Garden Mid January 2018

So far we only had few days of hot spells this summer. In the last few days, the much welcome rains had made the garden fresh and alive. Took few shots of flowers in the garden. Hibiscus and second batch of roses add more colours of the garden.

Roses do better in mild weather. This summer, with much less hot days, they are blooming for the second time. One photo of a couple of standard roses was from son’s place.

Garden Mid Spring 2017

Not much to say really, except the racket noise of chainsaw and mulching truck two houses up the road. They are cutting down some gum trees to built new townhouses. So sad… but like usual, money will come first at the expense of trees and green environment. Sooner or later our suburb will turn into over crowded apartments and units with cars parked along the street. Perhaps it is the time in near future to sell up, pack up and move to the country…..

Garden End of Winter 2017

Few days more it will be the beginning of Spring time here in Melbourne, but it was so cold  in the last few days. Today it is raining on and off, with a bit of cold wind and hails. I haven’t done much in the garden lately. In the winter, lawn hardly grows, but the grass has started to thicken unevenly and look a bit of untidy. Weeds are growing fat in the garden beds. Hopefully the weather will be dry and warmer very soon so that I can start to mow the lawn and do weeding.

Some more Cymbidium orchids have started to bloom, but I will only take notes on other plants in the garden. Yes, it is mostly the same old plants again year after year, but it is always fun to take some photos. Here some of plants that are blooming:

Loropetalum chinense: An attractive dense bush with purplish red leaves. The pink tassel like flowers are unusual and pretty. Acid loving plant that hates lime.

———————–***——————-

Magnolia: This deciduous small tree will bear large pink flowers on bare branches towards the end of winter. Very pretty and eye catching.

Garden Early Winter 2017

Cold start of winter. Today was mainly overcast with few sunny breaks. The gardens are still reasonably fresh and colourful thanks to the enough rainfalls. Now  I can hear the coo-cooing sound of the turtle doves while some other garden birds are chattering softly.

Along the footpath: The pear tree is bare but the rest of the plants look fresh. Crassulas  and  the Thryptomene bush are all blooming. Hibiscuses are still flowering though the blossoms are smaller now.

Autumn Colours

The sudden drop of temperature in May brings fog and frost. Slowly the deciduous leaves turn into yellow, orange and auburn red. Warmer weather in the previous months has made the autumn colours come very late. Our pear trees are still green.

Garden Late Autumn 2017

This last month of autumn here in Melbourne, the temperature has surely dropped quite significantly. Heavy rainfalls have made the air wet and clammy. Many plants in the garden are still blooming nicely like for example the Hibiscus, but I will only take notes about two plants.

Chrysanthemum:

In Australia, Chrysanthemums are regarded as mother’s day flower. They bloom around the end of Autumn. Before, we used to have many mauve Chrysanthemum plants, but I dug them up when we painted the house and then replanted them. Since then, they did not grow very well. Not long after, some delivery men with a large truck that was parked on the drive way, had to trample the garden bed where the struggling plants grow. That was the end of most of them. I replace them with the double yellow ones and now they flower quite well. The remaining mauve ones that manage to survive only grow few blooms this year. While the old white one is also not doing very well.

Summery Start of Autumn

This early start of Autumn is very warm with pleasant temperatures around 30 degrees C. Some plants enjoy the heat that they mostly lacked during summer time. The bird’s eye chilli is having second batch of blooms. Kaempferia galanga plant look healthy and green but still no flowers yet. While the lemon grass suddenly grows tall and bushy. The purple Tibouchina ‘Jules’ and the yellow and orange Kniphofia are flowering nicely. Meanwhile the other two new orchids are still in blooms, the easy to grow Miltonias are bearing flower buds. The hot temperatures are also good for the Dragon Fruit that is growing a fruit for the first time.

Garden – Last Month of Summer

I cannot believe that now is February and next month will be Autumn already. Summer this year has been quite mild here in Melbourne so that we hardly feel it. Hopefully the Autumn months won’t be too warm which is not very good for the orchids, as they need cooler nights to initiate blooming.

Garden Early Summer 2016

I really enjoyed much cooler weather during last Spring. Up until now in the early Summer, we are still having this pleasant temperature, but it is not so good for some tropical plants like for examples the Kencur Galangal (Kaempferia galanga) and the Arabian Jasmine (Melati). The Galangal plant has only sent off a tiny new shoot so far and the Arabian Jasmine looks scraggly and very few flower buds. Hopefully the temperatures will get warmer to their advantage.

So much to do in the garden, the weeds are growing like crazy. I still have many plants to trim to look tidy for the Christmas time. Lawn needs mowing, but I will do it some time next week, depending on the weather.

The Gardenias in the back of the house are having many large blooms and the sweet fragrance fills the air. Many plants are still in full bloom and these are some of them:

Garden Spring November 2016

Spring this year has been quite cold with plenty of strong winds and heavy rainfalls. Everything grow like crazy including the pesky weeds. Now it is cloudy with light cool breeze. Most of the Cymbidium orchids have finished blooming but none of them need repotting. Though plenty to write about, I will only take notes on few plants: Begonias, Brunfelsia australis and the early blooming Epiphyllums.