Clear blue sky wherever you look ...
Although we had a rather crisp, cool 7 deg C (44 deg F) start to the day ... which is a little unusual ... it has quickly warmed up to a lovely cool 20 deg C (68 deg F).
Focusing on the garden area in front of the house, there's a lot of red to be seen ... rather a lovely contrast to all that blue!!! ... and there's a touch of pink as well.
Snuggled in between all the Hibiscus shrubs is my faithful little Winter bloomer ... a dwarf Azalea.
Popping up in between the tall Hibiscus is Russelia equisetiformis, commonly known as the Firecracker Plant. It's thrown up long arching stems that sometimes appear in between the branches of the Hibiscus.
Snuggled way back in the rear of this garden bed, where it's hard to spot, is a lovely little pink Ixora ... Ixora 'Raywards Pink'.
Moving away from this front garden bed ... over to the stairway landing at the side of the house ... there's
some wonderful little Celosia plumosa showing their plumes.
To finish off with a splash of yellow now ... on the stairway landing there's also some lovely Gazanias showing their bright cheery faces.
I'm joining in the Flaunt Your Flowers/Fertiliser Friday meme and Skywatch Friday meme ... so please pop on on over to visit:
Great bush shots.
ReplyDeleteSydney - City and Suburbs
Beautiful blue skies. And what a huge hibiscus bush. Beautiful blooms.
ReplyDeleteJust gorgeous!! I love that old Hibiscus!! To have cooler temps here would be so nice..
ReplyDelete7 degrees in Townsville?
ReplyDeletesurely your cohabitants would be complaining of frostbite at that temperature?
Wow, such beautiful shots... again. You really do take lovely photos. I love your 15-20 year old hibiscus. It's gorgeous. 68 degree, hmmm? It's going to be 93 degrees here today with a horrible amount of humidity and overcast skies. I may be a little jealous, Bernie. That and you can have winter blooms. But I do love the snow. :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you do have a lovely weekend,
Susan
J Bar ... the bush is a great subject! I never tire of the photos I take of the bushland.
ReplyDeleteAaron ... thanks for your great comments. Gazanias are a terrific plant for hot, dry areas ... they just thrive in those conditions, so my garden is perfect most of the time!! They just don't like the 'wet'.
Thanks Crafty Gardener and Darla ... that Hibiscus always looks pretty good for an old girl!
Al ... lol, yes it doesn't drop below 10 deg C very often here in the Winter. Luckily the 7 deg was in the early hours of the morning and the didn't last too long!
Susan ... thank you for your lovely kind comments. We are very lucky with our Winter temps here ... not so lucky in the Summer though. We regularly get temps like 93F then ... and the ghastly humidity as well. No place is perfect I guess.
Bernie, all of your flowers look beautiful. I can't believe the size of that Hibiscus!
ReplyDeleteEileen
Bernie, I'm in love with your hibiscus! I have one similar that is also my largest and hardiest. It's survived 4 hurricanes and was the first plant I purchased (and planted) when I relocated to Florida.
ReplyDeleteYour Gazania and firecracker plant are awesome, too! Pretty blooms today!
I think I'll add my post to the Friday Flowers meme too!
Beautiful shots of your garden and all the brilliant tropicals. I love your huge red hibiscus!
ReplyDeleteThat is a clear sky. I bet your place is great for star watching during your Winter season being away from the city lights.
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie, I so love that second photo of the colorful leaves against the blue sky. I love to sew and would love to find fabric like this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to fertilize! I still have tomatoes producing and I think they could use a boost right now.
Carla
Hi Bernie. What beautiful blooms for the end of winter.It is wonderful that you have something in bloom all of the time. Your hibiscus are just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe azalea blooms are marked so pretty. No wonder it is a favorite of yours.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Those are beautiful images of the flowers in your garden especially those Gazanias.
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie, happy Saturday morning. What a lovely backyard, temperature and calm music in your blog, inspiring. I love your white gums as very well displayed in the header of your other site. thanks.
ReplyDeleteEileen ... this is definitely the time of year here for lots of flowers ... I love this time of year!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kimberly ... the old and original red Hibiscus is just such a great survivor here and looks great all year round ... can't really ask for more from the old girl, lol!!! I can imagine it would be great choice for Florida as well. Thanks for your kind comments once again!
Floridagirl ... always appreciate your comments, so thank you.
Sanddune ... yes you're so right, the night sky here on any clear night throughout the year is an amazing sight! I wish I had a camera that could take photos of it ... we spend a lot of time sitting out just looking at the stars!
ReplyDeleteCarla ... I often take photos like that one - the red leaves against the blue sky - but don't post them, thinking no one else would see much in them. So thanks for your comment about it.
Lona ... the Azalea always amazes me at just how it survives here, so it's a definite favourite for me! I am lucky that there's always something in bloom at any time of year ... but the Autumn/Winter is the best time.
Solitude Rising ... nice to see you dropping by! The Gazanias are gorgeous ... and there's so many lovely new colours. I do tend to stick to the bright sunny yellows and the lovely creams though.
Andrea ... it is indeed a beautiful Saturday morning here ... I'm about to head out into the garden! So glad you enjoyed your visit ... and yes, I have to agree with you ... those Gums are stunning. I'm so lucky to be able to see them every day.
Hi Bernie, Your hibiscus are a wonderful shade of red. Love that shade and against the blue sky, what a combination.
ReplyDeleteBernie: I love your big hibiscus bush, make such a beautiful statement! I love love your roseflake and snowflake hibiscus, the foliage itself add lots of texture into the garden.
ReplyDeleteLovely flowers in your landscaping designs. So pretty. And I must say, I'm drooling a bit over your delightful temperatures. We're in the high 90s and rather humid, though we did enjoy a lovely summer rain earlier today. :)
ReplyDeleteYour end of season blooms and winter sky are gorgeous. I love that little dwarf pink azalea, so sweet, competing with the big hibiscus and firecracker reds and deep pinks all around.
ReplyDeletelovely shot of your house which seems to nestle in with its surroundings so well...
ReplyDeleteBernie I've eventually got over here - firstly thankyou ever so much for your support on my photoblog and I hope you enjoy the desktops - I never even thought of doing that myself.
ReplyDeleteYour cool temps are still beating our summer ones here but I would have loved some clear skies this week - we never managed to see any stars never mind the meteror showers as its been so cloudy at night aswell as by day.
I never thought a little azalea would be flowering at this time of year but I suppose its quite at home underneath that beautiful hibiscus - I'm sure it must look fantastic in reality set against that beautiful clear blue sky.
I like that lovely pinkish foliage behind the Ixora aswell.
Such a treat to visit your garden Bernie and see your lovely exotic flowers some like the hibiscus I have grown only as a small pathetic pot plant.
ReplyDeleteI have not been doing much garden blogging of late rather busy with my Looking at Lyme blog. I see Australia has had it's fair share of publicity recently over denying the existence of lyme Disease welcome to the mad bad world of Lyme.
Love your pink Ixora! I've never seen that blossom before. So beautiful. And thanks for your sweet comment on my HI HO! post.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I love about the Internet and blogging. I can enjoy flowers, and blooming shrubs a world away. Most of the plants that you have photographed are entirely new to me. Thanks for the wonderful and colorful post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photographs of your gorgeous flowers in bloom! In addition, the trees that have silver-white trunks and branches are really stunning against the blue sky, your home, and the rest of the plants.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to combine the two memes.