It's an Early Autumn Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day Downunder.

Isn't she lovely?  Isn't she wonderful?  Oh dear, now I'm waxing on using Stevie's lyrics!  Apologies, but this solitary beauty appeared just this morning ... just in time for my stroll around the garden while the rain clouds hovered in preparation for the daily dose of liquid sunshine.  I couldn't have been happier to see this gorgeous thing ... it's a pass-along so I'm not entirely sure what it is.  (Thank you Ami, after seeing your comment below, I did some research and you're right ... this is Iris domestica, previously known as Belamcanda chinensis, and commonly known as Leopard Lily).  
Anyway, it was a joy to behold ... a promise of more beauty to come!

Here in the southern hemisphere, March is the first month of Autumn ... and in my corner of north-eastern Australia, Autumn is really the start of a brand new gardening year.


I say good riddance to the hot, sultry, steamy Summer and soon I'll be able to bid farewell to the horribly long, drenching 'wet' season with its' accompanying nasty, damaging cyclone season. 

So much of my garden is in recovery mode and it's not a pretty sight.  The whole place is looking totally sodden and water-logged ... there's no chance of mowing.

Everywhere you look there's stumps (can you see the Coconut Palm tree stump through the stairway railings?) where there used to be tall shrubs or trees.  There are rather ugly nastily trimmed trees, thanks to the force of cyclonic winds, and broken dying branches up high in trees where our ladder just won't reach.   These are sights I don't want to share.

But, on closer inspection of my potted plants and the very few undisturbed corners of garden beds, there are little splashes of colour here and there.

Scattered throughout the Courtyard, Shadehouse and Front Garden are some blooms ... some are hidden by hideously overgrown patches of ferns ... some have just started to appear again after experiencing a very, very tough summer ... and some have been in the background largely unnoticed until they're suddenly now they're one of the few things that are actually flowering!

My ever-tough Pentas and Hibiscus fit that category, along with the tiny flowering Cuphea plants that are hidden in under so many of the shrubs.

So, let's see what's out there if you look really, really closely!

My beautiful Viola hederacea and Azalea which are both adding joy to my day right now!  Sorry, I've gone a bit overboard with the photos of both, but I'm just so pleased to have these in flower out in the rather dreary Courtyard Garden.

This amazing Spathoglottis plicata or Ground Orchid has shown its' first ever little spray of flowers and they've been showing off for ages now ... they've got my tick of approval.

Look!  I spotted just a couple of lovely dainty Pink Trumpet flowers on one of my decimated Tabebuias.  It's almost like the tree is saying it will never be beaten!  Such a welcome sight!

I also spotted a raceme of golden yellow flowers on my rather battered Cassia fistula ... the lonely spray was way up high and almost hidden at the back of the tree, but my eagle eyes found it!

To share what else I found in bloom around my place, I have created a little slideshow.  There's music accompanying the show, so please go over to the sidebar on the right and turn off the Playlist ... the stop button is at the bottom of the circle shape on the virtual ipod, sorry it's hard to see!

I'll end off by showing some of the fabulous foliage plants adding a touch of interest to this early Autumn garden that's slowly getting back on its' feet, so to speak!  These fabulous plants have weathered the storms, the deluge and even the cyclones of the past Summer, and deserve their place in the sun!

I'm joining Mary's Mosaic Monday  meme,

Carol's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - GBBD meme,

and Pam's Foliage Follow-Up  meme with my post today.

Please do go and visit these sites to see some fabulous photos.

Flower Flaunt on Friday - it's mid-Summer on this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

After the terrible events that have unfolded here in my home state of Queensland recently, it's a pleasant diversion to be focussing on what's blooming in my garden. 

As many of you already know, most of the blooms in my garden are on potted plants.  The garden beds here are totally dominated by palms, the old-fashioned red-flowering Hibiscus, the Giant Sword Fern and Duranta repens.  Whilst these plants certainly offer a lot in the way of terrific foliage, they don't really provide all that much variety when it comes to blooms.

So I started adding potted plants to both the Courtyard and Shadehouse Gardens in my effort to add colour other than green.

Here we see some of the potted plants out in the courtyard just as the 'wet' season began in early December.

After an unseasonably wet Spring in late 2010, they weren't doing too badly.  But as the 'wet' continued and worsened, with many, many gloomy days and lots of heavy rain over December into early January, most of my potted plants got very very leggy as they searched all over for some sunlight.  Sunshine has definitely been at a premium here in north-east Oz during this Summer.

Not only did these plants get scraggly, they started looking a little starved, which of course they were.  It's futile trying to keep up the regular feeding schedule during a wet season as the heavy rain simply leaches all the goodness out and it's not all that much fun standing out in driving rain with a watering can!

Added to all this, they had been attacked by the usual summertime visitors ... greedy gnawing grasshoppers.  These plants had what I refer to as 'the wet season woes'!  So, I spent some time over the weekend giving most of these plants a drastic trimming back, hence the lack of blooms in both the courtyard and shadehouse.

As a result, I had to look very carefully to find blooms elsewhere.   Out I went with camera in hand, during some breaks in the showers of rain today, to see what I could find in some of the other spots around the property.

As expected, there were the usual year-round bloomers - Hibiscus, Russelia, Neomarica, Evolvulus, Ixoras, Pentas. Such stout sturdy plants.  Then there were the trusty wet season bloomers, the Mussaendas and Salvias.

One thoroughly unexpected find were the two tiny Azalea blooms ... can't explain it!  They're slightly confused obviously, thinking it's still Spring.

The Mandevilla which really suffered from something during last year ... still haven't worked out what ... has recovered well finally and showing off some flowers.

Then there is the magnificent Tricyrtis x Empress - the Empress Toad Lily.  I had almost forgotten about this beauty as the Giant Sword Fern has all but taken over in the Shadehouse Garden and the potted Empress was languishing in a corner.  After the big clean-up out in the shadehouse, she has come back to life!

Here's what's going on in my garden today ... I did include some of the other sights out in the garden today.  See how many pesky grasshoppers you can spot!

I'm joining in Tootsies' meme Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers today with this video clip!  Make sure you go on over to Tootsie's blog and have a look at what's blooming in other gardens around the world as well.

I'm participating in the Today's Flowers meme and encourage you to pop over the see some outstanding flowers.

I'm joining the Blooming Friday meme and ...

... I'm also joining in Carol's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - GBBD meme.  There will be many gardeners posting about just what's going on in their gardens right now in mid-January, so make sure your visit and find out!

It's An Early Summer's Blooming Day In North-Eastern Downunder - December GBBD

It's time for a GBBD (Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day) post from Downunder.  It's early Summer and I took a walk around the garden this morning after another shower of rain.  It was a fairly short walk ... the humidity level rose to 90% after the shower whilst the mercury said 26 deg C, it felt more like 29 deg C even though it was only 7.30 am!   Ah ... the pleasures of what we fondly call 'the build-up' ... the period in between the episodes of pelting rain when we sit and swelter in the humidity and longingly wish for more rain to give us some respite.

So, come along on the walk with me on this early Summer's day.  Grab your cuppa as there's a bit to see.

First we go out through the Greenhouse/Shadehouse garden ...

The Coleus is flowering beautifully ...

and so are all the Dragonwing Begonias.

Now what is that I spy draped across the front of the red Dragonwing?

What a charming sight ... like little diamonds glistening in the morning sun!  As I turn around, my eyes fall on another enchanting display.  It's the stunning Mauve Dancing Lady ... Globbi winitii.  I just love this beauty!

Then I spot a tiny delicate little beauty right besdie the Globbi ... it's the first bloom on my Geranium 'Jester's Jacket'.  What a delight!

I noticed that the Calathea ornata hadn't quite opened up yet ... still saying its morning prayers perhaps!

We'll tip-toe out quietly and have a look outside the greenhouse/shadehouse garden at what's going on in the new outdoor garden bed.  Now there's a cheery vision ... it's Mussaenda 'Calcutta Sunset' showing off first thing in the morning!

How bright and cheery are those little yellow star flowers?

There's also the fluffy vision of Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' ...

... and the welcome sight of the gorgeous white Pentas right beside it.

Now let's take a quick stroll down the hillside driveway ...  accompanied by the call of the Spangled Drongo, looking resplendent this morning with its long forked tail, glossy black plumage and blood red eyes,

all the while listening to the little Kookaburra learning how to sing like its mother ... he's not very good just yet!  He sounds more like a hoarse opera singer, but I'm sure he'll be laughing with gusto before too long.

I spot the very last spray of Jacaranda mimosifolia flowers left in the tree at the top of the hill driveway.

While the sight of those delicate lacy bright green leaves will surely make me sigh, I swoon over the lavender flowers ... and will miss them when they're finally all gone!

The brilliant foliage of one of the many Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Roseflake' bushes catches my eye quickly ...

... but then, I turn and see my stunning Cassia fistula - Golden Shower Tree - is in full bloom at the end of the driveway!  I rush on down barely noticing the blooms high up on the branches of the Plumeria ...

... yeah, yeah quite pretty ...

... but take a look at this!  I stop to drink it all in.

It really does look magnificent this morning full of little golden buds and those superb bright golden yellow blooms.

If you look closely enough, you'll also see just a couple of bottlebrush blooms on my Callistemon citrinus right beside my Cassia.

Then alongside my Callistemon is my Citharexylum spinosum, commonly known as the Fiddlewood, and it's covered in sprays of tiny pristine white flowers which are attracting lots of little bees at the moment.

Here are the three beauties towering over my head.  Just as well my camera has a great zoom button!

Now, as I swing around, I am greeted by another terrific beauty ... my white Mussaenda philippica.

I just adore the frilly frothy white blooms on this shrub.

Righto ... it's getting sticky and steamy out here ... so let's head back up the driveway, under the arches of the draping Hibiscus schizopetalus - my Japanese Lantern Hibiscus.

Time to head back inside, down the pergola stairway, past the wonderful windmill fronds of the Pritchardia pacifica or Fiji Palm ...

... strolling through the Courtyard Garden a little too hastily ... tripping past the dazzling Wrightia,

... the darling Dahlias

... the delicate Peace Lily

... the definitely different curled-up caterpillarish-looking new unfurling fronds of the Tree Fern

... the dazzling cascade of Dichondra 'Silver Falls' ...

... and the delightful show of the Evolvulus  Pilosus 'Sapphire blue'.

Oh dear, I think the heat and humidity is getting to me ... what's with all these d's?   Definitely, time for my early holiday morning daily double ... tea and toast out in the shade of the Courtyard Garden!   Look, Mother Nature has already decorated the table for me.

For other GBBD posts, make sure you visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.