Friday, May 18, 2012

Friday Flower Flaunt ... As Our Last Autumn Weekend Begins.

There's just the usual little splashes of colour here and there in the garden at the moment.  The place is really starting to dry out now as we've had around two months without rain ... apart from that solitary day of light showers last month. 


The clumps of Neomaricas or Yellow Walking Iris out in the shadehouse garden and under the pergola, have started another flowering cycle.  But the blooms are rather hard to notice in amongst the tall green leaves.


Under the pergola my pass-along hot pink Salvia ... unknown ... is throwing out quite a few flower spikes.   Right now the stems are a little thin and wiry, so the tight flowerheads tend to weight them down, almost to the ground.


I do like the contrast between the Salvia and the Ipomea though.


I also rather like the Salvia madrensis and Scutellaria suffrutescens combination that's happening in the tiered garden beds as well.


The colours work well together.


I'm waiting for the Ixora chinensis 'Splash' to finally show its first bloom.  It's certainly taking its time.  Not only is this dwarf Ixora rather slow growing, but it's taken two years for the first sign of a bloom appeared.  I've been waiting for over a week now for the bloom to actually open.


Out in the courtyard the dwarf Azaleas are beginning their bloom show.  They pair nicely with the Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' out there.  


One of my Schlumbergeras or Zygocactus has been blooming for a little while now, and is on show out in the courtyard.


There are Portulacas,


... and Petunias sitting in pots out on the courtyard, adding some lovely colour to the space.


Out in the shadehouse the  Barlerias are blooming again ...


... and the Impatiens walleriana are flowering once more after their rather drastic trim back a while ago, after the end of the wet season.

One of my favourite group of plants that are showing their lovely faces in various little corners of the garden at the moment are the Salvias.  I do have a few different varieties growing in pots out on the courtyard, underneath the pergola or out in the tiered garden beds.  They've only been part of this garden for a little while now.  Some were planted back in 2010, some last year and some just recently, but they're all doing well in their little spots. 


I love the different types of foliage, the variety of colours and forms.  They are wonderful additions to my garden.

I'm joining Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers


and Nix's Floral Friday Fotos


as well as Tina's Weekend Flowers


21 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Modern Mom. I took a look at your Flowers of Korea, and they were spectacular.

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  2. Wow you have beautiful flowers. My Christmas cactus is blooming wild since Easter Sunday but none last Christmas lol! Thanks for sharing the photos.

    Pink Tulips

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kim. Our Schlumbergeras bloom in our late Autumn and our Winter here, which is not Christmas time for us. We don't really refer to them as either Christmas Cactus, Easter Cactus or Thanksgiving Cactus, as they just don't bloom at those times in our part of the world. They are beautiful though no matter when they bloom.

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  3. Lovely flowers and images. My favorites are the irises in the first shot. Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks so much Eileen. The Irises are great aren't they?

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  4. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures!!
    Your garden must be a paradise for insects and birds.
    Gisela

    "When bright flowers bloom
    Parchment crumbles, my words fade
    The pen has dropped ..."
    - Morpheus

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  5. Dear Bernie ~ What a delight to visit your lovely gardens via the web this morning. You have so many different wonderful blooms. I look foward to seeing the open blooms of your ixora. I love the variegated foliage it has. I also have the yellow walking iris and enjoy it.

    Happy Gardening and have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

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  6. If this is fading, I'd love to see full bloom! So many gorgeous colors and combinations. I especially like the Salvia and the Ipomea together.

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  7. It's all looking lovely your garden is always a colourful treat. I have grown Portulaca from seed this year for the first time it’s doing rather well.

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  8. thanks for all your beautiful weekend flowers! :)

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  9. What a beautiful Christmas Cactus! I love all your salvias. They're favorites of mine as well.

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  10. Bernie, all of your blooms look wonderful. I am trying to get into some of the annual salvias, even trying some from seed. They look pretty pathetic right now, need to plant them in the garden. I am growing a ginger bamboo in my front containers, elephant ear in the back ones, can't believe how many tropicals are now available in the nursery - expensive!

    Eileen

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  11. Wow, you have a lot of flowers for a last gasp before winter!
    Our irises are just starting to bloom - my favourites.

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  12. your Christmas cactus looks very healthy!

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  13. Always a pleasure to visit your little corner of paradise, Bernie. Even though it;s autumn, the selection of flowers you have showcased are spectacular and colourful.

    Thank you for your continuing support of Floral Friday Fotos!

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  14. Gorgeous flaunts Bernie. I love your Mona Lavender. Your cactus is loaded with blooms. Hard to believe you are going into winter with all of these pretty blooms. I need to move to a warmer climate. LOL!

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  15. What a wonderful variety of flowers, Bernie!

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  16. Hi Bernie, I like the way you give part of the "proper" (Linnaean) name for each plant - it helps fix it in my mind - along with the photos. Common names can be so darn confusing and can mean completely different plants to different people. An example is "wandering jew" applying to a native plant Commelina diffusa or the introduced weed Tradescantia fluminensis. Keep up the subtle education! As an aside - Barleria prionitis is listed in Qld as an emerging invasive weed. It has a yellow flower whereas your ones are not that colour so they must be ok varieties.

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