25 June, 2010

June flowers in red and yellow

Starting last Christmas, around the 25th, my camera and I stroll thru the garden to see what is in bloom this month. Not an exhaustive archive, nor when did it open. Just the OTT, in your face impression. Right now it is red flowers. And yellow flowers. Or red AND yellow flowers for a change? June, winter, is our garden at its most flamboyant and exuberant. Everything that is green is growing. With a lush ankle deep layer of Oxalis 'three-leafed-clover' everywhere it can be.


The OTT prize goes to the Japanese flowering quince we inherited.
Because it is a flowering shrub it is a wash, a billow, a tsunami of pink coral salmon, not quite red, but much louder. Noel who lives in Hawaii has a hot-loud-proud meme. This month we are washing in on our tsunami of quince flowers.


Second prize goes to the flaming torch of the Kniphofia, bought as yellow, I guess the lower flowers do mature to yellow.


We have Strelitzias. Nicolai which is at the creeping stage, and will get hugely tall (with quiet white and blue flowers). The original species regina, and also Mandela's Gold in yellow and a gentler blue. The species with its implausible combination of electric orange and blue used to match our old flag, William of Orange tracing back to the country's Dutch roots.


The Karoo Koppie is awash with red aloes, and a carpet of yellow Oxalis. More yellow each day as the waves of flowers open. We have the aloes we brought with us from the first garden, and a few special ones we added when the Karoo Koppie was planted, and the third wave rescued from our neighbour. Who ripped them all out, off to the dump, just before they flowered, and who now has a blank scorched earth patch inside his side gate?!


Our mostly indigenous succulents (there's also an Aeonium in there for the maroon leaves) offer a multi-layered tapestry with their leaves. Regardless of whether there are flowers or not.


Snow on the mountains, but never frost in the garden, gives us the best of both worlds, with the leaves dancing to the red and yellow tune, when you turn to them.


We have, almost always, some roses. The newest member has the twee name of Tiny Tots. I needed to replace a miniature, which was cooked last summer. This one smells delectable, flowers in cream and apricot. Altogether good enough to eat. Bedded down in a thick layer of peanut shell mulch, as recommended by Ludwig's Roses.  

Above Courvoisier, below Casanova, Karoo Rose

But my first love as we enjoy our winter, with a fire blazing in the evening, and sunny blue sky gardening days is this. Lachenalia rubida. One of our MANY Western Cape indigenous bulbs. Exactly the same luminous colour as that Japanese flowering quince we began with.


Gail at Clay and Limestone has a Wildflower Wednesday meme, so I'll tuck my Lachenalia in there. Noelle my A to Z plantlady (she thinks it stands for Arizona, bit I'm not from the USA) has a monthly garden bouquet meme - for me, June's vase is virtual, with My garden as the virtual container.

Pictures by Jurg and Diana, words by Diana of Elephant's Eye

18 comments:

  1. "Snow on the mountains, but never frost in the garden" - sounds idyllic, and June is looking very nice there indeed! I love especially your variety of succulents.

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  2. You have the most luscious plants~and I love reds and yellows! I am so glad you joined the wild flower celebration;you are giving me a great education about your indigenous plants! gail

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  3. A joy to visit your lovely garden. Thank you for sharing your June parade of beauties.

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  4. Truly a gorgeous garden. Lovely photos and such inspiration!

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  5. Dear Diana of EE, Winter? It sounds and looks like the height of summer to me! Never has my garden been such a mass of colour. Where am I going wrong? Do tell!!

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  6. Diana, I love this post of yours! Foliage and blooms plus a corner of your garden - a lot of things to see. Agave is a plant I would love to have.

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  7. Hi Diana...I must admit I love Strelitzias 'cuz they're so exotic compared to my every day marigolds.

    I must thank you also for sending me out on an excavating journey. I dug up another fascinating blog, Noel in Hawaii.

    Gorgeous photos of your lovelies.

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  8. I really love your June garden, all those flowers are just gorgeous! I especially love your aloe flowers along its surroundings in that area! I would love to have some area like that in my garden! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Wow, such an enthusiastic response!

    Edith - it is that weirded out feeling in a Mediterranean climate. After a long hot dry summer, EVERYTHING explodes like a Northern spring. And I have to remind myself - it's winter!

    Tatyana - the 'teeth' are on Aloe ferox. All aloes here. My agaves went, after they attacked me.

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  10. Hi Diana: Been out of it for a few days, just got caught up reading your blog. Really enjoyed the visit.

    Enjoy your day,
    John

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  11. How delightful, Diana, that your garden is at peak in winter! No frost has many advantages, like those succulents. What a divine shot of a delicious garden. Well done! :-)
    Frances

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  12. For someone whose garden is usually under several feet of snow in winter, the idea of having all these gorgeous blooms is amazing. I dream of someday having a place where I could grow a Sterlitzia in a pot; they're such beautiful plants. -Jean

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  13. Diana, You are so clever to create such a stunning 'virtual' bouquet. I love the idea of the garden as a virtual container. Now I can enjoy a bouquet every day without picking a single bloom. Pam

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  14. Three memes in one post: you are the queen of memes! For sure I couldn't participate in the hot-loud-proud meme, nothing like that here unless you want to count the yellow play slide. Mostly pinks, blues, and purples right now.

    Congrats on one year of blogging.

    Christine in Alaska

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  15. I have flowering quince which was here when we moved in many years ago. It looks exactly like yours - surely a relative if not the very same! Ours blooms in early spring, March here. Your winter seems perfect, with snow on the mountains but no frost in the garden. How beautiful is your garden this time of year!

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  16. Pam - you could also call the virtual bouquet lazy (we do have a few roses in the house, but not a blogworthy bouquet)
    Christine - meme queen? Not really, but it is a way of showcasing a few blogs I enjoy visiting. (and 3 in 1 is lazy/easy)

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  17. what a delight Diane to have a garden like this the flowers are stunning for it being your wintertime - snow on the mountains and no frost! I'm quite partial to Aeonium - I would love to grow the dark coloured leaf one someday as a houseplant.

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  18. Thank you for your gold chain link -- it is the perfect complement to the sulfur mining link.
    And thanks so for posting my URL.
    Best wishes,
    Elizabeth

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Photographs and Copyright

Photographs are from Diana Studer or Jurg Studer.
My Canon PowerShot A490

If I use your images or information, it will be clearly acknowledged with either a link to the website, or details of the book. If you use my images or words, I expect you to acknowledge them in turn.


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