:: hebe iii ::

I doubt the humble bumble had any idea I was spying on its good works...it is an utter pleasure to watch them zooming about. Here again on the hebe hedge on the morning walkabout.

:: garden getting ratty ::

Things are getting 'ratty' in the garden, the pretty plants of Summer are closing up shop...edges are crinkling and drying, petals withering, buds being chewed...

...the wind is blasting through today, stashing golden crispy leaves in every possible nook, covering, blanketing small plants, hiding them even.

:: rosa xiii ::

Back into my archives again as this 'gloire de dijon' rose is also from Possum Bend a few years back now.  

One of my favourite roses for its enchanting scent, quartered, delicately-coloured flower, generosity of flowers in phases throughout the season and its vigour.

:: chrysanthemum ::

The humble chrysanthemum is one of those flowers that has a nostalgic place in the background of my life, with memories of potted plants as gifts, the smell of the plants in our various gardens(sometimes the potted gifts planted out!), a stunning piece of Chinese satin embroidered with chrysanthemum that came to New Zealand by boat in the early forties (we think) and now made up into a comforter... and the idea of giving your Mum chrysanthemum on Mother's Day here in the Autumn in the Southern hemisphere.

The name comes from the Greek words for gold - 'chrysos' and flower - 'anthemon'

Apparently having chrysanthemum flowers inside is an effective way to reduce indoor air pollution, according to the NASA Clean Air Study. 

But who knew that the leaves are used in Chinese cuisine as a green steamed or boiled, or to enhance the flavour of snakemeat soup?

:: alcea ::

Photo borrowed from another time and place - Possum Bend a couple of Summers ago - I am still waiting patiently for my Hollyhocks here to spring into flower...think I may have missed the boat for this Summer, but maybe next...?!

:: dianthus caryophyllus ii ::

although pink is the colour most-commonly associated with the floral symbolism representing a mother's undying love for her child, this variegated red/white/pink carnation is enough for me...

...Miss P arrived back home today from her little holiday up North with her grandparents and it is so nice to have her home again - we missed you, Miss P! X

:: rosa xii ::

“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

:: xerochrysum bracteatum ::

Lucky this Autumn has been so warm and sunny as we've been awaiting the opening of these pretty strawflowers for all of it!

The central bloom I had thought was open, but I just found out that what look like golden petals are in fact 'bracts' - or a specialised type of leaf, which in this case is papery in texture. So the flower is hiding still, deep within those papery layers.

Always interested in the etymology of flowers I was fascinated to learn that the name means a combination of dry from the Greek 'xeros' and golden, also from the Greek, 'chrysum'. Made me think back to school days and copying from the 'banda' (sp?) machine, which was always damp with methylated spirits and then thinking ahead to the innovation of the 'Xerox' machine...was that why it was named - 'dry' copying??

:: pansy iii ::

Short and sweet on a Friday night...purple pansy for our lost icon...Prince...RIP x

:: allamanda ::

I really enjoy to discover the other names plants have.  This is the yellow trumpet vine or allamanda...or...cat's claw!

I spied its yellow sunshiney gorgeousness against the concrete wall of the Wintergarden at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens sometime last year.  The hanging flower in the backfround I have yet to figure out...watch this space!

:: solanum laciniatum ::

Saturday was a wonderful Autumn day, gifting sunshine and warmth and the time and space to get out into nature. Ahem, after maybe a rich and decadent Belgian Hot Chocolate on the deck at She Chocolate in Governor's Bay, overlooking said bay.

It was definitely felt that some 'walking off' was required, upon which we embarked on a rather...er...languid stroll around the bay, heading South towards Rapaki.  

This very same route was that which the famed NZ Children's Author, Margaret Mahy, regularly took with her dog.

 Along the way, there were many scrubby-looking coastal plants, so this 'poroporo' or 'kangaroo apple', as it is called in Australia, with it's bright blue-purple petals stood out like the proverbial!

Rather useful medicinally, the leaves can be rubbed into wounds caused by tattooing, the pith of dry stems used to treat bruises, decoctions of the leaves and inner bark to treat ulcers and other skin conditions and some alkaloids from the plant are used to produce hormones.

:: erysimum ::

The humble wallflower graces the garden with its presence in a very gentle manner - not taking up too much space, handling variations in conditions pretty well and exuding a delicate, yet strikingly spicy scent when close enough...yum!

This is one of the sweet wee plants I'd like to have more of in our gardens...there are some seriously dry areas that could do with the floral decoration!

:: hydrangea ii ::

Clearly, this cheerful mop-head hydrangea has a slightly alkaline soil in which to grow as prettily pink in. 

It was pure joy to notice it in all its glory this rainy morning on the dog walk!

:: choisya ::

Near the hebe hedge on the morning walk is a Mexican Orange Blossom bush, partially hidden, so a delight to take in its pure white star-shaped flowers amid the dappled shade.

Named because of its strong similarity to orange blossom it is grown as a pretty ornamental with the added benefit of being a prolific source of nectar for bees.

:: cynara scolymus iii ::

the humble bumble fully engaged in it's busy doings on this sunny Saturday afternoon...looks like it's wading through sea anenome fingers, rather than the fine purple of the artichoke flower.

:: hebe ii ::

Happy Friday Hebees

:: cosmos v ::

Still musing on the harmonious and impeccably-ordered world of the Greek ideal...another colour variety today...

:: cosmos iv ::

A wander about the garden in the glorious, crisp Autumn sunshine today and these delicate cosmos flowers came to my attention.  

It feels as though I have been waiting ALL SUMMER LONG and now HALF OF AUTUMN for these to bloom.  This is just what kind of warm season it has been - so up and down and cool then blasting heat that I think plants have been terribly confused, perhaps and have the gesture of 'halting' in my mind.

Now that they are finally blooming - in the middle of Autumn, mind - I am enchanted by the striking patterning that has been birthed. For these two lovely plants have popped up all of their own accord...and the flowers seem different to others I have previously planted...a very pretty mystery!

:: tagetes erecta ::

 We had the immense pleasure of attending not one, but two art openings in two days two weeks ago - how lucky were we?! On the way we wandered past all these glorious marigolds literally sparkling alongside the path - so bright and wondrous in their intensity.

 These ones have many uses, particularly interesting to me that they are used extensively in Mexico for decorations on the day of the dead, November 2nd.

Another really interesting use is for enhancing the colour of egg yolks, from the yellow lutein that is extracted and added to chook feed. Who would have thought?

:: dahlia vii ::

Today I've been thinking about a wonderful neighbour from Possum Bend, who passed last week.  My days have been whizzing by in a blur for the past several weeks and today I got time to pause and reflect for awhile. Pete would never have realised how much he gave to our little family, when we had moved ourselves so far away from our extended families eight years ago.  He was a dependable ear when we needed it, saw such beauty in the world, hunted and foraged in op shops to rival my own habit, was generous to a fault and enjoyed many 'eats' with us with the gusto of one fully appreciating food and company alike.

I haven't been able to locate the name of this dahlia variety and so I think from now on, I'll just call it 'Pete'. XXX

:: rosa xi ::

Big, crazy pink!

:: echeveria ii ::

a no words night...need a super-relaxing Saturday night...blog again tomorrow :-), promise X

:: nerine ::

These resilient flowers came across to Europe from South America back in the day, cousins of the Amaryllis flower, in boxes on a ship...

...that shipwrecked off the coast of Guernsey before its destination of the Netherlands...

...the boxes washed ashore and the bulbs took root about the coastline, establishing there...

...pretty good story and in that vein, instead of being named Imhofia( who the heck thought that one up???!!), they became 'nerines', after the mythological sea-nymphs, the 'nereids' of Greek Mythology...there now, much better :-)

what a relief!

:: linaria purpurea ::

I can't make up my mind whether I like this flower - purple toadflax - its name isn't particularly flowery (pretty-sounding), no, and its habit disturbs me as well...it kind of lolls about in weird corners of the garden - sort of surprising me. And, it has a sort of straggly, couldn't really be bothered feel about it...the colour is really rather fetching, though...

:: cactus ::

Thank you Huhana for this gorgeous photo of a cactus at her workplace in...sunny Auckland - look at that blaze of blue...

:: pansy ii ::

A little lovely antique colouring to this variety of pansy...very glad I bought two punnets...I will smile each time I see their faces peeping at me this Winter.

:: rosa x ::

 Miss P loves her roses and it is now a regular part of her birthday ritual, to receive a rose as part of her gift.  This one is from the year before last...

 ...it is an interesting one called 'chameleon' and like its namesake, it changes, not due to its surroundings, but just with the passage of time...blending and brightening and then softening again...

:: hebe ::

Hebe, the Greek goddess of youth, gave her name to this pretty flowering shrub, native to New Zealand, South America, French Polynesia and the Falkland Islands.  

A prolific bloomer through Summer and Autumn, hebes are very pretty and do a great job attracting and feeding many beneficial insects and butterflies.

These beauties are on a large hedge, on the morning walk rounds.

I love that the flowers are described as being arranged on a spiked inflorescence - how marvellous!

:: trifolium ::

Trifolium, or clover, I perhaps could have posted on St.Patrick's Day, being that it was he, who gave the humble clover the symbolism of the holy trinity and coined the name 'Shamrock'.

The name, trifolium comes from the Latin words which, surprise, surprise, mean 'three leaves'.  Although sometimes there is a lucky four-leaf and even rarer, are the 5 and 6 leaved clovers.  There are some fantastical numbers of leaved-clovers in the Guinness Book of World Records, but the notion of 56 just blows my mind!

I love this little plant because it hangs out on the ground, quietly going about some very helpful business in my garden. It has invaded the paths between my vegetable beds and I've decided, actually, that's very okay. 

For one, it helps provide nectar for our bees, who in turn pollinate the clover.  

Secondly, the clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant, which will serve my vegetable-garden, so long as it doesn't take over the growing space. 

Thirdly, the excess I weed away, goes to the hens, which gives them a pile of lovely fresh greens to munch on. 

Fourthly, it makes a very pretty, if slightly dangerous, path, all those lovely rounded bright green leaves running between the beds.

Thank you clover!

:: bromeliad ::

This is another of the amazing flowers blooming in the vast sub-tropical gardens at the village where my Nana lives in Central Auckland, the bromeliad.  The garden is all dark, leaves of all colours green, and there are these shots of colour, bursting out, made even brighter by the contrast of all that lush, dark foliage. It is a very beautiful setting and much more thoughtful than a swathe of grass - it almost feels a bit jungley.

One of the fascinating things I discovered reading about the Bromeliaceae family is that the varieties include tiny air plants - epiphytes - like Spanish Moss as well as terrestrial species like the pineapple!

I hope to happen on more of these in the future - they are so interesting, especially the plants that save water between the layers of their leaves and then host more life, creatures and other plants...I will keep you posted on that one!