tiny, plain white jug, which was another find when we cleaned out my inlaw’s house before they went into aged care. I also added some miniature roses, three Chameleon and a Love Potion rose. The purple sprays behind are ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint, which grows in abundance around my garden and keeps the bees very happy.
With the flowers arranged, I chose three different places to display them – the Rose and Gerbera vase is in the main living area ~~
And the vase of Hydrangeas and Lavender is on the mantlepiece ~~
The final, tiny vase I decided to put in my office ~~
When my son-in-law replaced my computer recently, he suggested I move the tower and speakers, which previously lived on my desk, to a built-in shelf under the desk to free up some space. Now, I just have a set of red, metal drawers on the desk, which holds printer ink and paper – and is the perfect place for a small vase of flowers. So I thought it might be fun to add a photo of my office work area. 🙂
And from my desk, this is my view of the flowers, turned towards me ~
As always, thank you Cathy for inspiring my creativity with flowers! 🙂
Update: A Tuesday edit ~ here’s an additional photo for Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, who featured yellow/mustard coloured daffodils and narcissi in her vase this week. Cathy accompanied her vase with a tin of Coleman’s mustard, established 1814. I haven’t seen Coleman’s mustard here in Australia, but we do have Keen’s mustard. So for Cathy, here’s an additional photo, taken today ~
Next time I visit the supermarket, Cathy, I’ll see if we have Coleman’s here. 🙂
In My World 