Friday Flower Flaunt .... Mid-Summer 2025

Mid-Summer Garden Update:  Hot Days and Resilient Plants In Bloom.

As we settle into the heart of summer here in north Queensland, the weather has been as predictable as ever:  hot and humid.  It's the kind of heat that makes gardening a race against the clock - anything after 10.00 a.m. become a challenge.  Despite the discomfort, there's still joy to be found in brief, early morning strolls through the garden.  

This wet season has been underwhelming.  After an exceptional December with the highest rainfall totals in over a century, the new year has brought little relief.  The soil is parched, and the plants are yearning for more consistent rain.  Yet, even in these challenging conditions, the garden continues to offer small surprises and delights.

Blooms Spotted In The Garden  

While wandering through the various garden spaces, I've noticed several resilient plants resplendent in their blooms of many colours.

In the outdoor garden beds ...

Cassia fistula  (a summer bloomer)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis  (all year round bloomer)

Lagerstroemia indica  (summer bloomer)

Mussaenda philippica x flava 'Calcutta Sunset'  (a summer bloomer)

Combretum constrictum  (a spring & summer bloomer)

In the sheltered courtyard garden ...

Coleus

Justicia carnea  (a spring / summer bloomer)

Various Impatiens  (all year round bloomers)

Various Torenias  (all year round bloomers)

In the shade house garden ...

Costus productus  (all year round bloomer)

Evolvulus  (all year round bloomer)

Dianthus  (spring & summer bloomers, and one of my all-time favourite perennials for this dry tropics garden)      

Calibrachoas (spring & summer bloomers).

I'm joining this week's Floral Friday Fotos.

A Hot, Loud and Proud Flower Flaunt on Friday - mid-Spring Downunder.

It's first day of October and that's our middle month of Spring.   There's a clear bright blue sky today...

...  and the Lilies have started to appear in my garden.  So I'm joining Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers meme and Noels' Hot, Loud and Proud meme.

The first of the Asiatic lilies (Lillium x hybrida) - Matisse Collection has opened.  This is 'Dimension' with its stunning deep maroon flowers ... supposedly a Summer bloomer but it's getting a head start this year.  Maybe it's the atypical rain we've been having!!

This beauty really does offer such a brilliant contrast to all the green foliage in my Greenhouse/Shadehouse Garden.

Another lovely Asiatic Lily that has opened up just yesterday is the gorgeous 'Vermeer'.

'Dazzle' opened up a few days ago and it catches everyone's eye.

Another dazzling thing that has happened in my garden this week is the emergence of more blooms on my African Tulip Tree - Spathodea campanulata.  I have never seen it flower twice in the same year before ... I'm putting this one down to the strange weather we've had this year as well.

The Angelonias are in full bloom once more ... I just adore the white variety.

All of my New Guinea Impatiens are in full bloom right now as well ...

... and it's great to see Caladium flowers again.

There's some great foliage colour in my Greenhouse/Shadehouse Garden at the moment, so I thought I would end off with a little glimpse into the tropical jungle out there.

 For other great Flaunt Your Flowers/Fertiliser Friday posts, go over to visit Tootsie's meme:
Flaunt Your Flowers...

... and then have a look at lots of colourful posts on Noel's meme: Hot, Loud and Proud

My Wilful Younger Child!

I look upon my garden areas rather like a parent looks upon their children.

First, there's the older kids ... the adult children who've left home and you have almost no control over their lives any more.  While you drop in to visit every now and then, you really can't do much other than watch over them as they mature ... that's my outdoor garden beds which include the Front Garden Beds,

the Driveway Garden Beds,

 the Pergola Garden Area,

the Back of the Courtyard Garden Area,

and the Hill Garden Area.

These are well-established beds that don't need me any more ... well, maybe only for an occasional watering or general tidy-up.

Then there are the young teenagers ... the ones that are trying to find their own identity but still rely on you for the essentials like food, shelter, money for clothes and you still have a say in who they can play with!  That's my Shadehouse/Greenhouse garden ...

and my Courtyard Garden.

I work almost daily keeping them watered, fed, free from pests and just generally behaving!  They each have their own character ... which I have a hand in forming.  So I can do things like change the colour scheme of the plants out there and choose new plants to add to the collections.  These are the places where I spend most of my time gardening.

Finally, there's that rather obnoxious, wilful and prone-to-temper-tantrums toddler.  You really love them, but they just won't do what they're supposed to ... and it's exhausting!!!  Well, that's my new outdoor garden bed.

The relationship started off really well when it was a baby ... hubbie built these new garden beds in a spot that was ugly and unsightly.

I was so excited and planned out just what these beds would look like ... I chose a different colour for each section.  I was looking forward to seeing my 'rainbow' garden develop ... and for a while, things were just great!

I spent money and filled it with lots of lovely plants ... Scaevola, Pelargonium, Gazanias, Bracteantha, Daisies ... the list goes on and on!   Mmmm ... well ...  'rainbow garden' has turned out to be more like a wilful toddler who's screaming for attention and all you want to do is ... give it to someone else until it's grown!!!

The long 'wet' season wreaked havoc with lots of my carefully chosen plants and there's no resurrecting them ... just like a toddler that won't wear something because it's yellow!!!!   It's just not going to happen!

All I can do now is look lovingly over the photos and reminisce about how this darling used to be!!

So, I've been very busy lately ... hence the relatively few blog posts.  After spending a couple of weeks getting my favourites into shape ... the Shadehouse/Greenhouse Garden and Courtyard Garden ... I just couldn't keep on avoiding the new garden bed anymore.

I've now removed all the dead plants with tears in my eyes ... the lovely Calibrachoas, Buddleia, Celosia spicata, Gomphrena leontopodioides and Kalanchoe pumila.  Why, oh why???

I've checked over the critically ill ...and trimmed them (hoping they come back) .... the Osteospurmums, Plectranthus and Saliva farinacea.  I'm keeping fingers crossed and hoping I'll see the return of the Sprekelia formosissima and the Gladiolus callianthus too.

I've removed all the invaders ... that Giant Sword Fern has a lot to answer for!!! I've added fertiliser and compost to the soil.  I've tried digging over all sections  ... but parts are now totally root-bound from something and I haven't quite figured out what it is yet!

Finally, today, I did a stocktake.  The Daylilies survived ... the Poinsettias survived ... the Angelonias survived ... the Gerberas still there ... the Turnea Ulmifolia is still thriving ... and the Mesembryanthemum 'Pig face' is still hanging in there!

So, while there's some good out of all this, I'm now left with the next job ... trying to decide on what I should try now!!!  This bed is proving to be the proverbial pain in the ####!!!!  Now that the day is drawing to an end, this is how the toddler looks ... rather grotty, with a grumpy look on its face and looking decidedly unloved!  Mum needs a sleep!

Around My Garden After The Summer of 2009/2010.

This is my first attempt at making a video ... I can hear groaning!!  It's not that bad!  (I hope!)  so stay right where you are!  Don't move!

The video shows my Courtyard Garden ... which is down these steps ...

...and the Greenhouse Garden ... which is under this shadecloth flanked on one side by a rock wall and on the other by the house.

Just to set the scene:   Summer is now over here in north-eastern Oz.  Summer is very, very hard on the garden.  It begins with very long, very hot and steamy days ...

and then the 'wet' begins with lots of torrential rain and overcast days which are still hot and humid!!

It takes some effort to get my garden through a Summer without too many disasters.

This is a 'warts and all' video ... at this time of year neither of the garden areas are at their best, but I don't believe in always showing picture-perfect ... not that I ever feel I achieve that!!!!!!!

So this is the state of my two favourite garden areas after the worst time of the north-eastern Australian gardening year - the horrid Summer - and just at the beginning of the best time for my garden - Autumn through to the end of Spring.

(Sorry ... I had to upload the video in three parts!)

(Another sorry .... where I say 'mussaenda' I really mean 'euphorbia'!  My brain went fuzzy for a moment!)

Around My Garden After Summer: Part 1 - The Courtyard Garden

Around My Garden After Summer: Part 2 - more of The Courtyard Garden

Around My Garden After Summer: Part 3 - The Greenhouse Garden