Some of my favourite flowers

What could be more beautiful than this lace-like blossoms of the elderflower tree?  The elderflower grows easily from cuttings and regular pruning will keep the tree low.

Love-in-a-mist will self sow but they are so easy to pull out if you have too many of them.

Blue love-in-a-mist.

The mauve version.

The stunning blue lobelia.

For heights, the acanthus mollis and hot poker (kniphofia) will do the job well.

Banksia

The banksia finally shows its beauty after over three years of waiting.  I bought the spindly plant from the bargain table at CERES in Brunswick over three years ago and planted it in my outside garden.  It took forever to grow and while other plants close by were shooting up this miserable specimen remained neither lively nor dead.  When it finally grew to over a meter high it began to look healthier.  Early this year I saw signs of flower buds which remained in the same state for months.

It has taken a few months for the buds to finally bloom and it has proven to be a beauty.  I have no idea what the variety it but it does not matter to me as I tend not to remember names.  I can see the flowers from my kitchen window and I am sure I will see the honeyeaters drinking the nectars.

cherries

I planted two cherry trees three years ago - "Starkrimson" and "Stella".
I cannot boast of prolific harvest but I have been eating a few cherries from both trees.
The blossoms in spring were beautiful.

I hope to see more fruits in the future as they are so juicy and delicious.  I will be topping up the mulch around the trees and will keep the branches low.

Wild life

This blue tongue lizard comes out to enjoy the sun.  I don't really know if there are more than one living  in my garden because I have seen the lizard in different parts at different times.  The lizard is so slow I don't expect it to move far.  I have to watch where I walk as I almost trod on one this morning.

A closer look at the lizard which can remain still for quite a while.

Broadbeans

I have been enjoying the broadbeans, which, fortunately, are not eaten up by the snails which are creeping up all over the plants and creating holes in the leaves.  A few of the mature plants have been pulled out after the harvest as there was no sign of flower buds.  Those promising more beans will stay. I have planted out a few more seedlings and hope to harvest the beans beyond Christmas.

This is just one of the many snails found on the leaves of the broadbeans.  There are just too many of them to be successfully removed.

poppies

The red poppies are back in the same patch.  There are not as many as two years ago but as more of the buds open up their slender stems dance bravely in some of this spring's wild winds.

There will be a few left come November 11, Remembrance Day and I will collect the seeds for next year.  They self sow, but I would like to create a big patch of the red poppies in the outside garden for next year.

 I put aside a corner of the vegetable box for the bright yellow Californian poppy and the large mauve poppy.  The seeds of the mauve poppy I collect for cooking.  The poppies self sow and appear in some unexpected places.

roses

This pink climber from my old garden was given to me as a cutting almost thirty years ago.  I took a cutting before leaving the old garden and the rose has been sitting in a pot until last autumn when I planted it beneath this arch as the two yellow climbers had died.  It looks very happy here shooting up very quickly.

A close up of this climbing pink rose.

This pink old fashioned rose adorns the arch leading to the path.  I am waiting for the buds to open up and cover half the arch.

This rose has the hues of sunset when newly opened and covers the other half of the arch.

This rose starts off as deep pink with a white centre but turns pale as it matures.  It has a subtle perfume.

I rescued this rose from a shaded area and it is promising to give more flowers.

Early morning dew on this Black Velvet.

A Black Velvet bud.