Yes, February is our last month of Summer. The heavens continue to open either in the late afternoon, overnight or early in the morning, but during the day it continues to be bright, sunny and excruciatingly hot. I feel like I'm walking around all day with a sticky wet blanket draped over me. The humidity levels are extremely high. As a matter of fact they reached 99% again during the late afternoon this week as the rain fell.
Out in the garden there hasn't been much change over the last few weeks. The usual Summer bloomers are on display, but as the rains continue to fall there are a couple that are starting to suffer with the rain and humidity levels. My Pelargoniums are starting to look rather sickly and the Gazanias haven't flowered in ages now.
Still, there is colour out there. There's some lovely whites, which I love.
There's the Jacobinia carnea and Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost',
the Mandevilla 'White Fantasy',
the Tabernaemontana corymbosa 'Sweet Love',
and the Salvia farinacea 'Victoria White'. Whilst I do so love the whites, of course I enjoy all the other blooming plants around the place as well.
There's the ever-blooming Pentas lanceolata,
the Justicia brandegeana,
the various red-flowering Hibiscus rosa-sinensis,
Pyllanthus multiflora or Waterfall Plant,
the Thunbergia erecta,
the creamy Russelia,
the Torenia 'Violet Magic' with a surprise Petunia visitor,
and the Acalyphas, which are throwing out their flower spikes.
I'm joining Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers
So good to see those gorgeous flowers Bernie. We are warmer this winter which is really nice compared to the snow. I have seen many of my bulbs poking through as I walked around the garden.
ReplyDeleteEileen
Hi Eileen. Spring can't be all that far away then if bulbs are poking their heads out already. Our Summer has been fairly mild so far in terms of rainfall. We've had just the occasional very heavy downpour, and lots of heavy showers but that's it. So very different to last year.
DeleteHi Bush Bernie,
ReplyDeleteI love visiting your blog. As winter drags on up here in the northern hemisphere (I'm writing from the west coast of Canada), it's nice to know that beautiful things are blooming in your garden!
Angela
I am AHEM
G'day Angela. So it seems while many further south have had a very mild winter, you've had the usual. We see blooms all year round here and there's very little seasonal change when it comes to the garden. I'm counting down the days to mid-Autumn when I can really enjoy being out in the garden once more.
DeleteI'm with you on white blooms - I wish we had more. Your Tabernaemontana corymbosa is dazzling white.
ReplyDeleteThe waterfall plant intrigues me though. How tall is it? It looks amazing. Not sure if I've seen that plant before or not. Does it usually grow tall?
Hi Missy. Yes I'm on a bit of a mission to add more white around here. It really looks fantastic in our bright sunlight. As for the Waterfall Plant, it doesn't really get much higher than around 2 metres. It does look spectacular when planted in a high garden bed and will spread out to around 2 metres as well.
DeleteBernie, i love that waterfall plant, i haven't seen it yet here! Our variegated hibiscus which i planted when still 1st year in college died already because it is near the street, eaten by animals. Somehow i miss it as remembrance of my stay in the university. I also noticed that the pink pentas are somehow not as strong as the purplish red we have here.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, the Waterfall Plant is very hard to find in nurseries here now. It never really gained much popularity when it hit the market back in the early 90s. I suppose that's because it wasn't considered all that great looking. But I find it to be a very hardy thing and welcome it here.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your variegated Hibiscus. That was a loss. I have a few different pink Pentas in varying shades, but my favourites are definitely the dark red and the white.
Lovely photos, and I especially liked your selection of white flowers, Bernie. I once saw a completely white and green garden and it was quite striking!
ReplyDeleteThank you for participating in the Floral Friday Fotos meme!
Nix, I'm only too happy to join in your meme again. A completely green and white garden does sound intriguing and I can imagine it would have looked spectacular.
DeleteThanks Jim. Glad to see you dropping by!
ReplyDeleteOh those whites are very cooling to look at in this heat! I also love that waterfall plant - it looks very unusual!
ReplyDeleteG'day Africanaussie. I have to agree with you about the whites! I think that's one of the reasons I love them in my garden. They really do have that cooling effect!
DeleteIt's gearing up for some more rain this afternoon by the look of the dark clouds outside, and the level of humidity in the air. It's very close today!
I have the same Ruseelia! Yours is spectacular. And I like the Jacobinia carnea planted beside Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' like that. Lovely combination.
ReplyDeleteThank you for filling my Friday with beautiful blooms. The whites are wonderful the pinks are perfect and the purples are pure pictures to behold. The only thing visible in my garden is a blanket of white frost at -6 so I won’t be going outside today!
ReplyDeleteHow is L coping with the cold?
Have a good weekend
Sue
-6 ... far too chilly for me! Outdoors would definitely be out of the question. L seems to be coping, but he doesn't go out much, lol! Apparently the indoors is very cosy.
DeleteBernie, your waterfall plant looks spectacular!! I love the fragipani flowers as well...we don't get those down in Canberra!
ReplyDeleteStunning and very beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting and sharing your flowers shots.
- Cheers from Canada.
Thanks Guild-rez. It's great to see you visiting and enjoying the blooms.
DeleteLove all those white blooms! I love hot colors in the garden, but white makes everything seem to pop. That waterfall plant is wonderful! What a beauty!
ReplyDeleteHolleyGarden, I think white pops even more here in the tropics under our bright sun. It leaves you feeling a little refreshed too, in the midst of the summer heat.
Deletethanks for sharing your lovely flowers with us! and congratulation - you can take the winner button, if you like :)
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed joining in your meme and was delightfully surprised on the win. I'll take a look at how to get the winner button, thanks Tina.
Deletegorgeous flowers Bernie...
ReplyDeleteI love to visit your blog!
Great to see you visiting, thanks Anastasia.
DeleteAll the flowers are so gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment, thanks Jama.
DeleteLovely photos of gorgeous flowers, as usual! I love seeing all those plants you have, some of which I haven’t even heard of. Now, what about that house swap we talked about? Sunday morning we are promised to wake up to 4 inches of snow here in London. I’ll take your 99% humidity any day in exchange for the minus 5 we have right now!
ReplyDeleteLol, Helene, if I could get time off work right now I'd be winging my way over to the cold and snow in a heartbeat. The heat and humidity are very taxing. I think maybe as I'm getting older, I'm getting just a little fussier!! Well it's Sunday morning here and I see reports of snow all over the news. Did you get the forecast 4 inches???
DeleteIt’s 11:20 pm right now in London, and we’ve got 2 inches of snow so far – and it’s supposed to snow until around 6 am tomorrow morning. I don’t think I will be taking my car out tomorrow! I will try to take some photos in my garden when it gets light enough, at least you can see what you missed :-)
DeleteSounds like the predictions are going to be proven correct. Stay snug and warm! I'll look out for your photos. I'll enjoy the snow photos even though I know you're not enjoying the snowfall. Lol!
DeleteJust gorgeous! I love the weeping waterfall.
ReplyDeleteThanks Darla. The Waterfall Plant is a rather unappreciated plant these days. It never really seem to be a big hit in gardens here. I am however a big fan!
DeleteLovely flowers!
ReplyDeletePink and White Lantana
Thanks Modern Mom. Your Lantana is lovely. Over here Lantana camara is a huge environmental weed. We have enormous clumps of it growing in the bushland around our place, and my hubbie spends a lot of time trying to eradicate it ... with little success. It's one tough mama!
DeleteWonderful collection of shots! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the photos, Chelsea.
DeleteWow this are very beautiful flowers...Visiting from WF!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gengen. I'll have to pop over and see your Weekend Flowers now.
DeleteGorgeous series of beautiful flowers!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Very beautiful sequence of flowers. I love white flowers. I also like the colorful ones you posted but there is something delicate and lovely to me about white flowers.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your participation.
I enjoyed the tour of your beautiful flower garden, you have so many plants that we don't see here. I hope you get some relief from the humidity soon.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful assortment of flowers n colours! Have a great wkend!
ReplyDeleteLoved the Frangipani n cascading waterfall...
Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week ahead.
Regina
lovely blooms! thanks for sharing! have a blessed Sunday!
ReplyDeletehttp://thelayugan.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-search-of-beauty.html
So beautiful down under in summer. I love the header you have up.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of beautiful color! Even after almost 6 years, I still find the difference of season a bit strange!
ReplyDeleteyou have a lot of great collection of flowers that i did,t seen in my life coz i am a big fan of flowers and landscaping,
ReplyDelete