garden view from my window

At the moment this is what I see from my front window.  The red rose is Mr Lincoln.  It has been flowering since October and I must remember to feed it and the others when I can free myself from the necessary chores of pruning the overgrowth that is inevitable with the rain and warmth we have been getting. 
The jacaranda is still looking beautiful even when it is dropping its blue flowers every minute.  The footpath is strewn with the flowers and they look lovely before they turn brown.  I sweep the dead flowers when I can and use them as mulch.  No point in putting them into the compost bin.
I am also seeing the agapanthus opening up, both the blue and yellow.  The agapanthus may be a noxious weed but I love to look at the flower heads dancing in the summer breeze.  I remove the seed head before they get a chance to spread.  Last year I covered some seeds from the miniature agapanthus with potting mix, in a two litre ice cream tub and now I have the tiny seedlings waiting to be planted out.  I may grow them in containers that need only be brought out for show when in flower.  The agapanthus do take up a lot of room so having the miniature variety in containers may be the way to go.

After the rain

In between the heavy downpour I went out into the garden to check for damages.  The jacaranda flowers are barely opened and they have been blown on to the footpath.  The dills are bent double, their seedheads burdened with raindrops.The coriander is too delicate to stand up to the downpour and even the rotund hydrangea bush is feeling the weight of the droplets hanging from every leaf and petal.
I don't complain about the rain.  I merely worry about the seedlings, especially of the sunflowers, which are a bit slow this year.  I suspect the low temperature is slowing down their growth.  After today's heavy downpour I hope they will survive the onslaught of snails and slugs, which are bound to be on the lookout for delicate morsels.  Last January the sunflowers were in full bloom but I am not very hopeful this time.

poppies

I harvested the poppy seeds, the red and mauve, before the pounding rain.  Many of the seeds would have fallen to the ground but I wanted to harvest some to give away.  The red poppies started blooming even before November and by Remembrance Day there was a lovely patch near the front fence, attracting passers by.  The brilliant red was a contrast to the delicate pink of the ballerina rose.

  The stems look delicate but they somehow manage to survive the wind and rain.  The mauve poppy however is a show of strength.  Even when the paper thin mauve petals have been blown away the plants look majestic with their upright pods.  The poppy seeds germinate easily but the seedlings do not like being transplanted.  If you need to move them do so when they are still little.  You can start sowing the seeds from late winter.

Mermaid

The Mermaid rose is a beautiful climbing rose too rarely seen in the home garden.  Mine came from a cutting taken when the neighbour's climber spilled over the fence on to my previous garden.  I had the rose growing in a pot for several years and when I came to this garden I planted it against the north east facing fence. It did not take long for it to shoot up.  I will quote Stirling Macoboy's description (from Macoboy's Roses). "The shining foliage is more or less evergreen, and the huge, perfect flowers are single, softly scented, and of palest yellow crowned with great bosses of amber stamens which remain in beauty after the petals fall."  When I have the cut flowers inside, I would leave them in display when the petals have dropped because I just love the look of the stamens. At this time of the year when I am driving around the suburb I look out for the Mermaid and I have seen a couple draped over the front fence.  I am vigilant in stopping my Mermaid from doing that as I would have to battle with the thorny branches when they get out of hand.  I prune the branches the moment they come up to the top of the fence.