Monday, September 27, 2010

Mosaic Monday .... Spring Colour and a Spring Clean!

It's the middle of Springtime Downunder ... and here in my the north-east Oz garden there's lots of great colour right now.  Almost every day there's another fantastic Oriental Lily bursting into bloom ... this is the first time I've grown them and I just adore their stunning colours and their perfume!


The Courtyard Garden is the place I'm spending all my free time over the semester break ... the colour out there is fantastic.  The heady perfume of those Oriental Lilies wafts around on the breeze.  There are butterflies fluttering around everywhere.  It's the perfect spot to sit back ... and relax!

Springtime is a time when my husband and I do a lot of cleaning-up around our property ... picking up loads of discarded palm tree fronds, trimming back a lot of foliage and pulling out weeds in the outdoor garden beds.  Some of this garden rubbish is used for mulching and some is thrown on the firepit.  Over the last few weekends we've been doing a whole lot of cleaning up and the pile on the firepit was enormous!  It was time for a bonfire ... our grandchildren who have been visiting during the school holidays sat mesmerised by the sight!  There's just something about huge flames leaping into the sky!!!!!

For more wonderful Mosaic Monday posts, make sure you visit Mary at Little Red House

28 comments:

  1. Dear Bernie - you've created some very artistic mosaics here - so nice to see Spring again! We are not allowed bonfires in the UK but used to love the smell of autumn leaves burning.

    Laura

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  2. Bernie ~ I love your Oriental Lilies I may just have to grow some next spring. The courtyard garden is lookin Fabulous. Hope the grandchildren have a great time with Nanna and Granddad.
    Sue

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  3. Oh how lovely your lilies!!! Your garden is wonderful too! Cathy

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  4. I sure love your patio garden. Everything looks so lush and gorgeous.

    Staring into a fire is always mesmerizing, and I love that picture of the gkids sitting on the stairs looking toward the fire.

    Enjoy and have a great week ~ FlowerLady

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  5. Still playing catch up in Sydney. It's only just spring here. The courtyard garden is fantastic.

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  6. Hi Bernie,
    Love your Mosaic Mondays. Here in Tn. things are starting to look more like Fall. Husband Les and I are getting ready to build a composting leaf fence out back. Neighbors are "donating" all their leaves, happy to get rid of them and not have to rake anymore! Stop by and visit sometime.

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  7. Laura ... thanks, yes I've been playing around with another photo editing tool ... can you tell??
    Fires are not allowed in the inner city area ... but we're lucky enough to be on the outskirts. Of course, we're only allowed to burn off during certain parts of the year.

    Sue ... first time growing these wonderful lilies and I'd recommend them! So showy and so tall ... they provide another level to the potted garden. Grandkids gone now, unfortunately. Exhausting work keeping three of them entertained ... but so much fun!

    Cathy ... they really are so lovely. It's a shame there's no smellivision!!

    Flowerlady ... I could sit and stare at a fire for hours on end. Actually we do that quite a bit here ... it's a bit like going camping and sitting beside the campfire.

    Paul ... thanks for your comment. Let's hope Summer doesn't come too quickly and you get some quality Springtime down there!

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  8. Beautiful colors! Pretty garden!

    Looks like a great bonfire evening!

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  9. How much fun it must have been for your grandchildren to have a bonfire! Your courtyard garden looks like a tropical paradise.

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  10. I would love to sit in your courtyard with you and enjoy the colourvision.

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  11. Bernie, everything looks so lush. I love those lilies and I wish we were not looking forward to winter here!

    Eileen

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  12. Bernie, I will coming everyday to visit your flower. Beauitul. Take care:)

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  13. stunning colour Bernie - so glad its spring for you. We had our first heavy frost over the weekend - at least that means that work is winding down now outside for quite a while!

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  14. Lovely photos and collages! Fabulous. Saw your daylilies at GardenBuddies! I do visit there sometimes too. Have a nice week.

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  15. Wonderful collages. Most special is the last with Dad and Children sitting on the steps.

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  16. As we watch the last of our blooms we get to watch yours and wait for another spring here. I am with the kids I love to sit around a fire at night. Bring out the marshmallows please.

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  17. Marty, your garden is just lovely and I love the lilies. Looks like a time for roasting marshmellows over the fire.

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  18. Your spring is so lovely and colorful Bernie, and your lilies are just gorgeous!

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  19. Bernie...After looking at all the pictures of your courtyard and plants on the other blog, I now feel like I am up close and personal to each of your new photographs. i’m so glad your shared them with me. I took a big plunge today and joined a Flickr group....think I have lost my old mind?!?!!?!?! You have to shoot macro and you have to shoot to a prompt...this week it was Being Busy. Can you imagine? My feelings are....you are never to old to try new things and learn new things.

    Genie

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  20. Wanda ... a composting leaf fence sounds interesting. I'll definitely come to visit ... thanks for dropping by.

    Dishesdone ... there's nothing quite like sitting out on a cool Spring evening watching a bonfire.

    Ginny ... yes the grandchildren had never seen a bonfire that big before!

    Diane ... you're most welcome anytime you're up in the north! Lol ... lots of colourvision right now.

    Eileen ... I'll try to keep posting lots of colour for you during your Winter months.

    Garden of Threads ... thank you ... that's a very kind comment.

    Rosie ... time to make plans for next year's display?

    Ingmarie ... I'll have to find you on Gardenbuddies now! I'm waiting patiently for more of the Daylilies to bloom now. Waiting ... waiting!!!

    Anja, thanks very much ... that's a great word!

    Patsi ... that last photo is my hubbie and my grandchildren sitting on the steps ... so that's Grandad! He had great fun setting the pile alight.

    Gardening in a Sandbox ... lol, the grandchildren didn't want to toast marshmallows ... they just wanted ice-cream!!!

    Eileen ... we did think about toasting marshmallows when the fire died down quite a bit, but the grandchildren were not at all interested ... none of them really like toasted marshmallow.

    Thanks Curbstone ... it's a great time of year with all the colour around ... not so great about the temperatures rising though!

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  21. Bernie...Here is the link to my 1st post on the Flickr group....all I can say about it is...”it’s a beginning.” In the first sentence or so I have the links to the Flickr site. I had to really study it a bit before I could figure out how to post with the photo as well as shooting according to the requirements. Next week I will be sure to use my Mr. Rebel... I think I will do better with it. Glad you liked the leaf....I did “tweak” it a tiny bit in Photoshop (I am BARELY literate in Photoshop so can’t do much....I just wanted to bring out the purple).

    XOXOXOXOXO Genie



    http://climbingthedigitalmountain.blogspot.com/2010/09/lego-life.html

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  22. Oh yes they are perfume! I enjoy their scent in the florist. I love the vivid colours of your lilies.

    The bonfire lends a warm and nice atmosphere for openness but yet cosy for people surrounding it. I am sure you all have had a good time together.

    Love your beautiful garden Bernie!

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  23. ah... lilies are but a memory for us. It is mostly mums here this time of year. Lovely bond-fire with the sweet grandchildren.

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  24. Lovely mosaic. I like the picture of the fire. I bet your grandchildren had a great time watching the garden rubbish burn.

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  25. Lovely lilies! And your garden is lovely.

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  26. Beautiful mosaic! Love the oriental lilies, and the scent too! Your courtyard garden looks so colorful! Yes, this is a perfect spot to sit back and relax! I can imagine how much fun for your grandkids to watch that bonfire!

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  27. Genie ... thanks for the link. I will definitely take a look. As for the 'tweak', it certainly looked terrific!

    Stephanie ... there's nothing quite the perfume of these Lilies! I'm so glad I decided to have a go at growing them this year.

    Aaron ... thanks again!

    LDH, Jennifer, EG and Ami ... I appreciate all your great comments and I'm pleased you loved the Lilies as much as I do. The bonfire was a huge hit with my grandchildren ... it's not something they get to experience in the suburbs of the city they live in.

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