haemanthus lily

This low growing flower of the South Africa haemanthus lily shoots up from the fat bulb, being no more than 10 centimetres high.  It is not attractive but the flower and leaves, which appear after the flower dies down, can be a talking point in any garden.

The strange looking leaves of the haemanthus appearing over the dead flower.

Last of the sunflowers

This is the last of my sunflowers.  I planted the seeds after Christmas, which is a bit late but here it is, enjoying the autumnal sunshine and feeding the bees.  Banana grove in the background.

Not easy to see but there are a few bees enjoying a meal on the sunflower.  There were a few more but when I got closer they flew away.

bromeliads and chillies

a showy pink bromeliad flower

red central cup of bromeliad leaves

I have different sorts of bromeliads growing in my garden and they are quite neglected.  These two varieties are growing in a situation favoured by bromeliads, which is almost a tropical miniature rainforest area.  There is a pot of bamboo, large overhanging fronds of a tree fern and a buddleia that has outgrown the pot it was growing in and now casts shadows over the bromeliads and hydrangeas in this back part of my garden.

This chilli bush was first planted as a seedling when I moved to this place in September 2008.  Each year it provides me with fiery hot chillies and there was a season when I had to dry and preserve some in oil because the bush was overproducing.

This is the red hot chilli, which is slightly larger than my thumb.

This chilli is smaller than the Thai variety and not as hot.  I have it growing in a pot with basil, see below.

Peaches

These peaches are from my outside garden.  This is the first time since the tree was planted six years ago that the tree has produced such beautiful fruits.  It has produced fruits in the previous years but not as good looking as these.

The tree is not very big and I am keeping it slightly higher than me.  The tree was growing in a pot for a few years, most likely grown from seeds.  I have a few pots of such trees in my garden.  When I moved to this place I planted it in the outside garden, facing west.  It shall be given more compost as the soil is hard clay.

  
The tree, which is not very big.

Sunflowers

This is the most successful of all the sunflower plants I have growing in different parts of the garden.  I have yet to put a net over it, which would be a shame, but the cockatoos come in droves.  Other plants that are grown close together are covered because they are so obvious to the marauding birds that would pick a flower only to drop it to the ground.

Sunflowers protected.

This sunflower seedhead is the size of a bread plate.  I hate to se it go to waste so it is getting some protection.

It would be nice to have all the sunflowers exposed but they would not last long with the number of birds that come to visit my garden.  I love to have them but not at the expense of my sunflowers.

meagre harvest

This season I cannot boast of a bountiful harvest but I have tasted some beautiful fruits and vegetables from the garden.  The sunflower I picked from the ground, rescued from a flock of cockatoos enjoying snipping off the flowers with hardly any stalk.  The tomatoes are sweet and juicy.  Not many flat peaches this year but the tree managed to put in sweetness into its few fruits.
I will be buying more manure to improve the soil in the garden and garden boxes.

This heritage bean grows in a biggish pot, facing North West and has produced a few beans.  I will let a couple to mature so I can keep the seeds.  I was given two seeds and they both germinated and grew.

I have planted more basil seedlings as the older ones are going to seed.  I hope to have fresh basils until the beginning of the frosty weather.

Summer colours

Finally some colours are appearing in the garden.  The grass is mainly brown but some old faithfuls, such as the Brazilian plume flowers and hibiscus are looking good.

Brazilian plume flowers

Hibiscus

This dahlia appears every summer.  It was planted by the previous owner amongst the azaleas.  I have not done anything to the corm, forgetting every year as, once the plant withers in winter the azaleas start to flower and I do not like to disturb the ground around them.

I bought this dianthus to add some colour to the garden and it seems to be doing well.  I will transfer it to one of the garden beds when it finishes flowering.

Petunias can cheer a garden up very quickly.  I hope the plants will overfill the pot to give a mass of colours.