It's A Beginning Of Winter Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ... June 2012

So it's time for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day once more.  Here in the northern tropics of Australia we're experiencing our usual glorious winter weather, as June is officially the first month of our very mild winter time.

Not only is it now winter time, but of course we're now well into our dry season for the year.  So far this month we've had 12 mms (1/2 an inch) , of rain which fell over the very first weekend (which I note happened exactly as it did last year when I wrote my June 2011 GBBD post).



Dry season this year really began back in April, when the rainfall total fell down dramatically from March's total of 556 mms (22 ins), which fell over 20 days;  to a total of 16 mms ( less than 1 inch), which fell over 2 days.  May's total was slightly higher than April's, with 66 mms (2 1/2 ins) of rain falling over 6 days.  But with only 12 mms falling so far this month and no predictions for more over the rest of the month, I think the dry season is now well underway.

Things are still fairly green around the place right now at the beginning of the dry, but in another month or two the effects of our dry season will be very evident with extensive browning off of the grass and the bushland as a lot of the trees drops leaves and the grasses die back.

There's only a few blooms to be seen in the various far-flung corners of the property.  Most of the flowering plants right now are close to the house, such as in the front garden beds, around the courtyard and out in the shadehouse.  Comparing blooms with last year's June GBBD post, the only real difference this year is less annuals, as I haven't potted up quite as many this year.

Well, let's start searching for the blooms on this mid-June early Winter's day.  I'll begin with the courtyard garden ...

I have a real soft spot for these Salvias.  These are Salvia 'Dusky Hues' and they just keep on performing beautifully.   They're putting on a pretty display once again.

There's only one of my Pelargoniums in bloom at the moment, Pelargonium 'Vogue Scarlet'.  The others have had a hard time coming back from the trials and tribulations of the wet season earlier in the year, but I'm slowly getting better at cosseting them through that hard start to the year.  I'm sure there will be many more Pellie blooms evident as we get closer to springtime.

So, while I am missing my favourite Pellie blooms, there's still plenty of other flowers to enjoy.  Next to the Pelargonium ... starting top right ... there's my dwarf Azalea, Zygocactus or Schlumbergera, Salvia, Pentas, another Zygocactus and, in the middle, my double white Impatiens walleriana.

There's also some lovely Petunias and Pansies out in the courtyard at the moment.  This is the best time of year for them here in my north-eastern corner of Oz.

My favourite Petunias out in the courtyard right now are definitely the big frilly doubles.   They are terrific blooms.

Another brilliant annual that's starting to put on a good show out there is this unusual Antirrhinum.

The courtyard is not quite as full of colour as it will be as in the coming winter months, but it's looking quite lovely as it is right now.

Out in the shadehouse ...

The hanging pots and baskets of Dragon Wing Begonias and Impatiens walleriana are providing lots of colour in amongst all that green foliage at the moment.  I really love all the reds and pinks in amongst that varying shades of green.

Elsewhere ...

There's loads of blooms on one of the two very, very tall Cadaghi Gums growing down beside the hill driveway next to the house.   Because the flowers tend to be located at the top of the tree, it's difficult to get close-up shots.

Next to the newly re-constructed pergola down beside the hill driveway, the Euphorbia leucocephala or Snowflake Bush, and the Hibiscus schizopetalus are blooming.

There are just a few blooms out in the driveway garden beds and the front tiered garden beds.  Starting at top left and going clockwise, there's Galphimia glauca, Russelia, Gerberas, Malvaviscus arboreus, Calliandras, the very last Plumeria blooms and the unusual flower heads of the Justicia brandegeeana and Pachystachys lutea.

Finally, I'm seeing flowers on the variegated Ixora  out in the front tiered garden beds.  They've been a long time coming.

I'm also seeing more blooms appearing on my Callistemon 'Pink Champagne'.  This young shrub seems to throw out new blooms every few weeks, which is not at all what I was expecting.  However, ever since it showed off its very first beautiful pink bottlebrush flower with the gold tips, it's just kept on blooming sporadically throughout the entire year.  I just can't wait until it matures fully and is covered in these stunning flowers.


I'm joining Carol for her Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day meme

and Gesine for here Blogger Bloom Day

I'm also joining these memes, using this blog and not my usual Bush Bernie's Garden blog.

Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers

Weekend Flowers

and Floral Friday Fotos

Snapshots of Mid-Autumn ... It's An April Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Continuing my Snapshots series ... highlighting each mid-season here in my dry tropics corner of Australia.

Conditions during April?

We've been having our typical mid-Autumn weather lately.  Every morning we wake to blue skies and slightly cooler temperatures, usually around the 25 deg C  (77 F) mark.  Whilst it's still rather hot during the middle of the day, reaching anywhere between 28 deg C (82 F) and 31 deg C (87 F), the evenings are getting slightly cooler as well.

One of the biggest differences between our mid-Autumn and the Summer/Early Autumn that's just passed, are the humidity levels.  It's so refreshing and invigorating when the humidity drops from the 80-98% down to the 60-75%.  What a difference it makes!   You can work outside without the sweat pouring down your forehead, neck and arms after only ten or so minutes of gardening effort.

The glorious Autumn days are most certainly here and the plants no longer look heat-stressed.  The only drawback are the rather gusty mid-Autumn winds.  Out here in the foothills we do tend to get some very, very windy days at this time of year.  I often wake to find potted plants tipped over, and Eucalypt branches scattered around the front yard.

Occasionally, during the day the skies cloud over, but we've had no rain at all so far this month, which is typical for most years.  Yes ... you can search all around Madam Laughing Kookaburra, but there's no sign of rain.  Last year was a little different, with record-breaking rainfall totals for the beginning of April.  This year however, it appears that our 'dry' season is back to its usual schedule.

As a matter of fact, the entire rainfall total for the beginning of this year has been considerably different to the atypical beginning of year we had last year.  This year the pattern definitely seems to be back to the usual ... we've had around 1050 mms or 42 inches of rain ... so no records broken so far this year.

I've been out in the garden every day over the last week and a half, enjoying this wonderful time of year, and finishing a lot of clearing out, cutting back, digging up and weeding that needs to be done after a long 'wet' season is finished. 

These are necessary jobs though after months of rain, heat and high humidity, but it means the garden beds around the place are looking a little naked. So many of the plants get a little out of control at the beginning of the year and need taming.  While I've been out there doing my taming act, there have been loads of little insects, butterflies and bees out and about, all doing their best to help the garden along as well.

There have also been the usual gardening buddies hanging around while I've been trimming and weeding and feeding and watering.

Agile Wallabies,

Pheasant Coucals,

Peaceful Doves,

 Figbirds,

Forest Kingfishers,

and Spangled Drongoes.
 
Unfortunately, the first term break is now over and I've already been back at school for pupil-free days, so I'm back to gardening mostly on the weekends once again.  At the moment, the garden is still reviving from the 'wet' and the summer, so there's only a little on show out there.

Starting with the trees around the property .... what's blooming?

The rather understated flowers of the Tabebuia pallida are on show again.  These trees have now fully recovered from last year's ordeal and are looking wonderfully healthy and happy once more.

The same is true for the Citharexylum spinosaum or Fiddlewood tree, which still has flower sprays on display and still leaving just a whiff of perfume in the air.

There are spiky lemony yellow rods on my Acacia in the tiered garden beds.  It's been a while since it bloomed, as it took ages to recover from being striped of all its foliage at the beginning of last year.

The Melaleucas in the bushland on the little foothill opposite to us are all in bloom and look fabulous right now.

Next, out in the Courtyard Garden ... what's blooming?

Not very much at all at the moment.  I've recently done a fair bit of trimming back or dead-heading of nearly all the potted plants out there, so the courtyard garden remains rather a dreary spot for now.  The pots of annuals are not well advanced yet, and they will not be moved out onto the courtyard until they're beginning to bloom.  

Here's the Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender',

and the Cleome spinosa 'Senorita Rosalita', up close.

The only other plants providing a little colour are the Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' and Wrightia,

and the Torenias, the Angelonias and the Begonia semperflorens.

Under the pergola,

there's a few Jasminum officinale blooms showing,

and one of the newly planted clumps of Spathoglottis plicata is blooming.

The first blooms on two of the newly planted Salvias have appeared.

 There's the hot pink

and the white.  (Thanks Titania ... if only I could remember their names!!!)


Now, which shrubs around the property are blooming?

Out in the front and side yards ...

Pentas lanceolatas continue blooming.

The first blooms on my dwarf Azalea  have appeared ... a little early this year.

The dwarf Allamanda cathartica 'Sunee' continues to bloom.  It's been blooming happily for months now.

There are still blooms on the Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose' and, of course, the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Snowflake' has blooms.

Down the driveway ...

The first of the Calliandra Haematocephala or Red Powderpuff flowers have appeared.

Right at the end of the hill driveway, there are still bracts and blooms on the Mussaenda philippica 'Aurore'.

In the top bed of the tiered garden beds, there are bracts and blooms appearing once more on the unusual Mussaenda 'Calcutta Sunset'.


Here and there in the garden beds ...

The Cuphea and Galphimia glauca make a great pair.

There are some pretty Impatiens walleriana blooms to be seen in some shady spots.

The Dianthera nodosa has started showing it strange Lady Finger flowers again.

The native Cordyline cannifolia in the tiered garden beds is throwing out flower sprays.

One of the real surprises out in the tiered garden beds was the unexpected blooming of my Hemerocallis 'Picotee Bubbles'.  This is not usual for mid-Autumn!!

Last of all, what's blooming in the Shadehouse Garden?

Not much.  The Curcumas have finished blooming a little early this year, and all the hanging pots of Impatiens walleriana are still springing back from the drastic haircut they all received a few weeks ago.

The ever-blooming Dragon Wing Begonias are still carrying on doing their thing,

as are the Costus productus.

The Globba winitii flowers still dangle from the end of the stems,

but the stars out in the shadehouse at the moment are my Dendrobium and Anthurium.


I'm joining Carol's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day,

Gesine's Blogger Bloom Day

Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers,

Tina's Weekend Flowers,

and Nix's  Floral Friday Fotos