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. 🙂
Wordless Wednesday ~ Ixora White Malay
In A Vase on Monday ~ 2024!
Happy New Year!
It may sound odd to people living in the northern climes of the world when I say that as we enter the middle month of summer here in Australia, there are slim pickings in my garden. The heat causes flowers to wilt faster than usual. And on Christmas night we had a mini cyclone through the area. We lost power for five hours, but we were lucky: some poor people lost power for several days.
My roses, hardly species that they are, seem to cope well with Mother Nature’s tantrums. So again, I have chosen roses for my Monday vase, this time deep pink Gertrude Jekyll, which I have paired with pale lemon-coloured Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ daisies.
The Susanna Mitchell daisies are a spring flowering plant. I thought I had seen the last of the blooms for this season when they began to wilt and die, only to discover that after a spot of rain, they had a second flush of flowers. I am very impressed by these plants, they have been in flower since September and if the plant invades its neighbour and needs cutting back, it doesn’t look as if it has been trimmed. I even stuck a couple of wayward runners into a bare patch of soil and they are growing very nicely, without any special treatment.
Gertrude Jekyll is a David Austin rose. Its namesake, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was an influential garden designer and author in England, who, according to the David Austin website, advocated for “incorporating roses in mixed borders” ~~ a woman after my own heart! Most of my rose bushes are planted in a long garden running the length of my side front fence, sharing the garden bed with various other plants such as camellias, buddleia, petunias, impatiens, gerberas, and even a couple of Australian native plants.
There are insects galore making homes in my garden during summer, and inevitably I find a hitchhiker or two when I bring the flowers indoors. This week’s interloper can be seen on the lower Susanna Mitchell daisy.
My slightly scorched vase this week is my contribution to Cathy’s In A Vase on Monday challenge at Rambling in the Garden. Thank you, Cathy, for encouraging me to go outdoors and find the beauty in my garden during the hottest part of the year. 🙂
Silent Sunday
In My World 