pictures from the garden

Flanders poppies

This year the red Flanders poppies are everywhere in my garden, inside and out.  The outside garden is the block outside my fence which I have filled with all sorts of plants since moving here nine years ago.  The red poppies are doing well but not the mauve variety, which looks like the opium poppy.  See below pictures of the red poppies.

This last picture is of the outside garden where the poppies jostle for space with the white ixias and borage.

Spring garden

The garden is bursting with colours but the most noticeable is the white blossoms of the cherry tree.

The bulbs are growing crazy.

Blossoms and other spring flowers

I have not done much in the garden as it has been wet and cold.  The plants though know what they have to do.  The blossoms are out and I notice daffodils where I was not expecting them.  As for the azaleas, I am promising them a good pruning and feeding after the flowering is finished.  My only camellia is doing well and I am thinking of getting another one, perhaps a white one.

Deep pink camellia and mauve azaleas.

Red azalea

More buds on azalea

Daffodils

wall flowers

violets

white blossoms of the Manchurian pear

Beautiful pink of a delicious peach.

flat peach blossoms

apricot blossoms

The killing frost

I was quite devastated when I discovered the damage done to frost tender plants when we had two very cold mornings a few weeks ago.  I don't think the hibiscus and the chilli plants will recover but I hope the choko vine will come back after pruning in spring.  The red cabbage I was able to save after hosing away the thick frost on the young leaves.

Frost on the red cabbages

frost burnt choko and tree dahlia

the hibiscus

the chilli bush

Begonias in winter

The begonias do not fade away in winter.  They are wonderful to have around for their leaves and flowers.

The colours of autumn

The rake is leaning against the rowan tree which is almost red.  The self sown rowan seedling in the pot is a beautiful red and the leaves may stay for another week or two.  The rowan tree seems to be the last to lose all its leaves.  The yellow in the background is the cherry tree and the leaves on the lawn are from the Manchurian pear, which started the season with a range of colours from yellow to red.

The leaves are not the only colourful features in the garden.  The chrysanthemum in mauve and red are still looking good.

Not to be outdone the last of the sunflower stands tall.  The cockatoos have been busy on the rowan tree and hopefully will not notice this single sunflower.

pomegranate

Earlier I posted pictures of the fruits on my pomegranate tree.  I have picked a few of the fruits and I am enjoying the sweet juiciness of the ruby seeds.
This tree has a long history.  Over twenty years ago, a friend with a crowded garden needed some space for more planting so she decided her pomegranate tree had to go.  She offered it to me and together we dug up the tree (at least over twelve years old) and I managed to trim the top so it would fit in my car.  I planted the tree next to my compost heap in my previous garden.  The tree grew and produced fruits.  I taught my daughter to do air-layering (marcotting) for propagating and she did it on the pomegranate.  We forgot about the branch and a couple of years later I removed the plastic and coconut fibre wrapped around the air-layered branch and I found healthy roots.  I cut the branch and planted it in a pot and it stayed there, behaving like a bonsai.  When I moved to this garden the pomegranate was planted in the ground and it took off.  I was also successful by just sticking a branch in a pot and forgetting about it.  I knew I was successful when I noticed new growth sprouting.

Jerusalem artichoke

I have a small patch of Jerusalem artichoke in my outside garden.  I contain the patch, not wanting this vegetable to spread all over the garden.  The Jerusalem artichoke, which some people mistake for ginger has a habit of spreading tubers beyond their patch.  This is an easy to grow vegetable, good for roasting, stir-frying and making a delicious soup, especially with carrots.  I put back some of the tubers to grow, adding compost and manure to ensure good size tubers.  Planted now the tubers will be ready to harvest next autumn.

feijoa

I picked up these feijoas from under the tree in my outside garden.  I have another tree in the garden, with a few quite large fruits.  They will drop when they are ready.

still ripening

There are still vegetables and fruits waiting to ripen on the trees and bushes.  The only pumpkin in my garden is a butternut growing in one of the garden boxes.  A few seedlings appeared in spring and I pulled out all but one, which grew along the cucumber vine, which has long gone.  Only one fruit set on the pumpkin vine and I don't know if there'll be enough warmth to ripen it.  Even if it is not fully ripened I can still cook the butternut but I don't expect it to be great.

There are still a few chillies and capsicum waiting to ripen but this shiny red capsicum I picked after taking the picture.

Another capsicum.

Chillies, red and green.

I could have left these Granny Smith apples on the tree a bit longer but I would lose them to the possums and cockatoos.  They were crisp and sweet with a slight tartness.

This pomegranate tree does not get a lot of sun but this year I counted nine fruits which, to me is a bumper crop.  I don't know if the fruits will turn the glorious red I see in other gardens.

Tinge of red on these fruits.

This feijoa will drop when it is ripe.  I hope to get to it before the birds as there are hundreds of them looking for a feed in the garden at any time of the day.