Monday, June 14, 2010

Mosaic Monday ... Our Winter Has Arrived!

This is the best time for gardening in my corner of the world.  Usually Autumn is the start of the terrific gardening time ... but not this year.  The showers of rain we received almost daily ... severely restricted the amount of time I could spend out in my garden.  The number of overcast days also had an effect on the growth rate of most plants.

But now, I'm out there every spare moment I can get ... outside working hours of course!  It's not like I'm rushing home from work ... no that's definitely NOT my car you can hear screeching out of the staff carpark maybe a little earlier than I should. Ok, so it is, but you would too if you had glorious Winter's weather exactly like you see highlighted in the photo below.  This is Winter in my part of the world!


With Autumn being a bit of a write-off this year ... I've only just now finished potting my many, many containers for my Courtyard Garden.  It's taken the better part of three weeks to complete ... using whatever spare time I could.  This has been an absolute joy for me, as I love the colourful display that lasts out there well into our horrible Summer!

I only started the potted plant project last year.  My pots are not fancy, not all that chic or sophisticated ... just a mixture of cheap clay pots and plastic pots from those discount warehouses, but they do.  So this year I have pots of petunias, pansies, violas, zinnias, gomphrena, bracteantha, nasturtiums, erigeron, gazanias, verbenas, dahlias, torenias, pelargoniums, cockscomb and snapdragons sitting out in the courtyard waiting to bloom.  I've had to track the patches of direct sun during the day and position the pots carefully to take advantage of the lower angle of the sun's rays.   So here's the Courtyard Potted Garden ready to go for our wonderful Winter/Spring/early Summer.



Friday, June 11, 2010

Flower Flaunt on Friday - early Winter in north-east Oz.

Our Winter weather has warmed up a notch now ... daytime temps. have been up around 26 deg C (78 F)!  The days remain clear ... lovely blue skies and puffy white clouds.   For those who follow my other blog, you will know that I've spent quite some time re-potting containers for my Courtyard Garden ....
Courtyard Garden - late autumn 2010   ... and there are some lovely new blooms just appearing.

Pelargoniums ...
Dahlias ...


Everlasting Daisies (Bracteantha bracteata) ...

Violas ...

Salvia splendens ...

Portulaca (from last year's cuttings) and Cockscomb.

For many more great Friday Flower Flaunt posts, make sure you visit Tootsie at Fertiliser Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wildlife on Wednesday - Common Eggfly Butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina)

The Common Eggfly Butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina) is a common sight in my garden ... hence the name, I suppose!  Whilst being such a common sight, I always marvel at it's beauty.  Such a lovely tropical butterfly ... black with white, orange and blue spots.
The underside is brown with a whitish band crossing the hind wings.  In this photo you can also see clearly the chain of white spots on the margins of the forewings and hind wings.

Now ... I have to ask the question - How long do these butterflies live?  I'm rather interested in the answer to this because I swear I have seen one of these butterflies around my garden for around six months now ... yes I mean the exact same individual!!  How can I tell?  Well have a look at the photos ... notice the poor tattered wing on the right side!

This photo was taken last November:
This series of photos was taken at the end of March this year:




I think it's the exact same butterfly, what do you think?

Monday, June 7, 2010

Mosaic Monday - A Stroll Through The Parklands.

It's been a while since I participated in Mosaic Monday meme ... but I've been thinking about something for the last couple of weeks now and I thought I'd share it with you.  Of course, it's got something to do with flowers and gardens!

In three weeks time, it's our mid-year break from school ... listen carefully, you can hear teachers all over Queensland sighing with relief!  Two terms of teaching over, Semester 1 reports finished, Parent-Teacher interviews completed ... and a two-week break!!!!  Of course, most teachers are back to school in that last week of holidays busily preparing for the next two terms.

For me, it's time to fly down and visit the grandchildren ... oh, and of course, my children!!!  (They always accuse me of thinking of them last!)  Whenever I visit my precious ones, I always try to visit the 16-hectare oasis in the middle of our state's capital city ... the Roma Street Parklands.  It's a breath of fresh air and I can literally spend hours strolling around the wonderful gardens.

So ... here's a quick glimpse of the Parklands from this time last year ... and I'll probably be sharing more photos taken when I get back there very, very soon.

 The Water Feature Garden:
 The Canal Gardens:
 The Spectacle Garden:
 The Walkways:


For other great Mosaic Monday posts, visit Mary at Little Red House.
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