Flower Flaunt Time ... At The Start of our End-of-Winter Month

With the arrival of August, the departure of our glorious Winter season is in sight.  Right now the garden is in a sort of limbo.  It's 'dry' season so there's not much growth at the moment, and the same 'ole things are blooming that have been blooming all Winter long.  I'm now waiting patiently for the arrival of the Lily blooms to provide something new.  But that's a way off yet.

So here's a glimpse of the same-ole, same-ole!

A few Pelargonium blooms.

Some lovely Antirrhinum blooms that start off as a tightly packed purple bud and then burst upon to show off a wonderful orangey, yellowy, pinky combination.


My favourite Impatiens hawkeri or New Guinea Impatiens.

A Pansy or two.

A Bromeliad inflorescence.

There are still masses of creamy Corymbia torelliana or Cadaghi Gum flowers at the top of these very tall trees.

My gorgeous white Pentas lanceolata,

and my beautiful white Bauhinia.

There are some lovely Salvia flowers ...

... and blooms on my trusty winter annuals, the Petunias.

I'm joining Tina for her Weekend Flowers meme,

Tootsie for her Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers meme,

Nix for Floral Friday Fotos,

Ewa for Flowers On Saturday

and Alicia for Open Gardens

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

Flower Flaunt Friday ... On This Strange Windy Raindy Day.

We had a very strange day of weather today.  There were gale force winds and rain all day.  My suburb lost power for pretty much the entire day, as the almost cyclonic winds apparently caused some damage to the power lines on the flats.  There wasn't much to do all day without power, and of course the rain prevented me from getting out into the garden.

The 65mm of rain that fell here today means it's been the wettest May day in almost 25 years.  Rain in May is quite unusual, and certainly the amount we saw today is rather uncharacteristic at this stage of our dry season!

On top of all that, it was a rather chilly day for us.  The mercury never got over 20 deg C today (68 F) and the prediction for tonight is 13 C (55 F).  It's the first taste of Winter!  ... Yes, these are Winter temps for us!!!  I had to break out a jumper today!  Yesterday it was 30 deg C (86 F), so the drastic drop was very noticeable.

I did manage to grab a few shots of blooms today, in between showers of rain.

Looking out from the back verandah onto the courtyard garden, there was some colour to be seen.

Schlumbergera or Zygocactus.

Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' and Azalea.

Impatiens hawkeri 'Celebrette', Colours, Salvia 'Victoria White', Torenia 'Violet Magic', Gomphrena globosa 'Buddy Purple' and Angelonia angustifolia 'Serena White'.

Pelargonium

Pentas lanceolata

The first white bracts and tiny flowers have appeared on the winter blooming Euphorbia leucocephala or Snow Flake Bush.

The little pot of Pansies had to be rescued from the rain and brought in to the house today, which was a rather nice change.

Wandering out along the front verandah, I could see some colour in the tiered garden beds.

The Duranta repens shrub is dripping with its orange berries, but it's the Salvia madrensis and Scutellaria suffrutescens that stand out in the dreary conditions.

In the front garden bed the Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose' is still covered in pink bracts and tiny yellow flowers.

Out in the shadehouse the Dragon Wing Begonias are in full bloom.

Eventually, I just had to venture out under the umbrella once the wind had died down.  I found some lovely blooms on my newly planted dwarf Hibiscus.  The flowers don't open fully on this little shrub, but they still look quite lovely.

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

Weekend Flowers

and Ewa's Flowers On Saturday