Flower Flaunt Friday ... From A Fabulous Subtropical Park.

Yes ... this week I'm flaunting flowers from the wonderful Roma Street Parklands situated right in the centre of our capital city, Brisbane.  It is in fact the world's largest subtropical garden located in the heart of a city.  I just love wandering around this beautiful park.

Luckily we were staying in a hotel just across the street from the park during our long weekend away recently, and we therefore had the opportunity to make almost daily visits.  It's a massive park with meandering pathways leading to water features, a huge lake, rolling lawns, native gardens and lots of other themed garden spaces.

One of my favourite spots in the Parklands is the 'Spectacle Garden' and I'm going to share some of the shots I took during one of my meanderings when accompanied by my grandchildren, who absolutely love the place too.

There were huge sways of Gomphrena globosa 'Buddy Purple', which I grow myself in small containers out in my courtyard garden.  It was fantastic to see these in mass plantings.

I love the texture and form of these lovely flowers.

Now I know I should know the name of this tropical beauty, but I've gone blank.   I'm sure someone will help me out.

Thunbergia mysorensis or Lady Slipper Vine was draped over a pergola structure.

There was a patch of dark Bat Flowers, Tacca chantrieri 'Black', under the pergola area of the Spectacle Garden, and my grandchildren were fascinated by them, especially when I told them the common name for these amazing plants.

  

The form of these flowers is just fascinating. They do indeed look like a flying bat with long, long whiskers.

There was one that had white wings as well.

These Bat Plants were planted in amongst the stunning Blue Ginger Plant, Dichorisandra thrysiflora.

Further along in the Spectacle Garden, there were huge drifts of Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender', and the effect was just wonderful.  This is a plant I adore as it grows so well in our climate and is virtually fuss-free.

Another of my all-time favourites was planted in several spots, including a plant tower.

It was great to see gorgeous Torenias planted out.  I've grown them for years now, but up here in the northern tropics I have to treat them as long-flowering annuals as they don't usually survive our wet seasons.  Luckily they are great self-seeders.

I have to admit I took so many photos that I can't possibly post them all on this particular post, so I'll have to do Flower Flaunt Friday Parts Two and Three over the coming weeks.  Do come back to see more of the fabulous flowers on show right now at this fabulous park.

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

I'm also joining Nix's Floral Friday Fotos

Weekend Flowers

and Today's Flowers

Wildlife on Wednesday ... The Water Dragon.

I've been away for a little while visiting with family, and while down in my home state's capital city I visited the wonderful Roma Street Parklands.  It's a favourite spot of mine and I try to visit there at least once a year when I pop down to Brisbane.

Again this visit I spotted an incredible number of Water Dragons sunning themselves in various corners, nooks and crannies of the Parklands.  These are magnificent looking creatures and I thought I would share some of the shots I managed to take of just a few of them.

This is the Eastern Water Dragon or Physignathus lesueurii, which grows to around 80 to 90 cms in length, making it rather a large lizard.

This creature has shades of grey or brown with a series of black bands on the back and tail.  What great camouflage!

There's a black stripe on the side of the head behind the eyes which makes it look rather distinguished.

They're semi-aquatic lizards, found around creeks, lakes and rivers.  They're not called 'Water Dragons' for nothing.  They do seem to love the water.  At the Parklands I spotted quite a few around the man-made ponds and streams.  Apparently they can stay submerged for around half an hour.

This one was enjoying the sun's warm rays beside the Bromeliad Garden pond.  You could walk by and almost not notice it, as it blends in so well with the wooden plank walkway.

There are enlarged scales which form a crest down the middle of the head, back and tail.  Doesn't it look rather fierce close up?

The legs are long and powerful and flattened on the sides to assist with swimming.  They have extremely long toes with rather sharp claws.

Such an impressive creature! 

Flower Flaunt Friday ... Heading Towards The End Of Summer.

Even though the Summer season supposedly finishes at the end of February, our Summer weather will continue for a lot longer yet.  I'm really looking forward to the change now as I've planted out a few more of the bald spots around the place and I'm hoping these little newbies will start taking off when things cool down.

One of the new babies in one of the driveway garden beds is this gorgeous Abutilon.  There was no varietal name attached, so I'm just calling it Abutilon 'Apricot Angel'!  I think it suits.  I've also planted up a very pretty pinker version and a creamy lemony one.  Hopefully they will both bloom very soon.

Here's another newbie to the driveway garden bed.  It's Ixora 'Twilight Glow'.  I have had one of these growing in a large pot out in my courtyard garden and I've also been pleased with the colour of the flowers. I couldn't resist adding it down beside the driveway.  I think it will add much needed colour in a rather barren spot.

One of the new plants under the recently finished new pergola out in the courtyard is this Wrightia antidysenterica 'Arctic Snow'.  Again, I've had one of these growing in a large pot out in the courtyard itself and I really wanted another splash of white under the pergola.  It was the perfect choice.

Elsewhere around the place ...

... this lovely Pentas really pairs well with the Caladium 

... and the Justicia brandegeana goes well with the Iresine herbstii.

I also love the contrast between this white Pentas and the lovely Cordyline 'Red Wings'.

One of the things I'm enjoying most about the summer garden right now, is the perfume wafting around in the early mornings from the gorgeous Fiddlewood tree flowers.  The flowers tend to go unnoticed unless you're right up close to the tree, as they're not all that large, but you can not miss the beautiful sweet perfume from these flower sprays.

I'll finish up today with two of my favourite sights at the moment.

This patch of Portulacas is such a cheery sight ...

... and the flowerhead on this self-seeding Celosia is just stunning.

(I've posted a little early this week, as I'm off to a family re-union but I didn't want to miss flaunting time!    Yet another hopeless gardening blogger, lol!)

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

and Nix's meme Floral Friday Fotos

Flower Flaunt ... On This Late Summer's Friday.

I'm spending far more time indoors (mostly in the air-conditioning) when I'm at home these days, than out in the garden.  It's far too hot and muggy outside, and that summer sun has a real sting in its tail these days.  Thankfully there are few plants providing some colour in the garden without much help from me.

Finally, there's a bloom on one of my Hibiscus schizopetalus shrubs, which were both almost slaughtered during the pergola repair work not long ago.

Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose' is almost at the end of this blooming cycle.

Ixora 'Raywards Pink' is showing off its dusty pink flowers.

My dwarf Allamanda, Allamanda cathartica 'Sunee' is still covered in bright golden blooms.

Pseudomussaenda flava, known as White Wings, is showing its white bracts and yellow flowers.

Pentas lanceolatas are year-round bloomers here, so I'm lucky enough to see these gorgeous flowerheads all the time.

My favourite is this red Pentas with the variegated leaves.

Now here's my favourite Mussaenda.  This is Mussaenda philippica 'Aurore' with its stunning white bracts and teensy tiny orangey-yellow flowers.

Ixora coccinea is showing off blooms again, after being cut back drastically during the pergola repair work.
I've been missing its showy red flowers.

These Portulacas are adding a brilliant touch of colour to the rock garden bed.

Across the way from the Portulacas, these Cosmos sulphureus add brilliant splashes of sunshine to the place.

There's only a very few Delonix regia or Poinciana blooms left on all the Poinciana trees at the moment.  You have to look way up high to catch a glimpse of them.

Did you hear that?  Yep, I sure did.  It's the sound of rolling thunder just behind the hills.  It looks like we'll be getting a bit of a tropical thunderstorm this evening.  Fingers crossed we get some rain to cool things down a bit!


I'm joining Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers over at Tootsie's blog.  Do pop over and join in the fun.

I'm also joining Tina's Weekend Flowers

Floral Friday Fotos

and Ewa's Flowers On Saturday