Tag: gerberas

Australia · garden flowers · gardening · in my garden · roses · subtropical weather · summer

In A Vase on Monday

Joanne9 Comments

… and A Week of Flowers ~~ Day 4

The vase I chose to use this week is one I bought several years ago on a whim, and have rarely, if ever, used. That will change from now on, as I hadn’t realised – because of not using it – that this vase is perfectly sized and shaped for displaying narrow-stemmed flowers, such as gerberas and Susanna Mitchell daisies.

Amid the colourful gerberas and pale yellow daisies, I have also added two Olivia Rose Austin and two red roses …

I bought the red rose bush several years ago and planted it among other rose bushes. None of the plants grew well in the position I chose; some didn’t even survive! So a couple of winters ago, I transplanted the surviving rose bushes. The red roses are from one of them. Clearly, the plant is much happier growing in its new garden bed.

This beautiful, delicately scented, pale pink rose is Olivia Rose Austin, a David Austin rose named for his granddaughter. After seeing the gorgeous flowers on the first Olivia I bought a few years ago and enjoying them so much, this winter I bought a second plant.

I received my first gerbera plants as a gift about twenty-five years ago, and they are still growing well. In my subtropical climate, I have learned that if a plant thrives, even when neglected, it’s a keeper. This palest pink gerbera flower is a recent addition to my garden. I love the fine, two-toned petals, pink at the ends with white closer to the centre of the flower.

This orange gerbera, while not as finely featured as its neighbours in the garden, is an extremely striking plant. Visitors often comment on how lovely it looks.

The red gerberas are from my original plants. If you look closely you will see a small hitch-hiker, in the top, right-hand corner of the photo, who ended up indoors with the flowers. Escaping from the heat of the garden, obviously. 😉

Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ daisies are a new addition to my garden this year. They seem to love everything about the soil, heat, drought and rain my subtropical climate throws their way, and are thriving! Susanna is a spring bloomer and her flowers are coming to an end; there are still plenty of blooms left, however, to enjoy indoors.

Like last week’s vase, this week I have positioned my vase on the mantlepiece in the family room. By next week, I will have started to decorate the room for Christmas, so space will be limited in this room and every other room in the house! I will always find somewhere for another vase of flowers though. ❤

Thank you to two Cathys – Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting In A Vase on Monday each week. And also to Cathy at Words and Herbs for suggesting A Week of Flowers to brighten everyone’s days for the week.

Australia · birds · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

Plenty of Ibis – but no mountain

Joanne11 Comments

One day during the week, when I spotted an Ibis in the front garden, I soon discovered it was not alone. There were ten! I kid you not, I counted ten of these massive birds pecking through the overgrown grass, which, when it is dry enough to mow, we like to call our lawn.

Today I saw just four Ibis peck, peck, pecking away. Most people call these birds ‘Bin-Chickens’ – they are scavengers who will eat just about anything edible.

So as I wouldn’t frighten them away, I took my camera, ever so quietly, out the back door, snuck around to the side of the house, and zoomed in on them. It didn’t take long for their keen hearing to pick up on the fact that they were being watched, so they headed up the driveway to the road, undoubtedly searching for longer, greener pastures.

While taking photos of the Ibis, it occurred to me that I rarely take photos of a whole section of my garden. I usually – hmm, perhaps always – zoom in on the beauty of each individual flowering plant. For a change, today I took a photo of the garden beside my driveway. In this photo, I see New South Wales Christmas Bush, Gerberas, white Gaura, (lots of Gaura!) Duranta, Hydrangea, white and purple Buddleia, Port Wine Magnolia, lilac Daisies, and Roses. I do have the (unfair) advantage of knowing my garden though! And it goes against the grain not to show a close up of individual plants, so I won’t show full garden photos often – I promise. 😉

We had hot, dry weather today, and cloud so low that Mount Warning didn’t have a hope of making an appearance. The crazy-cloud patterns continued, hiding the setting sun as well. The weather has been so changable lately.

I wonder what tomorrow’s weather will bring …

Australia · clouds · flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · photography · seasons · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley · winter

Flowering During Winter

Joanne3 Comments

Somewhere beneath that mass of greyish-white clouds sits the sleeping giant, Mount Warning. I haven’t seen her today at all, but every wondrous landmark needs a break from the limelight once in a while, right? So with the lack of a stunning mountain photo, I’d like to share a few photos I took in my garden yesterday, when the sun shone brightly in the sky and the clouds didn’t get a look in.

This red rose is significant – it’s the first rose to bloom in my garden since last summer. What makes it even more special is that I transplanted three roses about a month ago from where they sat dormant in the garden. I had planted them several years ago under a large deciduous tree, thinking roses would grow well there, but they didn’t. I think they may have had too much competition with the roots of the tree. Also, they were quite a long way from the house, so not as easily accessible for me to tend each day, therefore they were neglected. But look at this beauty now! A blooming rose already, plus there are two more buds preparing to break out. I’m very happy with the success I seem to be having with my roses, and it’s still winter here in Australia.

My mother-in-law poked a couple of cuttings of her white geranium in my garden about five years ago, and they have thrived. Here they are already in bloom too …

… and this dainty gerbera, another plant my mother-in-law gave me years ago is flowering beautifully as well. In my area, gerberas are a flower that seem to be in bloom for most of the year.

I planted a border of alyssum along the full length of one of my garden beds several years ago and most of the plants disappear during the heat of the summer months. Some of the plants resurrected a couple of months ago though after a deluge of rain, and here are the results of my self-sown alyssum.

If only I could tell you the name of this next plant! I remember that it’s an Australian native, and I know it’s been in my garden for a number of years and when the flowers appear they stay in bloom for some time, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. I have an app on my phone to identify plants, so hopefully the rain will have passed by tomorrow and I can give the app a go. I’ll add the name here later if I have any success.

This is another gerbera, and as you can see it’s quite different to the dainty pink gerbera in the photo above. Both of my in-laws have gone into aged care within the past year, and with my husband being an only child we have had the massive task of sorting through their material lives, disposing of things that are no longer needed through either sale, donation or tip runs. My mother-in-law was quite the hoarder and her hoarding habits were not limited to the house either. We have given away massive amounts of pot plants, and what we thought we could use ourselves we brought home. I planted this gerbera not knowing what colour it would be, and although orange is not a colour I usually choose for my garden, it’s an unusual flower and I will always think of it as Irene’s gerbera.

This grevillea is on a small native Australian tree. The flowers disappear during winter, but now I have some young buds reappearing it won’t be long before I have an array of honeyeaters flitting around the branches outside my window.

Last summer I found a small solar powered fountain to put in my bird bath. A few petals blew off my tibbouchina tree the other day when it was windy and landed in the bird bath, so cleaning it out will be a job for tomorrow, weather permitting.

My last photo is the full moon, setting in the western sky the other morning. I have seen photos taken by some lucky photographers who have captured the full moon setting right behind Mount Warning. I’ll have to keep an eye open for the next time that occurs as it would be a beautiful sight to see, and to photograph. 🙂