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Monday 3 April 2017

APRIL arrived with cyclonic winds and lots of rain.




Early morning in the garden.

It is always hands on in this garden. Still needs a lot of cleanup from the last storm. 

I have also ordered a few new - old Tea roses,  as some of my roses had their swansong last year. They will be delivered at the beginning of June.


General Gallieni; Old Fashioned fragrant Tea  rose from 1899. It needs a frostfree position and will  produce blooms all year round. Happy in sun or shade, cupped fragrant flowers are a coppery red blend of salmon, apricot, pink, yellow and maroon. Olive green foliage. Height : 1.2m






Amelia Anderson; a pillar Tea Rose. Lightly scented, creamy – mauve to pink. Classic buds open to very full blooms with a muddled peony like centre. Recurrent. 2.5m x 1.2m.




Jean Ducher;  an elegant old tea rose; 1873, shrub, continuous flowering, scented, tolerates small amount of shade, some thorns, . Soft peachy-pink blooms




Marie Van Houtte; 1871
 large, globular flowers of lemon yellow, deeper in the center, with pinkish lilac suffusing the tips of the petals. Its dark, shiny  foliage is a good foil to the light flowers. 



St.Francis Xavier;



Rosette Delizy; 1922
 reaching no more than 1.2m  perfect for the smaller garden or pots.. The strongly colored roses have centers of ocher yellow with outer petals of carmine in a neat and shapely form. The flowers have a typical Tea fragrance and are produced with satisfying regularity.




Perle des Jardins; 1874

90x60 cm, warm climate, pots, fragrant, repeat flowering








Bishop’s Lodge Riverina Sunset, a lovely, Tea Rose, pink watercolour quality in its blooms and suggests the airy, pink light in the Riverina plains at the end of a beautiful day. Very recurrent. 1.2m x 1.2m.


Riverina Sunset; 


10/04/2017



A new lease of life after pruning and some TLC for the roses.










These hardy Salvia plants have flowered through the hot, dry summer and it seems they do not want to stop. I give them a haircut from time to time, a bit of organic fertilizer, like mulch and a little water and off they go and do their flowering stuff on and on.
The pink one I received as a cutting and I am not sure of its name, as there are so many similar ones. 
The blue/purplish Salvia is known under the odd and awkward name of Mystic Towers.





11/04/2017


Autumn in the subtropics is not a good bye to flowers or a welcome to rust flecked leaves. It is like a rehearsal of another spring, especially when the rain gods had a change of mind with their magic wand, plants get a new lease of life, show their lust for life and continue to flourish like their was no change of season. Autumn in the subtropics is welcome with its softer sunlight, its cooler nights and lets wear woolly socks as the spoiled for heat shiver in the slightest breeze. Ts



This part of the back garden was nearly dead this summer as it was so dried out, now in autumn after the rain it got a new lease of life. Tall tropical Salvia and Brillantaisia shrub can not wait to show of  soon their best flowers in colours of purple and pink.



When Mrs Bolton, Azalea/Rhododendron cross shows her best side I know it is the season called autumn.








Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, Flapjack, Paddle plant, 
desert cabbage, it thrives under the most funny names. It is just about to flower. I love its mealy appearance, big, bold leaves red around the rim, intensified in the cool season. 




I hope you enjoy the plants photographed yesterday. 

19/04/2017

A beautiful Autumn day.



Diversity in the garden. Plants can live happily together.

Native Palms Bangalow and Alexandra Palm leaves mingle with a tall  growing Hibiscus schizopetalus with its attractive red flowers and different coloured leaves of  climbing Philodendron. I enjoy how easily plants in general fit together without planning. Ts
20/04/2017

April is colourful, it sparkles  with pink and golden yellow, purple, blue and hues in between. Sure the days are getting shorter, the heat and humidity are dismissed to make  working in the garden very agreeable. Some plants have outgrown their welcome an d need pruning for next spring. Some plants say goodbye and leave some seed for their rebirth. Glossy foliage turns dull before returning to earth, Flower petals  artistically  carpet the place where they have spend  their glory days in summer. What has flourished slowly integrates into the earth again to nourish the next generations of plants. Fragments of fading light highlight leaves, buds and flowers until early darkness enfolds the garden into its nightly caress. Ts



Tall, tropical Salvia Pink Iceicle

This Salvia may soar over 2 m tall, in its build-up to its autumn/winter blooming period.  Its flowers of soft pink not that often seen in Salvias. An involucrata-type plant, it was a seedling discovered in Australia. It likes to grow in a sunny position. Prune it back after flowering in late winter and fertilize at the same time. It might be beneficial to also prune back hard in early summer to control its size. Propagate from cuttings taken in spring or autumn.





Abutilon
Abutilon x hybridum – Pink (Flowering Maple / Chinese Lantern). Exotic large shrub that has
pink flowers which occur All Year It has green foliage and prefers a part-full sun position in a general soil. Height:1.8 to 2 Width:1 to 1.5.
Much loved by honey eaters in my own garden.





Camelia sasanqua, tiny single petals. It is the first Camellia to flower in my garden together with Camellia setsugekko, single white flowers. Sasanquas are really easy to grow. They grow in clay and are never watered besides rain. S. can be grown in full sun. Mine are in dappled shade under tall trees. 



Tropical Salvia  like Pink Iceicle. 



Tropical Salvia Madrensis.



Pineapple Salvia /gladioly



Ruellia squarrosa



Self seeding Chia/Salvia


22/04/2017

Oh, so pretty, old China Rose "Old Blush"
has slept more or less over the hot, humid  and very dry summer.
Now it has recovered and the bush is full of petite, double flowers, each bud opens to a little treasure with a fine fragrance and subtle water colours.












26/04/2017



Pots are part of any garden, filled with some favoured plants or empty, perhaps ready for something new. I don't like plastic pots I prefer terracotta.










Geraniums love the cooler season. They languish in the hot and humid summer. 




The pretty new growth of a succulent called "donkey ears" Kalanchoe gastonis bonnierii.

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. 

William Shakespeare
 Who could ever say something so positive and nice, better than the great thinker and poet W.S.

29/04/2017



quickly a few more April pictures



No one will argue that our native flora is absolutely special and beautiful. Callistemon/Bottlebrushes.





Always liked the easy going and always good looking Tree aloe. 







Behind another one with very fleshy and spiny leaves, already in flower.

30/04/2017
Good by April  💚



Fresh, shiny leaves and lots of buds on Camellia japonica "Drama Girl"






Euphorbia millii since many years in my garden, happily, in bloom for most of the year.





Finishing with Rose crepuscule who is ready to show her best side.









😃

See you tomorrow, May be...

Believe it or not;
After April, May arrives, as simple as that, no effort at all we  just say good by April, Hello May.


©Photos/Text Ts #mygarden