:: narcissus viii ::

...more promise of flowers to come from these voluptuous, if petite, paperwhite or jonquil buds...

...much more green-cream than I had them imagined in my mind's eye...

...often I am overcome with an "Anne of Green Gables" sense of wonder, awe and reverence for just the small things...

...pretty easy to feel content when it's the small stuff that gives me so much pleasure...

...have to admit to 'rescuing' some of these bulbs from the, ahem, er...'red zone'...early on in our time here in Christchurch...in some streets there there are whole gardens left behind framing properties with neglected, weed-infested, rampant plantings all around the boundaries with just the eerie space where the house used to reside...

...at the time we felt it was ok to populate our almost completely bare property by carefully 'adopting' some of these plants, respectfully only taking a few and leaving most...we hope it was an ok thing to do!!!

As the plants are now establishing in our little garden, it is a true delight to anticipate and savour the beauty and goodness of them as they arrive each year, a little bigger and more robust, reproducing and getting stronger...

...and... today is the end of August...so that officially means 'goodbye Winter'...rock on Spring!

:: narcissus vii ::

We've been in Christchurch for 2 and a half years now...this is our third Winter.  

One of the things I truly look forward to through most of Winter is the flourish of gorgeous Spring flowering...and I think I actively seek them out - almost craning my neck in every direction to notice the newness and changes, even the sniff of a change and eyeing off tiny buds...it's exciting for me! (am still a safe driver, by the way - most of this craning is done while out walking Miss Olive!)

Well, Spring is almost, almost here...in the parks and gardens around here the first blossoms are floating gently in their slender-armed tree boughs and bulbs are bursting left, right and centre...magnificent.

In our own garden the pace is a little slower...am still eagerly anticipating our apple, peach, apricot and pear blossoms and the many bulbs I have been slowly building up over the past few Winters...

...these daffodils are so close...maybe tomorrow...will let you know!

:: pansy v ::

no spray-misting bottle here - just Mother nature's handiwork captured by being out with the camera at the right moment earlier this morning - so glorious to behold the magic of nature...

...and one of the reasons I enjoy taking the time each day to spy on the flowers...

...don't these soft and pretty antique-coloured garden pansy buds remind you a little of sun bonnets?

:: camellia viii ::

If the flower colour of this delicate pink camellia were a reflection of how I'm feeling, then this subdued, pale pink is where I'm at today...

...recovery from doing 3 yoga classes in three days and maybe just pushing my bod a wee bit further than I'd realised...in one of those lusciously-warm and enveloping hot yoga classes...

...time for an epsom salts bath, I think...

:: magnolia liliifloria ::

Tulip Magnolia

:: camellia vii ::

Thank goodness it's Friday! A cool and damp day here and pretty low-key...some movement ( a walk then Yin Yoga), warmth (the yoga!) and a session with the acupuncturist...then the afternoon's chores...ready for a quiet night in...Happy Friday.

:: daphne ii ::

...it happened this morning in the soft, chilly and gusty grey walk in the park with Miss Olive...

...as we wandered back, happily satisfied by our amble...

(me particularly satisfied with a canine that was sufficiently-well-behaved she was able to be off-leash for most of the walk! NEWSFLASH!!)

...and looking at nothing in particular, my olfactory senses were brought sharply into focus...that brave, sharp, sweet jolt to the nostrils that signifies only one lovely flower...dear, darling Daphne!

...ah, just what I've been waiting for!

:: camellia vi ::

Today is not at all blue skies and crisp, glorious sunshine but rather cast with a fuzzy smudge of grey-white glare and a shrill blast of icy cold to further reinforce the uninviting backdrop of the day...

...therefore, a camellia bud from a few days ago in Schiaparelli pink is needed!!

:: prunus persica ii ::

this peach tree, across the road is an outrageous 'riot' of blossom today...there were even a couple of brave bees and a bombus bombus fluttering about...just a wee bit out of my reach of a pic today...maybe tomorrow!

:: narcissus vi ::

The proud son of the river god and a nymph, Narcissus was a hunter from the region of Thespiae, in Greece. He spurned all those who fell in love with his handsome countenance, causing much pain. The goddess Nemesis saw this behaviour and led Narcissus to a pool, whereupon seeing his own reflection he fell completely in love...alas...what to do about a reflection for a lover? A love that wasn't able to be returned...there are variations to the versions of the myths from this point, but basically, Narcissus dies - either pines away while staring at his own reflection or commits suicide.

In that place, it is said these delightful blooms sprang up!

:: prunus persica ::

 Although the name prunus persica implies that the peach is from Persia or what is known as Iran today, it actually is native to North Western China.

And, it is an ancient plant - fossilised 'endocarps' - or peach stones - have been found in late Pliocene deposits, aging them to approximately 2.6 MILLION years old!!

These peach stones exactly matched modern peach stones.

Every year when blossom first really begins unfurling left right and centre, I can't help feeling so buoyed up by the wonder of nature and what feels like the true harbinger of Spring.

When the fruiting plants start flowering, Spring has to be on the way!

This particular tree is a 'ruby' peach - or as we knew them as kids - the 'Blackboy' Peach - for its beautiful portwine staining, colour and rich flavour.

:: camellia v ::

Camellia - the super-bright Saturday flower!

:: chionodoxa ::

...or 'glory-of-the-snow' - how sweet is this little flowering bulb...I've been walking past these for weeks and weeks now and the sun is usually so full on them that they are not great to attempt a photo of...

...I thought these were a carpet of crocus - but their more star-like petals are much less cup-like than crocus...a wonderful starry display, never-the-less!!

:: narcissus v ::

these are my first (late) erlicheer or jonquils coming out in our garden underneath an espaliered apple tree...better late than never!

:: blossom ii ::

I'm not at all sure what this blossom is - I have no recollection of the what this plant produces, even though I walk past several times each week - and it is hedged!? So we will have to wait and see to identify it...

...regardless, it is a delightfully-gentle producer of blossoms well-spaced and the whole hedge now looks like a marvellous Japanese floral print!

...from peering more closely, I am amazed at how much colour is in each flower, - pink, dark red and a golden yellow - even though from a distance I read the blossom as 'white'...interesting!

:: angelica ::

My parents are on a wonderful holiday at the moment in Iceland and keep coming across this beautiful white flowered plant all over the place...and thought it was perhaps a kind of Icelandic 'Queen Anne's Lace'...

...doing a little research I discovered that these frothy white flowers are in fact angelica...

...there is a celestial appearance with the starburst-like flower umbels on stalk...

...angelica is native to the Northern Hemisphere and does grow as far north as Greenland, Lapland...and Iceland!

...I remember it as a child, being a decorative feature on cakes - the leaves I think were candied, maybe? or sugared, perhaps?

...apparently it is used by many different peoples around the world medicinally and also the fleshy stalks and young shoots and leaves as food... 

...photo credit today to Mum and Dad - thanks :)  !!

:: camellia iv ::

random facts for the day: camellia oil is commonly used to clean and protect the blades of cutting instruments and in Japan is used in hair care...!

:: daphne ::

a close up of something I'm waiting and waiting and waiting for...daphne to decide timing is right for her flowering...ah the sweet, sweet fragrance of daphne...

...I've planted this bush by the gate through to the letterbox...opposite the smelly rubbish bins...!

:: leucojum ii ::

Simple Snowbells on a Saturday

:: verbena iv ? ::

a few houses down this interesting plant lives on a fenceline, growing about 2m tall...I think it is a deciduous verbena? I do like the protuberances of the buds, bursting up and out, reminds me of small trumpets! Ready for Spring here!

:: xerochrysum bracteatum iii ::

A busy day out and about...pic of this truly everlasting daisy or strawflower only today!

:: trachelospermum jasminoides ::

Another kind of jasmine today...this particular one from the tropical holiday we recently had. A complete contrast to the temperature and feel of the day here today.  The house is crawling with purposeful people installing our double-glazing and while it is 10 degrees outside, finally, it is now only 9 degrees INSIDE as nearly all of our windows are propped up OUTSIDE while the process of retro-fitting continues.

Also known as confederate jasmine, confederate jessamine, chinese ivy, trader's compass or chinese star jessamine, star jasmine - as I know it - IS available in garden centres here - it behaves itself in New Zealand!

As well as covering a wall or fence with a mass of beautiful white flowers and lush, glossy green foliage, star jasmine has a truly delicious scent that is distilled into a luscious perfume oil from the flowers and used in some very precious perfumes.
Must see where I could try to grow some here in the garden in Christchurch...

:: jasminum ::

Fragrant with a sensual, stop in your tracks kind of scent and with uses that range from tea to perfume, Jasmine is an easy plant to love. 

In New Zealand it is not sold in garden centres anymore as it is considered an invasive weed, once it arrives in our native forest land or 'bush', jasmine takes hold and flourishes a wee bit too much...shame :(

...luckily, I have spied it growing in several places near here and am enjoying it as it begins flowering again...mmm...

:: geranium iv and water droplets ::

a rainy and cold, cold, cold kind of day with just more rain coming...quiet in the house with a sick child propped up on the sofa, the dog curled on her bed...and the flowers covered in raindrops :-)

:: heliconia iii ::

and simple for this Sunday, too - just the pic! Hope your weekend has been wonderful :-)

:: plumeria iii ::

something simple for a Saturday afternoon...while I dream of the possibility of...snow...

:: gardenia ii ::

 this is me most mornings in Winter...

...and sometimes this...checking it out...is it ok to actually get up and face the day?...

YESSSS!!!!

:: aloe ferox ii ::

giving myself a daily floral focus I believe is honing my observational skills...like a heat-seeking missile I am all eyes at the flowers...this tree aloe or 'cape', 'red', 'tap' or 'bitter' aloe I walk past every day...

and it is only this year that I noticed the flowers beginning to bloom as they are now - all swollen buds and powdery stamens and 'come get me' in their amazing fiery glow...gorgeous!

:: rhododendron ::

 not one of my favourite flowers...I think I object to the shapeless shrubbiness of the rhododendron bushes...?

 but who can resist looking closely and noticing the tissue-like petals folded so carefully into their buds, packed so tightly and yet so delicate-looking that the sun streams right through?

and then the fantastic markings inside...

:: viola odorata ::

 I had hoped for a frosty framing for the first peek at one of my favourite flowers, the violet, this morning as we had a, shall I say, 'generous' frost.

But by the time I was back from walking Miss Olive, the frost was already disappearing and instead the violets were coated in the slightly more challenging to photograph fine droplets of misty water!

 I was so excited to remember that I had planted lots of little violet plants in Spring last year...and I hoped there might be...some...

...well, wishes do come true and I was met with a most agreeable sight surrounding the old apricot  tree - there was what could almost be described as a 'swathe' of violet plants covering the ground...and also exciting...

...the daffodil bulbs planted 2 years ago, which gave a small display last year, seem to have gathered strength and each one has 5-7 leaf shoots driving straight upwards from the midst of all these lovely, sweet-smelling violets...ah, Spring!

:: sagittaria ::

ah, Katniss!

What a sweet triumverate of perfection is this simple edible aquatic plant, spied at the edge of the pond, near the lotus...

...as well as its pure and clean zen-like appearance, I love its names. Sagittaria or arrowhead, duck potato, swan potato, tule potato, wapato or wapatoo, omodaka or katniss(!)...

...having enjoyed reading 'The Hunger Games' and the spirit of the main character, Katniss, (an...archer, hunter and forager, among her many talents) - I now understand the suitability of her name...

...apparently the tubers, which are harvested either early Spring or late Autumn are able to be eaten, once boiled, and can even be made into chips (or crisps) and look strangely like 'Pringles' in shape, colour and texture...hmmm!