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Thursday, December 15, 2011

It's An Early Summers' Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ... December 15, 2011.

Well here we are, it's the last month of the year ... and our first month of Summer Downunder!  Here in the north-east we've finally had a few showers of rain so it looks like the wet season is just sticking it's foot in the door and the dry season has left the building.



Our average daytime temps have soared in the last week, hitting around the 36 deg C (96 F) mark in the shade, and as if to match the temperatures, there are a few 'hot' colours out in the garden at the moment.


There's the brilliant fiery red of the Poinciana blooms ...


... the Russelia,


... the Callistemon


... the Justicia brandegeana, or red Shrimp Plant,


... and the Caladium bi-colour.

There's also some sizzling yellows and oranges around, such as


... Hemerocallis 'Shocking',


... Mussaenda 'Calcutta Sunset',


... Iris domestica,


... and the dwarf Allamanda, Allamanda cathartica 'Sunee'.

Elsewhere around the property, some plants that have been enjoying their first drink of precious summer rainwater actually have a real Christmassy feel about them, and look a little like Christmas decorations.


The first golden yellow racemes of flowers are appearing on my Cassia fistula or Golden Shower Tree ... special Christmas tinsel perhaps!


The Phyllanthus myrtiflorus or Waterfall Plant has beautiful fern-like foliage, and at the moment the pendulous branches are covered in what look like gorgeous tiny Christmas baubles. 


Perfect decorations for Christmas time.


There are wonderful colourful jewels to be spotted in one of the garden beds.  Portulaca to be precise, but our common name for this plants in Sun Jewels.  Thankfully the wallabies that seem to adore Portulaca, have now found grass to eat instead and have left these little plants alone.


In the same garden bed you will spot bright shining stars ...


...  the star-shaped flowers of the Galphimia glauca or Gold Shower Shrub, sometimes known as Golden Thryallis.


The Gazanias in the same bed seem to be recovering nicely after being nibbled down to the ground by hungry wallabies.

But there are also some wonderfully 'cool' colours to be found out and about the property as well.  Of course, there are some fabulous splashes of white ...


... such as Mussaenda philippica 'Aurore',


... Mandevilla 'White Fantasy',


... Murraya paniculata,


... and Planchonia careya or the Cocky Apple Tree.

Then there are my pretty pinks and purples ...


... such asThunbergia erecta 'Tru Blu',


... Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara',


... Scaevola,


and Duranta repens 'Geisha Girl'.

To enjoy a whole lot of other posts about mid-December gardens from around the world, make sure you visit Carol for her Garden Blogger's Bloom Day


and Gesine for her Blogger Bloom Day.


29 comments:

  1. Wow Bernie ~ Another wonderful post filled with so much beauty from your lovely gardens. I really love Phyllanthus multiflorus. I've never seen that before.

    Have a lovely Christmas season.

    FlowerLady

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  3. Oh my (once again)! You have such a large variety of plants in your garden, it kind of reminds me of our Botanical Museum in Helsinki. Of course the plants don't bloom there like they do in the tropics but that's the only place you can feel the idea of summer and see tropical plants in the wintertime.

    If I could have just one of these wonderful plants I would choose Cocky Apple Tree. So bold flowers! And the lovely black and yellow bird, I would like to have her in my garden too :)

    Just love this posting, you've beautifully arranged the images by the colour.

    Have a wonderful week!

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  4. gosh you always amaze me with the variety you have in your garden. I have never seen that orange yellow Bombay rose - I just purchased a red one for a friend, so I guess there are many more colors than the common pink and white. The golden shower trees are so beautiful and I love them next to the poinciana. In fact all the flowering trees are so beautiful this year.

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  5. What a lot of blooms! I love hot colors - and yours are gorgeous. The little bird is adorable! But I'm amazed at the Cocky Apple Tree bloom!

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  6. How lovely! Love all those beautiful blooms you have in your garden. And you have the most amazing Phyllanthus! Love those wonderful cherry-like baubles hanging down like that ;-D

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  7. You have such a wonderful variety of plants in your garden. Some I am familiar with, most not. And some that your grow easily year round, but that are seasonal here. I marvel at how you manage to get all of the work done to get a garden so beautiful.

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  8. Hi Bernie, you mean you have just started Summer and you already got the rain! That is so good if i were you. I wish our dry season is only one month. You still have the perfect blooms there, I can almost smell the blooms. I love your 2nd photo of the waterfall plant, it is so beautiful with those very thin petiols.

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  9. Lovely blooms, but I like the bird enjoying the rain the best!
    Lea
    Mississippi, USA

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  10. An embarrassment of riches, Bernie. I have never seen a Waterfall Plant or a mussaenda the colour of 'Calcutta Sunset' before. Just lovely.

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  11. OMG, how I wish to be there. I'd spent one x-mas down under, some years ago. I'd very much prefer to feel the sun on my belly instead of having frozen toes.

    Greetings from the little garden of horror

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  12. Oh, so many beauties! We can grow some of what you profiled today here in Central Texas (USA)--just not now, as we're beginning our winter. However, we don't have issues with wallabies munching our plants... Lovely photos!

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  13. What an amazing array of beautiful blooms - I thought I had a few good ones but yours are top of the pops! LOVE the Poinciana blooms, your Iris domestica, the Mussaenda philippica 'Aurore' is insanely gorgeous ... What a beautiful showing!!
    Happy GBBD :)

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  14. What wonderful warm colours you have in your garden - lovely to see from dull wintery England. I particularly like the Poinciana and the Waterfall plants which we don't have here

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  15. Beautiful post...I just love the Phyllanthus multiflorus...amazing!

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  16. Thanks you Flowerlady. The Phyllanthus is looking the best I've ever seen it this year.

    You're so very welcome, Giga. It's nice to know that the blooms in my garden are brightening up your day.

    Geranium, you can pop by any time to get your flower fix during your winter. One advantage of gardeing in the tropics is that we see blooms all year round. The Cocky Apple is one of my favourites too.

    Africanaussie, that Mussaenda only came out last year but it disappeared off the nursery shelves very quickly. I, too, am impressed with the variety of colours in Mussaendas too. I'm on the lookout for more.

    HolleyGarden, thanks for dropping by and for your comment. The Cocky Apple bloom is rather special.

    Stephanie, yes you're so right about the Phyllanthus blooms looking like cherries which is a Christmas time treat for us here.

    Ann, I appreciate your kind comment. I enjoy the work I do around the garden very much, so it never feels like a chore although, at times, it can be hard work.

    Andrea, yes it's wonderful how soon the rains came this summer. We've had some decent downpours in this last week and suddenly the whole place looks lovely and green.

    Lea, that little bird is the Sunbird and we see them every day. They really are the sweetest little things.

    Marisa, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit and got to see some new plants.

    Tina, count yourself lucky you don't have the hungry wallabies there. They've been an absolute pest this year.

    Christine, thanks so much. I have a soft spot for the white Mussaenda. It's actually my favourite.

    Patientgardener, glad you enjoyed all the warmth. We certainly do have lots of warm colours here during our summer.

    Scott, the Phyllanthus is putting on a fantastic display this year. It's been a real treat to see it.

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  17. I think I'm jealous of just about every one of your flowers. I love that portulaca, I wish it got hot enough here for them to do well!

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  18. About as nice to look at the beautiful flowers and butterflies, while in our gray and sad.Thank you for t o and greet

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  19. Hey, I had that red shrimp plant in my post - although I must say yours looks better than mine. It's one of the few things blooming here in my Southeast Texas garden in mid-December. Your summer garden seems to be overflowing with flowers.

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  20. I deleted my comments unnecessarily Polish, and I put GOOGLE translation, before reading your response to him. I see that it was perfectly understood what I meant. I'm sorry and greet.

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  21. aloha,

    i love all your summer blooms, what a feast

    thanks for sharing these beauties.

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  22. I'm loving all your orangey-red blooms! So many plants I've never heard of before. I've spent one Christmas in Sydney when I was an exchange student in high school & have to admit it was bizarre for it to be summer in late December.

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  23. My goodness - I'm stunned by all this extravagant beauty! Wet summers do large lush flowers make to bloom indeed. Isn't it fun to wander the world on bloom day? I'm in a Mediterranean zone approaching the shortest day, and there you are at the opposite end of your year. Thanks so much for your wonderful pictures - what is that bird? Most of our birds are brown, to match the chaparral!

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  24. What an abundance...
    I guess rain is most welcome where you live!

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  25. Beautiful blooms! I love your tropical gardens. I had seen the dwarf Allamanda, Allamanda cathartica 'Sunee'on vacation and was wondering what is was...just beautiful!

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  26. The rainy season - so nice to see things come to life. Though I can imagine the humidity, too!

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  27. Gorgeous blooms and gorgeous photography!

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  28. Wow, your garden looks so wonderful and it is bursting with the colours of summer. I love all the blooms featured here.

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  29. Lovely collection, Bernie, and I'm sure your summer flower assortment will keep growing and growing all season.
    I like the Portulaca a lot. We don't have that one here.
    David/ :-)

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