August...the start of Spring....

♫ ♬ ♪ ♩ ♭ ♪ Just bought this 2 years ago . Very pretty. ♫ ♬ ♪ ♩ ♭ ♪
For beautiful hellebores, have a look at Post Office Farm Hellebores.
Jean.

Jean, it is so dark here but your flowers and your music have brightened things up..

I have bought all my Hellebores from Post Office farm..they have a tent at the Macedon rare plant sale every year and I always come home with one...
Love your pink Daffy...

My Donut peach is starting to flower...I think of the conversations that I had with Brian about it when it flowers...time has flown Colleen...

First Bearded Iris to flower....don't know what this one's name is but it always flowers first.
I am watching out for the one that had a different blue flower on it...it might do the same this year too..
Dianne

These are more remnants of winter rather than spring flowers because they've taken so long to colour up. You can see the true pink flower of the variegated shrimp plant and the russet brown on the green shrimp plant. Both still small plants but the variegated one is much less vigorous than the green one.

Couldn't resist another photo from the hanging basket :-)

Cestrum, I have had the yellow and the orange shrimp plants for quite a few years. They tend to be a bit spindly but always have flowers. The cold doesnt seem to bother them as they are in the shadehouse among the ferns. They are both around 3 foot tall and tend to lean over everything. I may try them in a basket . Must get a few different colors later.
I did have them in the garden but they didnt like all the wind we get.
Jean.

This message was edited Aug 17, 2011 5:23 PM

Mya grows all her shrimp plants in baskets, so they should do well that way. My orange shrimp plants are still cuttings and so haven't flowered (haven't even grown!), but the yellow ones (once they start) do seem to flower pretty much continuously (although mine grow outside). The frost hasn't bothered them although they're near what can only be called the skimpiest of canopies.

Jean, look at this little cutting: it's a sprig of the small pink/white salvia that I placed in a little water in the kitchen exactly two weeks ago: it has started to grow roots! Interesting, eh ...
My friend pointed out a taller pink/white salvia (perhaps 2 to 3 feet high, depending on where in the garden it's growing) that she says has germinated from the seed of this small salvia. It must have cross-pollinated with some other salvias in her garden (she has quite a few). She's given me some seeds so I'll try and remember to post some to you when I send off your brug cuttings later in spring.

You know cestrum I used to read years ago about things growing roots in water but it never really sank in.
Due to being quite busy withy other things in the past couple of years I have accidently found that most things will root in water on a window sill.
It's amazing and I am intending to try a few different things shortly.
The one that truly surprised me was the frangipani vine cutting (since gone into the garden and has survived the Winter. :)

You know, I'm not that surprised by the frangipani vine ... it actually strikes quite readily in soil, so sort of makes sense.
I shouldn't be surprised by the salvia either, as they are generally easy to strike too. It's just that my friend just lets this one self-seed in her garden and I don't think she's ever bothered to take cuttings of it.

Cestrum, that salvia is so cute.
love some of the seeds, thank you.
I learned accidently about rooting all sorts of cuttings in water.
I used to be always gathering cuttings from my gardens or friends then putting them in a bucket of water. Months later, I would finally get around to them. They nearly always had roots.
I find that a lot of my plants especially salvias, will root easily and sometimes quicker , if just stuck in the ground next to mum.
Not wanting to leave the nest syndrome. lol.
Jean.

Another pretty daffodil.
I am finding a few that have not had flowers before, so are a nice surprise this year.

Another

This little one seems to have light streaks on the petals.

Love the jonquils too. I have about 5 different ones from all yellow to all white and some with different colored trumpets. This is a pretty one .

The wallflowers are coming out. They self seed every year so I always get a multitude of colors.

No flower, but I had to show you this aeonium ? It is the biggest I have ever seen. It is at least 16"-18"across.
I have some of the usual size ones but this is enormous. .
It is the way it grows as the whole plant is large. This is not just an odd stem.

That's Aeonium undulatum, I believe, Jean.
Not the commoner more familiar A. arboreum which has smaller rosettes and a multibranched habit and comes in purple forms.

Hear is a long plant from the north, jade vine

Outstanding :)

Tropical wisteria, lol

surreal colour...

That is gorgeous Gena, thank you for posting.

Is that first Daffy, white with a cream trumpet, Jean?
They are all very pretty aren't they...
That Aeonium is a big lad..

The lovely big white lip tree frog, he is a darling sleeping and good for our gardens live.

Salamander ............... not shore tho on the name

How unusual is that white lip?....he is a lovely fellow as you say..
Do you get many different sorts of frogs, Gena?.

It's a Solandra...the golden chalice vine.....I've grown them here in Victoria too...

You were close..lol
Dianne.

This message was edited Aug 25, 2011 8:28 PM

Thanks for the ID Lucas. I have many succulents of all shapes and sizes. Mainly from the local tip before it closed. They are a great fillin and nothing worries them , not even a frost.. I do have the smaller on but this one was a surprise as it got bigger and bigger.
I find that a lot of my succulents stay green in the cold then turn redder as the warmth arrives. This aeonium stays green.

Beautiful Jade vine Gena.

Yes Dianne, the daffie is white with the cream trumpet.
Jean.

Not a flower but we all know what spring brings in addition to blooms: weeds.
Have a look at this prickly monster--that's a normal-sized garden fork beside it, not a toy. It managed to get this large by growing in a neglected corner of the garden that's awaiting a makeover. Not one you want to touch without leather gloves, even when carrying it by the roots. (Or rub against--goes straight thru material.)

I bought this last year, labelled as Dianthera nodosa, aka Justicia nodosa. Turns out it's actually the common yellow shrimp plant, which has now become established in my garden. What a shame; I was really looking forward to the distinctive pink flowers of the Dianthera: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1168650/?hl=dianthera

So apologies if I've given you cuttings of this plant, but we were all fooled :-(

Finally, a lemon grass seedling. You can see the plume of seeds on the parent plant at right. I didn't expect seedlings given the dry (and frosty!) winter we've had, but somehow several have managed to germinate around the parent plant.

Cestrum, I can send you even larger ones if you like. Even some with spotted leaves
They do tend to be sneaky and grow behind something so you never notice them until they rear up over you. when you poke around in odd places.. LOL
Jean.

The Velthemia that I bought for $5 at the Botanic gardens sale a few weeks back has flowered.
This bird from the Reject shop is identical in colour...
Couldn't resist pairing them up...

Colleen, my Dahlia cuttings have started to grow....I forgot which pot they were in and thought that it was a Lilium then the leaves started to unfurl...
I don't know which one it is because I clumped them all in together..
Have a look at yours....

That's an offer I definitely *can* refuse, Jean ;-)
Lovely bit of colour coordination there, Dianne.

Now Cestrum, they are free and very fresh, hardly touched by hubby and the thistle spray LOL.

Still waiting on my velthelmia flowers to open fully Dianne.
Love your bird. .. I may spray all my brolgas pink too. looks pretty.
Jean.

zygo buckleyii looking lovely.

Another new daff out. I love the flat trumpet. This is only about a half size daff compared to the bigger ones.

This is my variegated leaf seedling clivia.
Nothing fancy compared to some I have seen on the net, but a start for me to breed from.
Most flower orange but this was from yellow seed so I am hoping it flowers yellow.
Jean

Wayne, some of the seedlings from Alan Searles seed. They are looking very good.

More of my clivia seedlings. Note the lovely wide leaf one in front. I hope it does even better as it grows.

Wow a variegated Clivia!!
Nice plants Jean.

Jean, I had used up my memory card and so couldn't take any more photos, but there were some interesting two-toned apricot-orange clivias at the Glebe Garden Club festival today.

Here's Wanda Wirth's stall. I made a beeline for this as she has the most interesting non-commercial plants available. In previous years she's had a selection of brugmansias--double brugmansias last year--but this year she's concentrated on another genus of plants.

The Aloe Aloe stand.

Another stall. Although I took a photo of it early in the morning, I had other things to attend to. By the time I was free in the afternoon, it was raining so I never got to look around in here.