At the bottom of a long narrow entrance, on the road we have a pair of olive trees. Brick piers. Not Stately Home Lions, cottage lions. We inherited the shocking pink watsonias with their graceful swan necks. But they have never looked this good before. This – is their year. We did plant the golden yellow Arctotis with the trailing silver leaves.
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| Entrance at the road |
We also inherited three Pride of India (from China). A beautiful arch is there, with a crappy view of our neighbour’s aviary. We have planted a
Plumbago, which I aim to prune echoing this arch.
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| Arch and aviary |
At the corner of the house and the garage, the garden proper starts. Blooming and lush and green, but the summer heat is waiting in the wings.
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| to the garden |
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| from the front door |
On our figs, which I forgot to prune in time, the first fruits are swelling steadily but still rock hard.
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| Basil and fig trees |
Elephant’s Eye Light Railway we planted with hundreds of pennyroyal plugs. Hmm. Too much work to try desperately to keep watered. So it has been interesting to see what nature does here. That fine grey bush has seeded itself, and there is another tiny one coming.
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| Elephant's Eye Light Railway. No trains for a while .... |
On the Karoo Koppie there are still vygies in mauve and yellows. The Euphorbia has swung from luminous lime green to an unappetising burnt butter colour. But the brick red Kalanchoe is dancing into the limelight.
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| Karoo koppie |
Our Mediterranean Sun Circle gave us One Orange. There are lots of lemons coming and TINY oranges for the next season’s crop. Most of the cuttings cooked, but the Salvia greggei has grown as tall as the citrus trees.
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| Lemon at Mediterranean Sun Circle |
The pond. Is still losing water briskly. So he is draining it again. Completely. Will be resealed. Properly this time. And in ?? months we will have a pond again. With WATER! In the meantime we are going to get a birdbath next week. The birds need it, now.
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| Waterlilies in waiting, again |
In the ash planters the Veltheimia has lots of flowers. One solitary orange Clivia but we hope they are now out of their sulk. Flowers on the winter bulbs are shrivelling, and the leaves are slowly following.
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| Ash planters with Veltheimia |
The garden is flourishing despite me. Well, what is missing, is cutting the paths clear.
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| overgrown path |
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| more of overgrown path |
This is a good image of our garden. In the foreground trees and a green understory from Mother Nature. Beyond the Dusty Miller hedge, a glimpse of Paradise.
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| from Plum Creek |
Paradise. The rose garden. Today it is overcast, so I try the trick of taking pictures in low light.
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| Paradise our rose garden |
Your rose garden is aptly named Paradise. I wish for a garden as lush and as big as yours.
ReplyDeleteDear Diana of EE, How wonderful your garden looks. The paths look beautifully 'overgrown' to me - just the right amount of blowsiness but still with an element of restraint. Your Rose Garden is indeed a triumph and your photograph shows it to be a very romantic area with such pretty colour combinations. I have so much enjoyed walking with you today!
ReplyDeletehello Diana, thanks for showing us around, the gracious swan-neck of the watsonias caught my eye...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tour of your wonderful garden. Your rose garden really is a glimpse of paradise, and I so admire the railway. This is something I dreamed of doing when my boys were young, though I think I would have enjoyed it as much as they.
ReplyDeleteWe have two birdbaths, and today many birds have been splashing in them. We had several bluebirds and a pair of carinal sharing the bath at the same time. I am sure birds will enjoy your birdbath too!
Diana, your garden is so very impressive. Thank you for the tour.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks so beautiful to me. I love it -- especially the watsonias. I didn't plant any this year and now you make me regret it.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to spring and summer with your lovely garden!
Good grief Diana! What a tour, stunning planting. Wait till later in the week and you'll see our gardens at the new house - it'll give you a giggle :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tour. It's nice to see plants in context.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to invite you to join a garden blog game. The rules are:
1.Inform who invited you
2.List 10 things you like to do
3.Invite another 10 bloggers to do the same.
I hope you enjoy it.
Garden Senses
I apologize. I don't think I included my blog name and URL with my invite to joing the garden blog game. They are:
ReplyDeleteGarden Sense at gardensenses.blogspot.com
Beautiful garden, and different plant. It must be a paradise for insect.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the walk around your garden. I like overgrown paths (unless it is raining) and yours look "laid-back" rather than overgrown :-).
ReplyDeleteIt would have been exciting to see a train wizzing around the track!
Diana, I'm finally getting caught up with more than a week's worth of your blog posts. I love all the pinks in your garden at this time of year. I suppose there must be a story about why a plant from China is called "Pride of India;" do you know what the story is? -Jean
ReplyDeleteJean - 'Pride of India, actually comes from China'. No I don't know the story, but I have Kristo Pienaar's book the South African what flower is that? to thank. Lagerstroemia indica, is from China. And L. speciosa says India and China. Don't know which we have.
ReplyDelete