My contribution to Gail at Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesdays aim around the
25th, since I wrote my first one for Christmas Day. The garden is blooming
in considered and thoughtful blues. A wash of blue sage. A scattered carpet of Plectranthus spurs. Drifts of blue and
white Plumbago. Sparked by
pelargoniums in pure white, gentle pinks and salmon sprinkled with gold dust
where the sun catches it.
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| Plectranthus neochilus |
After our engineer friend reset my camera, instead of it whining at me – What do you want me to look at? I have sharp pictures of blue flowers. Plectranthus neochilus smells funky, and blooms at ankle height causing its details to be missed.
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| Blue sage |
The blue sage still carries the starring role
at Paradise and Roses, but the roses are coming forward and edging it aside.
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| Garden lizard |
I’m frequently surprised by our lizards. They
dash forward for a drink when I water the roses. Um it’s GREY water! And they
climb up thru the shrubs to leap after their dinner. This one glared at me – I
was about to eat that for lunch!
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| Mediterranean Sun Circle |
It was too hot for our Frankfurters to lie in
the sun, but the umbrella says Summer is Here. I had cut back the neglected
grass along the path.
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| Strelitzia Mandela's Gold |
Mandela’s Gold Strelitzia is putting the Paradise
in Paradise and Roses.
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| Pelargoniums |
My pelargoniums are all species. No icky OTT
horticultural hybrid horrors. The fresh white seems to be continually in bloom.
I’m encouraging the salmon to spread, vivid colour in a quiet turning to autumn
garden.
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| Plumbago |
At a glance, what the human eye sees first is
blue Plumbago. But the camera is
singularly not impressed.
I haven’t quite got that trick of getting roses
to bloom on command. Now the house guests are a few days into their journey
home, now, I can pick a bowl of fragrant roses!
Pictures by Diana (and Jurg)
words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
- wildlife gardening in Porterville, near Cape Town in South Africa
(If you mouse over brown text, it turns shriek pink. Those are my links.)
I like your garden very much. All the plants you mention can grow here. Right now with winter, things are a little shabby BUT not as bad as they were last year. Our lizards are very funny as well. They are everywhere and I've seen them come out now as it is warming up. Plumago is one of my favorites in the garden.
ReplyDeleteI love my virtual walks through your garden. Today I waited with the cats in the shade while you photographed the beautiful flowers.
ReplyDeleteJane x
The photo of Chocolat waiting for the train is beautiful! Like a postcard :)
ReplyDeleteHow tall are your Nandina's?
Diana - Your photographs are always wonderful. Unfortunately, my Canon AE1 bit the dust early last year and was replaced with a cheap Kodak - finances dictating the choice.
ReplyDeleteBut, I sooo often wish that I could take close ups of plants in order to share their beauty which enchants me. Thank you for sharing yours :)
The photo of the blue sage is amazingly sharp and clear--3 cheers for whatever hocus-pocus your engineer friend did. I like the textures in the raised area across from the Mediterranean Sun Circle. The nice thing about textures over colors is that they still look fresh no matter how hot it is outside. And M'sieur Chocolat looks very artistic indeed among the plumbago--what a lovely shot of him.
ReplyDeleteWith that third photo, I think I'm getting an idea of how your garden is structured, for the first time! Perhaps I'm not observant. Does it encircle the house, or only part?
ReplyDeleteChristine - these Nandina were bought as dwarf to fit the scale as 'apple trees' but I have to keep chopping their tall heads and shoulders off.
ReplyDeleteJames - here is the panorama view from the roof
http://elephantseyegarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-garden-walk.html
The house has garden on all sides.
Feeling refreshed.
ReplyDeleteI adore Pelargoniums and they are native for you how wonderful...I am not always successful in growing them here as an annual. You have such beautiful colors of blooms.
ReplyDeleteYou garden still looks like it going strong...the cats are too cute...I love it when they just sprawl out like that!
ReplyDeleteAre you moving very quickly toward fall? We're moving with our usual Middle South fits and starts toward Spring. Loved seeing your cats and the species pelargoniums. I have many favorite wildflowers but, my favorite family of plants are the mints~Salvias have the best pouty lips! gail
ReplyDeleteLovely to see your summer flowers as we are still in winter here with our first bulbs of spring showing through. Love the plumbago, we have to grow it as a conservatory plant here, wouldn't survive our winters unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteDiana, this was so exciting, as always, to look into your garden at the other end of the world.
ReplyDeleteAround here, ist smells like spring!
Have a nice day
Elke
Gail - the 'old people say' we will have an early winter. We have misty mornings and cool nights. (Last March we had a terrible heat wave!)
ReplyDeleteThat lizard is scary! And I love your train tracks! I don't think I remember seeing your garden railway before. I'm surprised the cats don't try to "catch" it!
ReplyDeleteFunny seeing your cats trying to get out of the sun while ours go searching for it. Big patches of hot sun are ideal for napping in our much colder climate.
ReplyDeleteI love that you have a train garden. Undoubtedly your cat is waiting for a cat-sized train to arrive and drive him to the patio in style!
ReplyDeleteCats are so clever, they always know how to find the best, most comfortable spots. Loving your Mediterranean Circle!
ReplyDeleteIt looks hot in those pictures Di, somehow it appears like during our dry season. I like your cat waiting for the train, i wonder what he gets from that!
ReplyDeleteM'sieur Chocolat, altho he looks like a businessman - bowler briefcase and brolly - is watching like a hawk for a mouse or a lizard.
ReplyDeleteThe cats are so luxurious and happy looking.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, you have a light railway through the garden? Love it.
So you talk of Autumn, when does the temperatures drop? Odd for us to read of heat, when it's so cold here.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Diana, I always love seeing your native plants, which are so exotic to me. Sterlitzia Mandela's Gold is stunning. (Someday, I would love to try growing a Sterlitzia in a pot; I've loved them since I saw my first one at Kew during my 50th birthday trip to England.) The image of Chocolat sitting on the tracks waiting for the train is very funny; it doesn't look very comfortable! -Jean
ReplyDeleteJen MBD - you would laugh at our winter. June July. No frost. But cold enough to enjoy a fire in the evening.
ReplyDeleteI love plumbago but don't have any in my garden. I've wondered about planting so. Perhaps I should. I used to be a tourist guide and the plumbago was one of the plants that amazed the tourists, specially from the UK, the most. They grow them in their gardens and green houses with care while they grow wild over here.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to bask in the sun/shade with your cats. Truthfully in summer I seek the shade but at the end of winter I want some warm sun. We do have that but with a bitingly cold wind. Love the blues and the whites. Christina
ReplyDeleteYour garden is very sunny and inviting especially the spot with the sunshade and lounger.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering which of my plants will suffer this year once my cats decide which ones will provide a soft summer bed for outdoor sunbathing!
Ah, I like the Plumbago and I love the Strelitzia, which is a reminder for me to get this plant for Myra. However patient Cnocolat does it for me.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing your blooms and your pets! Oh, and the lizard, too!
Have a great day!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
The last photo of Chocolat is a classic! I'm loving the strelitzia. It does remind me of an exotic bird, while your lizard looks like some I see in my own garden. My boys had pet lizards when they were young; I have a real fondness for them.
ReplyDeleteYour cute little cats are so precious. I am a cat-lover...I have two Siamese. I particularly like the one of the camouflaged cat in the sun circle. They do know where to go to get cool. And your blooms at this time of year are gorgeous. I am drawn to the blue sage...love it.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of following the cats to find the coolest place. I must try that here when it hits 45 degrees celsius!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, esp love the Sterlitzia, and the reminder that plectranthus and species pelargoniums are native wildflowers in your part of the world.
ReplyDeleteyours is a garden of fun and life, thought full plantings, cute cats and quaint aspects. It's a wonder your house guests ever leave! Have come back twice just to linger in the shade.
ReplyDelete