:: front garden ::

Here are a couple of glimpses of our front garden - quite crazy and 'full' and there are plants going to seed already while others have not even had their moment in the sun yet, apples are ripening slowly on the trees and a flowform gurgles beside the meandering path...bees, both bumbles and honey hum constantly and there were three monarch butterflies overseeing the activity this afternoon... 

 ...finding a flower, making a photo happen and then writing something about it has been an interesting lesson in mindfulness and discipline and more often than not, no discipline! Also, I've really been noticing what's happening in the garden more, much more than previously and has been a great excuse to poke my nose in at others' gardens and chat to gardeners around and about.

Time to say a chirpy farewell from the garden, it has been fun, got a little tired/busy here and there but I have made it to the end and wiggled in a few final posts to take the number to 365!! WOOHOO!!

thanks, if you've had a read here and there...and Happy 2017!

:: gypsophila ::

Gypsophila or 'baby's breath' has come up twice this week - my Mum LOVES it and found herself taking home a beautiful plant from the garden centre we visited on Boxing day...

...and then yesterday was a very special day among friends being wed and my friend, the beautiful, no - STUNNING(!) bride also has a wee thing for baby's breath and ended up rocking her look, enhanced by ethereal sprigs of this uber-'80's flower in her gorgeous up-do !

Bring the back 'baby's breath', we say! (well, I think she already started) :-)

:: dahlia ix ::

aaaah...it's dahlia time again!

:: daucus carota ::

 Looks a little cauliflower-shaped...and reminds me of cow parsley or 'queen anne's lace'...

...yet this is the humble carrot flower...and I'm looking forward to it setting loads of seed for the next plantings...

:: scabiosa ::

The scabiosa (doesn't sound very nice, does it???) or pincushion flower - really good at attracting beneficial insects to the garden, looks lovely and I think I'd like to put it on 2017's cultivation/procurement list!

:: metrosideros excelsa ::

Our New Zealand 'Christmas' tree, the pohutukawa, is now in full swing down South, starry blooms bursting open from tight, tiny fist-like buds, transforming blue-green trees to glorious crimson beacons along our coastlines...must be Summer now :)

:: alcea iii ::

I accidentally mixed up the dried hollyhock flowerheads I'd carefully collected, saving their precious seeds...

...as it takes a mighty long time to get to the flowering stage (depending upon which season they were planted!) it has been a long wait...

...finally (18 months later!!) I can now report that I am very happy with the results so far - this rich crimson surpasses my memory of the Mother plant's blooms and the others that are coming out are decent bright pinks and only one white one so far...result!

:: euphorbia pulcherrima ::

The mystery of the association of the poinsettia with Christmas is finally solved - apparently, according to legend, in 16th century Mexico, a young girl, possibly named Pepita or maybe Maria, who was too poor to give a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday became inspired by an angel to pick weeds from the roadside. She placed these at the altar in the church and from these weeds bloomed crimson 'Poinsettia' flowers. From the 17th century on, Franciscan friars began using these flowers in their Christmas decorations.

Merry Christmas!

:: rosa xxxix ::

Recently, at each birthday Miss P has been enjoying receiving a rose as part of her gifts and one rose we had to leave behind at our old house...

...it was called 'absolutely fabulous' and a glorious, golden-yellow floribunda rose it was, producing loads of luscious blooms in a radiant display...

...so sadness turned to joy this birthday as we managed to find another one!

:: rosa xxxviii ::

another stunning rose from the Lady Norwood Garden at the Wellington Botanic Gardens - 'oranges and lemons' - thanks Dad :-) !

:: rosa xxxvii ::

Rose Leonardo da Vinci at the Lady Norwood Rose Garden in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, photo credit to my Dad, who visited there last week with my Mum.

Not too much to say as to leave on 'the' schedule this morning, I should officially not be having time to do a blog post LOL!

...off up further North this morning to Mangawhai Heads...

:: papaver ii ::

From a packet of wildflower seed last Autumn, a variety of pretty, papery poppies have sprung up in different parts of our garden...this might be the most striking version

:: brassica rapa ::

A late evening gardening session to hurriedly plant all the things still hanging about waiting to go in the ground...better late than never!

In the process I pulled out all these zesty, yellow-flowered tatsoi plants the bees were clearly still enjoying...I don't feel so bad since there are so many other plants flowering at this time of the year.

:: coreopsis ii ::

As a young girl, I was privileged to have grandparents with a bach up at Orewa, a beachside town North of Auckland, where we decamped every holidays from Boxing Day for what seemed like the whole school holidays.

There we lived out of the garden that Granddad put in at Labour Weekend, eating fresh vegetables, and amongst other things, fish we caught off the rocks and the pipis we gathered at low tide.

Along the long driveway Nana had planted a perennial bed which seemed to include lots of brightly-coloured flowers like hydrangeas, hibiscus and geraniums.

In the mix were coreopsis, these bright yellow suns of flowers that withstood the salty breezes and neglect of months without human nuture.

By the time we arrived on Boxing Day, the coreopsis were in full swing, bobbing thousands (it seemed to me!) of sunny smiles all along the driveway and that meant dead-heading everyday...

...which I think I helped with - at least I remember being at Nana's elbow, watching and listening, although my adult memory is not of her talking but me chattering away in a constant flow of (probably very) tall stories...

...one of my happy holidays memories :)

:: cosmos vi ::

So much wind today that it was almost a miracle this cosmos stayed still enough for the photo!

:: calendula v ::

Happ-bee Friday!

:: fuchsia iv ::

3 maids a-leaping?!

:: arthropodium cirratum ::

I was very doubtful that the plantings of these seemingly-delicate 'rengarenga' lilies at a crossing by our local river would survive, and I definitely did not believe they would thrive...with the ducks, dogs, small hopping (and mega-mulch-disturbing!) birds and children on various modes of wheeled transport all passing closeby or through their newly-planted beds.

And the NZ Rock Lily or maikaika or Renga Lily as they are also known are fairly prone to frost and snail-attack, so I thought from this perspective the really small plants the council planted were just plain doomed...

...however, I am, and quite like to be in cases like this, proven wrong!

Two Springs later they have clumped up well and are blooming beautifully :)

:: rosa xxxvi ::

there is an abundance of these lush, ruby red roses along the road parallel to our local river at this time of year...a long wait for them and they are magnificent when they bloom...yum!

:: petroselinum crispum ii ::

 the alluringly-coloured fly sits atop what look like tightly-bunched fists...

...that open slowly, slowly...many days here...

...and then the teeniest of white and yellow parsley (Italian) flowers appear...

:: acca sellowiana ii ::

Looks a bit like pohutukawa (or NZ Christmas Tree)...but it's...a feijoa flower! Bring it on!

:: cynara cardunculus v ::

A party - in an artichoke! Three, beautiful, big, fat furry bumbles and one spritely honey bee all fully engaged in the pleasures of this pretty light purple artichoke flower.

I know we are growing these as a multipurpose plant in the front garden and that one of the purposes is as a perennial food-source...

...but I haven't quite gotten my head around how to cook these - so any tips will be welcomed for easy prep and eating!

Service may have been interrupted due to another party held yesterday and I may have allowed myself to be a wee bit distracted...

...as one of the other Mums commented: "You don't realise how tired you are until the last event (in a string of lots of events in the past term of school) is over and it hits you!"...this just about summed up the feeling upon the inevitable collapse onto the sofa last night...

...and I can't quite believe we then put the projector on to watch a beautiful anime movie (Wolf Children) with Miss P - but we did and it was beautiful and probably just what we needed before falling swiftly and soundly to sleep straight after :)

:: rosa xxxv ::

Two more rose photos and that would make ten percent of my flower photos this year roses - maybe there are lots around or maybe this is one of my favourite blooms?

...this one has been coming back to good health since we have been here, actually watering, feeding and pruning it...

...I like to believe that it enjoys the climbing frame in its West-facing position and basks the afternoon away, exuding subtle rose fragrance...and tones, of course, splendidly with the PINK Summerhill Stone cladding ;-)

:: zinnia ::

sometimes life gets a bit nibbled around the edges...still interesting and quite fascinating...

...I had higher hopes for the beauty aspect of these zinnias, but apparently something out there was hungry!

...lovely bright injection of colour, though :)

:: dahlia viii ::

A soggy start to today and finally low enough light to capture a bright red dahlia...albeit a drippy, wet, bright red dahlia!

:: paeonia iii ::

"Feels" like the first day of Summer here today...balmy and warm...and the intimates of a paeony to celebrate :)

:: hydrangea iv ::

...the beginning of the hydrangeas...

...still a bit nippy out there to call it Summer yet, although plenty of luscious sunshine to savour...

:: dahlia vii ::

...and the bumblebees were going wild! At one point there were three in this dahlia bloom!

:: paeonia ii ::

and at last the waiting is over!

the two paeony roses are finally in bloom

:: watsonia ii ::

A salmon-coloured watsonia to brighten this very softly-foggy, misty morning here down South.

:: rosa xxxiv ::

Watching flowers evolve (or die!) is something I enjoy the marvel of - leaving them in the vase to fully, voluptously, delicately express their all - well as far as a flower can, that has been snipped and (artfully, of course!) arranged into a vase in a house.

The texture, the colour and the form all metamorphose into a glorious, fragile yet powerful, exquiste 'spentness'...may we all hold the courage within us to be able to do the same!

[this rose is one from the same vase from Saturday just past]

:: nigella iii ::

some plants just have the best names - like this one - "love-in-a-mist", or...more plainly 'Nigella' (don't tell Nigella I said that!)

:: brassica oleracea ::

...it is always wondrous to be about in a garden first thing of a day (whatever time that is for you!) and this morning I was enchanted by the tiny waterdrop in the centre of this broccoli flowerhead...

...'flowering crest of the cabbage', is the meaning of the Italian word broccoli, and it is indeed a bunch of tiny flowers on a stubby stalk...

...this was the original choice of a photo of it - alongside some French breakfast radishes and atop a small laundry basket of broadbeans I'd just harvested - but...I think I like my little broccoli with a little rainbow now...what do you think?

(rainbow courtesy of sunshine through the crystal hanging in our kitchen window!)

:: xerochysum brachteatum v ::

I can't decide whether these remind me of a party decoration or one of those woven sunhats...strawflower or everlasting daisy

:: pansy xii ::

Gosh, many more cobwebs being blown away today...and a neighbour's elderflowers are taunting me from across the road, swaying and bending in this wind...come and take as many as you want, they said...

...hmmm...that does mean making up the syrup afterwards...am I feeling that lazy this Sunday? 

YES!

:: rosa xxxiii ::

roses are bursting open at a ferocious rate now...and this year I've actually remembered to water them, and they seem to be rewarding my efforts :)

:: watsonia ::

Eclipsed in popularity by the gladioli and other bulbs, the watsonia is now not anywhere near as common a sight as it was in my childhood in the seventies as it has been largely neglected by the nurseries.

So, when I see a clump somewhere, I get a jolt of nostalgia, right back to my roots and the beautiful bed of dahlias and watsonias along a fenceline...sigh!

:: rosa xxxii ::

intense colour for an intense day!

:: paeonia ::

one of the joys of late Spring and early Summer is the paeony rose - a lush exuberance of intense colour and ruffles and all bursting out of one seemingly extremely-tightly bound bud...waiting, waiting waiting...

:: succulent ::

From Miss P's ever-expanding succulent and cactus collection...a gift marking her birthday last year.

:: rosa xxxi ::

Look what just opened in the rose 'patch'??? From a slender twig of a stem, something new has arisen...I didn't even know this was in the 'patch'!!

:: rosa xxx ::

:: papaver ::

...getting up close and personal with the innards of a glorious, bright red poppy - like a whole other world inside there...

:: dianthus ::

A pot of bright and pretty pink by the door

:: rosa xxix ::

rose

 

This photo was clearly not taken today, although the sun has blasted through a couple of times, between lovely, heavy drenchings...yay - I don't have to water the garden today - one thing off my list!