Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Along the garden path.


Dahlia in summer.


The love of gardening is a seed once sown, never dies. 
Photos/Text Ts

Flowers in the kitchengarden.

Pumpkin flowers.



Pumpkins, like other squash, originated in northeastern Mexico and the southern United States. The oldest evidence were pumpkin fragments dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC found in Mexico. Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo.

Photo/Text Ts

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

The beauty of native Australian plants.


Brachychiton discolour
Native to northern NSW and Queensland. In early summer it drops its leaves while it produces big bell-shaped flowers.


Never-ending work makes a garden grow. Ts

Photo/text Ts

Monday, 4 May 2020

The potting shed.


It was fun to draw and paint an interpretation of the potting shed.

A garden is a commitment to the plants, to water, to weed, to prune and finally to enjoy every task.

In 307/306 BCE the Athenian philosopher Epicurus bought a house with a garden just outside Athens along the road from the Dipylon gate to the Academy. 
Other great founders of philosophical schools had chosen public areas for their teaching: Plato established his school near the Academy. Isocrates and Aristotle taught in the Lyceum. Zeno often met his students in the Stoa Poecile. In contrast, Epicurus’ hedonistic and materialistic philosophy flourished and grew amidst the privately owned groves of his Garden. The Garden itself – apart from the city, a private space, and pleasurable – 

Sunday, 3 May 2020

Old Rose, Irene Watts;


I love this rose.

Bred by Pierre Guillot (1855-1918) (France, 1895)

China / Bengale.  
Salmon-pink to light pink.  Mild to strong, sweet fragrance.  up to 50 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Large, very full (41+ petals) bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  
Short, well-branched.  Small foliage.
Height  (45 to 80 cm).  Width (60 cm).   Shade tolerant.  -.  Can be grown in the ground or in a container 


Here in the subtropics winter smells of roses and the hot sun becomes powdered sunshine. Ts

Photo/Text Ts




Tiny pink Rose





This tiny beauty with a wonderful fragrance grows on the fence between my lovely neighbours, Claire and Mary. When the climbing shrub is in flower I pick some.

Cecile Brunner is a climbing rose with bushy, vigorous growth.
This tall growing rose needs support and is perfect for covering a strong metal frame, pergola or arbour. 
 - 1872-1900
The mist has left the greening plain, 
The dew-drops shine like fairy rain, 
The coquette rose awakes again 
     Her lovely self adorning. 
 
The Wind is hiding in the trees, 
A sighing, soothing, laughing tease, 
Until the rose says "kiss me, please" 
    'Tis morning, 'tis morning. 

Photo/Text Ts



Wonderful Penta.
(Pentas lanceolata)  The plant may reach 1.5 m, but I do not let it grow such hight. I prune it back. The flowers are generally pink, red or white, but new cultivars have introduced tones of purple and lavender and mixed blooms such as pink with red centres. Mine do hybridize resulting in nice colours.  
This old-fashioned plant is a favourite in my garden. The nectar-rich flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies, so you will have the added bonus of enjoying watching these visitors to your garden. The flowers are also good for cutting, lasting a week or more in a vase.
Pentas flower almost year-round, and thrive in full sun or part shade. Pruning is a necessity to keep them blooming.

Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them. 
 Chines proverb.   

Photo/Text Ts

Autumn;

In the southern hemisphere, bees have the opportunity to collect pollen and nectar throughout the year.  Camellia japonica. Mayb...