Lagerstroemia speciosa - Crepe Myrtle, Queen's Myrtle or Pride of India

This beautiful lady is an outstanding sight at the end of a long, hot, humid summer. 

Not to be confused with the Lagerstroemia indica which is also commonly called Crepe Myrtle, this deciduous flowering tropical tree can reach around 12 metres in height.  She is the grand old lady or the Queen, if you will, of the Crepe Myrtles!  She is grander in size and her blooms are larger.

I'm lucky enough to have two of these growing in my garden and both are now about 6 metres tall so they are going to be a wonderful sight in a few years when in full bloom.  The Lagerstroemia speciosa gets trusses of mauve blooms that appear in late summer. The five petals are ruffled, with a crepe-like texture of course like all Crepe Myrtles.

In winter the smooth rounded mid-green leaves turn a russet red before falling.  It's the closest we come to autumn colours here in the north-east of Australia.

But it is the flowers that hold all the charm of this terrific summer bloomer.

 

 

Portulaca grandiflora - Sun Jewels

It's truly a jewel of a plant for any tropics garden ... Portulaca grandiflora is a  fabulous ground cover. 

It's low growing with rather fleshy leaves and brilliantly coloured flowers.  There are so many stunning colours ranging from white ...

 through to yellow ...

 orange ...

purple, pink and apricot.

 Some plants have bi-colours.

They are happy to grow in dry and hot conditions ... they love the full sun and a well-drained soil ... and they thrive on neglect.

It's a plant that doesn't need to be coddled.  Just water them when they're a bit dry and feed them lightly even now and then.  When it gets a bit leggy and looking rather scraggly, give a trim.  On top of all this, they are easily propagated ... just break off part of the stalk that's about to flower or is not flowering and stick it in some propagating mix or even straight into the ground.  It's that easy!

All Portulacas need sun for their flowers to open. The flowers of older varieties closed up around noon. But most plants sold today have blooms that stay open all day, only closing at night and on cloudy days.

Murraya paniculata - the Mock Orange or Orange Jasmine

This evergreen rounded shrub with its rich glossy green foliage is such a familiar sight in gardens here.  It is most often used as hedging ... but in my garden these shrubs stand alone in the outdoor garden beds.I have several that are rapidly turning into very tall shrubs and a couple of the miniature version.

It's commonly called 'Mock Orange' for two reasons really ...Murraya is in the same family as Citrus so when you crush the leaves there is a citrusy smell.  But it also has flowers that look a lot like orange blossoms.

They are gorgeous little creamy white flowers, but it is the sweet heady scent from these blooms that is the real feature of this shrub and makes it such a fantastic choice for a tropical garden.

The scent fills the air from late spring right through summer when this shrub is covered in these highly perfumed white flowers.  It's a highlight of my day when I'm sitting on the verandah and the scent wafts up from the garden bed below.  This photo shows one of the miniature Murrayas in amongst a bed of pentas.

Another of this shrub's fantastic features is that it will literally grow anywhere ... full sun, shade, in almost any soil type and it will tolerate drought, humidity as well as torrential rain.  However, that is also it's big drawback ... it can become widespread very quickly.  It's considered an environmental weed in my region and often pops up all over my property. The flowers are followed by small bright orange-red berries and these are a very attractive snack for birds and they then disperse the seed far and wide.

I haven't as yet pulled out any of the new plants as I'm quite happy to get more of them for free!