Friday, June 1, 2012

Friday Flower Flaunt ... On This First Day Of Winter.

Yes today was officially our first Winter's day.  The top temp today was around 23 deg C (73 F), which was absolutely lovely.  That's more like our usual beginning of Winter daytime temperatures, compared to the rather chilly days we had last week.  Just like the end of last week, we had rain yesterday and drizzle pretty much all day today.  That's a little out of the ordinary for this time of year, but most welcome. 

Around my place there are a few lovely blooms that I can share on this first day of June.  Starting with the courtyard garden ....

 There are pretty Azalea, Plectranthus and Schlumbergara blooms.

 The 'Hot Pink' Petunias are adding more brilliant colour.

 My Euphorbia leucocephala or Snowflake Bush is flashing its stark white bracts and flowers.

 There are flower spikes on the Coleus.

 The huge double white frilly Petunias look brilliant.

 It's fantastic to see a few flowers on my Jasmine and to get a whiff of their gorgeous perfume in the air.

It's great to see Pansies in a pot again.


There are splashes of colour out in the shadehouse garden as well. 

The Impatiens walleriana are just starting to look their best for the year.

The Streptocarpus caulescens are showing their gorgeous little flowers once again.


The Dragon Wing Begonias are coming back and starting to put on a good display after being drastically cut back.

Elsewhere in the garden ....

... the first colourful bracts and tiny flowers are appearing on my dwarf pink Euphorbia pulcherrima or Poinsettia.


There are blooms on both the Justicia brandegeana, the red Shrimp Plant ...

...  and the Pachystachys lutea, or Yellow Shrimp Plant.


I'm joining Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers,


Nix for Floral Friday Fotos,


Tina for Weekend Flowers



and Ewa for Flowers On Saturday


41 comments:

  1. Good morning, its wonderful to see your beautiful garden and all the lovely flowers. When I was moving (saving) some plants the other day I moved my Jasmine I thought of you and your lovely Jasmine and here it is in flower bet it smells wonderful. We are commencing operation change the fence this weekend we started yesterday It’s going to be a big job!
    Have a good weekend Oh by the way it's raining!!

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    1. You know how worried I was about my Jasmine, Sue, and it's just absolutely brilliant to see it throwing out some blooms again. Wishing you the best of luck with your fence project. The big jobs are the most rewarding though when they finally done!! At least that's what I keep telling myself when it comes to the ongoing car shed extension project here.

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    1. Thank you Modern Mum. Those Tulips are fantastic.

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  3. Beautiful blooms as always. I just love your courtyard garden and your shadehouse.

    It is lightly raining here this morning. It's been very warm and very humid. The humidity is what gets to us and drains us of energy every summer.

    Enjoy your winter.

    FlowerLady

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    1. Yes Flowerlady, I understand completely about the humidity draining every last ounce of energy and sapping your spirits during a long hot summer. I can only wish that yours doesn't last too long! Both the courtyard and the shadehouse are looking lovely these days. I'm glad you enjoy a little view of them as much as I do.

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  4. Did you seriously write a few blooms? This is so pretty, you always have some type of blooms to share. That double petunia is gorgeous. I try to keep the flower stalks pinched out of my coleus so they will grow bushier...Happy Winter as we are coming into our summer.

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    1. Ha, yes ... just a few blooms, Darla. The double white Petunia is coming along so well and I'm looking forward to seeing it just covered in those fabulous flowers. I love seeing the Coleus flower spikes so I don't pinch out the plant until the blooms are spent. Our Winter looks like being fantastic again this year.

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  5. Gorgeous blooms for winter. I see a few that are in my garden. I love the double white petunia.

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    1. Thanks Diane. We're so lucky to be able to have year-round blooms aren't we? The double white Petunia is even lovelier close up.

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  6. I never, ever tire of your garden.

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    1. Thank you Mary for your lovely comment. I'm glad you enjoy your visits.

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  7. Some gorgeous reds and pinks and purples there, Bernie. Just the thing to brighten up winter. (And it is definitely winter here!)

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    1. Snail, we've had a couple of quite chilly days over the last two weeks, but that's all. Right now it's a very dreary drizzly day though. It's nice to see everything still quite green at this time of year.

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    1. Always a treat to join in your meme, thanks Tina.

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  9. Your garden is just absolutely wonderful! Your coleus pictured is particularly striking--the hummingbirds love to eat at the flowers of the coleus in my garden. Also, I've never seen the double white frilly petunias before--gorgeous! I will have to look for seeds for those.

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    1. G'day Athene, it's great to hear you enjoyed popping in today. Coleus is one of my all-time favourite plants. It's the butterflies and bees that love the flowers here. I don't think I've ever seen a bird sipping on the nectar of any Coleus flower. Those frilly white Petunias are just great aren't they?

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  10. This is how your beautiful flower pictures look like on the first day of winter? We could have a pile of snow in the garden:)
    Great pictures!!
    Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together.

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    1. Yes Guild-rez, we get to see lovely blooms pretty much all year round here. We never get to see snow though, or frost! So our winters possibly don't quite meet the criteria needed in other parts of the world to be identified as a real winter!

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  11. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Love your courtyard garden. And the snowflake plant sure is an eye catcher...hey, I'm partial to anything snowflakey ;)
    *hugs*deb

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    1. Thanks Deb. The Snowflake Bush in bloom is always a sign that it's wintertime here. They are on display all over my city right now.

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  12. I'm impressed!
    I'm very impressed!
    I'm very very impressed!
    I'm very very very impressed!

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    1. I'm impressed with your kind comment, thanks Julie.

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  13. I love your entire garden - and especially the shrimp plants! I have never seen the red kind before! Nice shots!

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    1. I really appreciate your lovely comment Libby. The red Shrimp Plant is definitely my favourite. The yellow ones are a very common sight here in the tropics, but the reds are a little harder to find.

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  14. You have such beautiful blooms for winter. So much color and so many of them. What a nice way to enjoy winter. The only blooms I may have in winter are some early hellebores.

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    1. Thanks Sage, our winters here are just fantastic and we get to see lots of lovely flowers.

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  15. bernie,Ive never seen red shrimps...and I love the frilly petunias too..I wonder if we have them here

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    1. Sharon, I hope you find those frilly double white Petunias. They've been quite easy to find in the nurseries here for a couple of years now. I do really prefer the frilly doubles! The red Shrimp Plant is not all that common, but it's definitely becoming easier to find these days.

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  16. Beautiful flowers, Bernie! It sounds like you're having much warmer weather than we are. It rained all day Friday & today... it's cold!!

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  17. You have a beautiful garden. Love your flowers.

    My entry.

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  18. Oh my. I wish my garden looked like your in the winter. LOL! How pretty. I love the frilly white petunia's Bernie. Have a lovely weekend.

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  19. When i look at your lovely hanging baskets it also reminds me of Tootsie's hanging plants. That white petunia is so beautiful, but i will not covet that as petunias suffer stress during our dry season.

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  20. Bernie, your winter garden is glorious... and what is REALLY amazing is that despite the fact that you are on the opposite side of the planet in a totally different hemisphere, you grow several of the same flowers that we do -- coleus, pansies, petunias, the flowering cactus, shrimp plant, so many others. Your first photograph should be on a greeting card!!!

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  21. Your courtyard and greenhouse are so pretty! June 1 was our first official day of rainy season (aka hurricane season) here in the Florida peninsula. I'm so glad our winter is long past right now. ; ) At least your winter looks to be very colorful.

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  22. So many beautiful and lovely flowers..


    Visiting for Flower on Saturday- hope you can stop by:)


    http://www.mommys4seasonsjourney.com/2012/06/full-bloom-rose.html

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  23. I like your blog the flowers are really amazing
    your greenhouse is very beautiful .

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  24. Lovely shots, Bernie. "Winter" is relative... :-)

    I am a little late in visiting from last week due to work commitments, but I thank you heartily for your continuing support of Floral Friday Fotos!

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  25. Awesome blossoms, really like it. Amazing colors from this blossoms. Fantastic !Have a really nice weekend.

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