Back Home in the Garden…

I said “no more veggie garden”…

BUT…

The tiny veggie/herb garden is looking quite sad and empty, (do you remember when we built it?) It is very small compared to the veggie patch on the farm. So I couldn’t resist buying some lettuce, rocket and Greek basil from Bunnings.

This is the “Bali” corner and also my small nursery area. Lurking under the tarpaulin is a mulcher which will soon be getting a lot of work. It has been a good season for rain and everything has doubled in size.

Here they are, my new babies. I’ve just transplanted them from the cells they came in and will coddle them in here till this present very hot spell (30+ temperatures) passes.

Did you notice the pink behind the shade cloth?

It is the Crepe Myrtle in full flower.

A sure sign of summer in the tropics is the Frangipani now coming into flower.

Under the Frangipani is an unusual Bromeliad.

It flowers for months.

In the week I have been home the temperatures have soared into  30+ and with a hot wind as well the garden can dry out quickly.

So the hose is in use every night. Notice the handy bench to sit and have a rest on?

The ponds are looking good.

Over on the door the masks that Jack made are keeping an eye on things.

Here is a gallery of some other things flowering at the moment.

Hoya

Mind the dragon…

Succulent

Broms and sanseveria under the steps

Bromeliad

Bauhinia

Bauhinia

???

Spider Lillies

Spider Lillies

Coleus

Look at the lemons, this tree is only a year old.

So life goes on in the garden. Hope you enjoyed the look around.

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I’ll join Jo’s Monday walk today, come over to visit her. Actually it is more a saunter, and if it gets too hot you can sit and rest on one of the benches.

Seasons Greetings from Down Under…

This is the New South Wales Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum is a small genus of 5 species, all occurring in Australia and New Guinea) and is a very popular cut flower for Christmas decoration. They are one of the flowers grown on this native flower farm I am house sitting during Christmas, so I have picked a bunch to put on our Christmas table.

Towards the end of December this hardy and reliable plant puts on a great display of red ‘flowers’ – however all is not what it seems. The true flowers are white in colour and fairly insignificant and are seen in late spring to early November. After pollination by flies and native bees, the sepals, which are the outer series or whorl of flora leaves that protect the flower bud, enlarge and turn deep pink to red in colour enclosing the fruit, a single seed, a nut and the whole fall when ripe.  

I also picked Kangaroo Paw and Protea to make a cheerful display.

Sending thoughts and best wishes to all my Blogging friends from all around the world. It has been a pleasure “chatting” with you all and sharing photos and stories about your lives and countries.

Looking forward to joining you all via the wonderful world of WordPress in 2016. 

Weekly Photo Challenge : Rule of Thirds

 

This week Jen has challenged us to compose our subject off-center, obeying the Rule of Thirds.

The Rule of Thirds is a photography concept that puts the subject of the photograph off-center, which usually results in blank space in the rest of the image. If you focus closely on your subject and use a wide aperture, your photograph’s background will also be beautifully blurred in that blank space. The blurred area behind your focal point is referred to as bokeh.

So when it stopped raining I headed into the garden to experiment with the cameras settings. I think some worked, (some were a woeful failure, and I won’t show you those)..

Grevillea Ned Kelly

Anthurium

Water Lily

Desert Rose

Plumbago

Fungus

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Update on the storm.

Cyclone Marcia caused terrible devastation where she came to land as a category 5 cyclone.

 “The BOM said Marcia had weakened to a Category Two cyclone, with sustained winds of 110km/h (72mph) and gusts of up to 155km/h.

It was about 60km west of the town of Gladstone, Queensland and 65km north-northeast of Biloela, and moving south-southeast at 18 kmh but expected to weaken below cyclone strength by Saturday morning.” (For more information and photos go here to the BBC news report)

Hundreds of people in the central Queensland area are now homeless with their homes torn apart and large areas are without power. Thankfully there is no loss of life or major injuries. As it moved south it gradually lost power and by the time it reached Brisbane it was classed as a tropical low, lots of rain and some flooding, but the winds had dropped. It then veered out to sea away from our corner of Queensland. We had approx. 200mm of rain over 3 days, but no wind. As you can see in the flower photos they are flourishing in the rain.

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Revitalising Rain.

Today it is drizzling. OK that is not going to get down and dirty into the soil, but oh how much the plants love that soft refreshing moisture.

Look at them, they are smiling as they lift their faces to the heavens.

Desert Rose

I’ve forgotten the name of this one…

But take a close look at it, it is beautiful

Even the water lilies enjoy the rain.

Nasturtiums delight me with their orange glow and peppery taste

This is only tiny and almost a weed, it tends to take over the rockery area if I don’t curb it’s enthusiasm.

Finally here are my lettuce only just 4 weeks old and giving me a delicious wholesome feed.

It is a pleasure to wander around the garden and share the beauty of nature.

A bouquet of tropical flowers to brighten your day

Yellow water-lily

Tropical water lilies

Tropical water-lily

Water Hyacinth

Heliconia

Heliconia

Nepenthes, insect eating pitcher plant

Frangipani

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

Here is a splash of colour and the scent of summer for my Northern Hemisphere friends. I hope this will brighten your winter day and remind you of the summer to come.

For the short time I am at home I love to spend time in the garden. This morning I went round to record what is flowering at the moment.