My favourite Caladium, which popped up from it's Winter sleep not long ago, is already showing the spathes which cover the flowers inside. It won't be long before they open to show the unusual spadix which contains both the male and female flowers. You can see the two spathes to the left of the Caladium leaf.
I really love this Rosebud Pelargonium ...
... and this Oriental Lily which has just opened up. The heavenly perfume is filling the Courtyard Garden!
The Hibiscus schizopetalus ... the Japanese Hibiscus ... is showing more and more blooms.
I'm loving all the colour out in my Courtyard Garden right now ... it's just glorious sitting out there during the day with a magazine and a cuppa. I'm lucky enough to be on Semester holidays right now and there's such beautiful colour all around ... wonderful perfume from the Oriental lilies ... and so many butterflies flitting and bees buzzing around! It is definitely Springtime.
Elsewhere on the property, the Bougainvillea is throwing out more and more clusters of flowers ...
... the African Oil Palms (Elaeis guineensis) have lots and lots of male inflorescences.
Now for some of my favourites that are blooming in and around the Courtyard Garden.
Wrightia antidysenterica 'Arctic Snow' ... I know I've shown this one before, but I just adore the brilliant white of these flowers.
Gazania ...
The weather has continued to be unpredictable. So many days begin with bright, sunny, clear, blue skies ...
... that quickly deteriorate into dreary, overcast, grey-cloud filled ones.
The weather forecast for the week ahead tells us we're getting more of this pattern ... where is all this rain coming from in the middle of our supposed 'dry' season?
| Summary | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Possible shower | Possible shower |  Mostly sunny |  Clearing shower |  Thunderstorms |  Showers | Possible shower | |
| Maximum | 30°C | 29°C | 29°C | 30°C | 29°C | 29°C | 30°C |
| Minimum | 23°C | 23°C | 23°C | 23°C | 23°C | 23°C | 22°C |
The last time our city received around this amount of rain during September was way back in the late 1970's!!!! Of course, I'm not speaking about huge rainfall totals ... we've only received around 70mm this month ... but the long term average for September is less than 10! 'Long term' meaning since they started keeping records ... which was about 1940 I think. Usually we receive 0 ... that's been the September total for most of the thirty-something years I lived here.
Well ... enough of the weather chat ... I'll end off today with some photos of the blooms that are just now appearing on my Petrea volubilis. We commonly call it Purple Wreath or Sandpaper Vine. It's our tropical version of Wisteria.
Now make sure you visit the Flaunt Your Flowers/Fertiliser Friday meme and Skywatch Friday meme.
Ohmygosh that is a fantastic photo of your daylily. The garden looks wonderful, a beautiful sight for those that are heading into winter.
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie, I love your little weather chart, and found out we are one degree hotter than you every day! Does that make you feel cooler? the good news is that we are not due for ANY rain over the weekend! Wow! I love that oriental lilly - must really find out if I can grow them here. as usual lots of lovely photos - enjoy your time off!
ReplyDeleteBernie...Here you go blowing my mind again....how do you do it????? I loved the picture of the courtyard area. Please share more of those with us so I can get a feel for the area where you have all of these gorgeous flowers. Your pictures of the sky are lovely, too. Down Under just must be heaven on earth.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Genie
What absolutely beautiful blooms - you have much to flaunt!
ReplyDeleteThank you GardenofThreads ... it's a new daylily this year and I'm so pleased with it. Love the soft pastel colour of it and it's a miniature so the flower is quite small.
ReplyDeleteAfricanaussie ... had to chuckle! Yes that does make me feel a little cooler ... to think you're actually slightly warmer up there! I am sure you can grow Daylilies up there ... they will grow almost anywhere. If you're interested I can let you know the source of mine... a daylily nursery down near Maleny here in Qld.
Hi Genie ... the Courtyard Garden is very much a work in progress. It was rather boring and devoid of any colour other than green for so many years while I worked full-time. Then at the beginning of last year, I decided to make changes. On a limited budget, it's slow going ... but little steps so far have produced quite a lovely spot. I'll have to do another post on it so you can get a better look. My last post is here if you want to have a look:
ReplyDeletehttp://berniesgarden.blogspot.com/2010/01/courtyard-garden-my-favourite-garden.html
OMG! I'm so jealous!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL
*hugs*deb
Just beautiful and how nice to be just past the first month of Spring and on Holiday, do enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteBernie your garden is so gorgeous. Full of lovely fresh new blooms. Great photos too.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to share in so much wonderful bloom! L
ReplyDeleteI so wish we still had daylilies to bloom. They are so dependable even in the heat.
ReplyDeleteEileen
Happy Spring, Bernie! You have such gorgeous flowers; love the sun jewels, the bougainvillea, and your lilies. Your courtyard garden is so beautiful too. I enjoyed my visit to Australia this morning.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Beth
Fantastic show, Bernie! I'm in love with your Japanese Hibiscus as well as your patio!! Very nice!! Your Caladium is quite unique, too. Beautiful skies and weather for you!! Enjoy the weekend!
ReplyDeleteHello Bernie, oh, I think it is so great to be able to watch another garden come into it's spring and summer seasons while mine will be covered in snow any minute! You have so much color, so many amazing blooms, (the Sun Jewels portulaca is wonderful!) I'm going to enjoy strolling through your blog, soaking up the sunshine all winter long from snowswept Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful. I've never seen Portulaca that looks like that,love the colors. I agree, Oriental Lilies smell wonderful. Maybe we should all pack up and come visit Australia since we got ripped on our spring and summer here this year. Hope yours is better than ours was.
ReplyDeleteOk Bernie I now see what kept you attention the other day and stopped you from chatting the oriental lily is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! …………….As for the courtyard Stunning as ever. I’ve gone green with envy lol!
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie. Oh, I want Spring again with lilies and Bougainvillea. Well maybe I never had the Bougainvillea to begin with. LOL! I love that Caladium of your. What wonderful variegation's!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend and Spring!
Hi Bernie. I'm jealous too. Not about your blooms which are fantastic. We are getting the rain as well, but still needing to wear jumpers here. Can't wait for it to warm up.
ReplyDeleteWow Bernie! It is so refreshing to see your lovely photos of your garden as our season winds down and we head into autumn. I am amazed at all you have going on right now like the portulaca (very pretty little thing), the oriental lily (a showstopper) and the Wrightia antidysenterica 'Arctic Snow'. Stunning. Does the latter grow as a tree, shrub or perennial?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm inviting you to join in a "game". Join in if you wish. Check it out at missysgarden.blogspot.com/2010/09/gardening-game.html
ReplyDeleteBernie...Thanks so much for sending me the link to your other blog. It made my LONG day. I loved seeing the pond, the walks, and all the beautiful plants...croutons and bougainvillea are some that I grew up with in our yard in Palm Beach, Florida. I had not thought of those names in 50 years. Boy, did you bring back some memories for me. Hope you have a fun weekend working in your garden.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Genie
Okay, I'll try this again. For some reason, my comments to Aussie blogs keep getting bounced lately. Anyway, just wanted to say I love that daylily! How wonderful to have springing daylilies and caladiums! Ours are ready to go to sleep here. And I love that Queen's Wreath!
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing what is growing in your lovely gardens. I was not disappointed with this post. I have a Queen's Wreath or Sandpaper vine, that I'm about to put in the ground. I can hardly wait for it to bloom. I got it as a 6" potted cutting a couple of years ago. It's about 2' now, in a larger pot, time to go in the ground.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy all that beauty that surrounds you.
FlowerLady
that is IT!!! I need to move!!! I need to live somewhere that is pretty like this!!! My gardens are gone...dead...a memory...frost has wiped me right out!!! But YOU...well all I can say is how jealous I am that you have such pretties all around you!!! You my friend have done a wonderful job of this garden ...and flaunting it!!!
ReplyDeleteDeb ... thanks for dropping by and I'm so glad you enjoyed the flaunt this time.
ReplyDeleteDarla ... holidays have been great. We've had a couple of rainy days, the grandchildren have been visiting and now the sun is out and I've been out gardening all morning!
Gardening in a Sandbox ... thanks for your comment. The garden has new surprises for me almost every day right now ... love that!
LC ... there seems to be something different blooming every day!
Eileen ... I'm a new convert to Daylilies. I only wish I had more room for loads more!
Beth ... thanks for popping by to see the Springtime blooms.
Kimberly ... the Japanese Lantern Hibiscus is my favourite hibiscus.
Karen ... you're most welcome to drop by anytime during your Winter. It's quite colourful in the garden right now and that should continue for quite some time.
Raingardener ... Spring has been slightly strange with the showers of rain and still more overcast days which was the hallmark of our Autumn-Winter as well.
Sue ... there's loads more blooms on that Oriental lily now and the perfume is quite heady in the evenings.
Lona ... thank you I am enjoying the Spring with the little blooms appearing all over the garden.
Missy ... warm, warm, warm here now ... will send you some of it!!!
I was really amazed with your garden photos. All of your flowers are so gorgeous especially those rosebud Pelargonium, bougainvilleas and the begonia. I like to have flowers like that in my garden. I really adore you whole garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you Melanie Piano ... I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit to see what was blooming in my garden.
ReplyDeleteI just love your heading collage. It is superb! Love the sandpaper vine, never seen it before. Great blog Bernie.
ReplyDelete