Sugar cane

This is my pot of sugar cane.  In September 2012, I think, I planted a couple of sugar cane segments and by December shoots appeared.  There are more canes growing now and I have cut down one cane which was about 35 cm long.  It was not the juiciest of cane but I can say that I was able to share the experience of chewing on the sweet cane with my son and granddaughter.

This is the cut cane, with the leaves stripped off, and below the segments which we peeled and chewed for the juice.

autumn garden

Part of my garden in autumn.  The cherry tree leaves are just starting to colour but the ornamental pear is now bare.  The azaleas and chrysanthemum are adding colours to the garden and in the pot one snow pea seedling has appeared out of five seeds planted.

Another view of my autumn garden with the apricot in the background, with autumnal hues.
Below, a glorious maple.

crab apple and tree dahlia

This king parrot is feasting on the few crab apples left on the tree.  I was looking at the mauve tree dahlia flowers which manage to bloom beneath the crab apple tree when a couple of the parrots swoop down on to the tree.  I was fast enough to run inside for my camera.

The mauve tree dahlia.  I am now waiting for the white tree dahlia to bloom.

Choko

This choko vine is doing very well.  It is growing from a pot but I am sure the roots have gone into the ground.  I have been picking the shoots for vegetables which send the plant into productive mode, creating side shoots and flowers.  I hope to harvest chokos in winter.  At the moment both vines are producing a lot of flowers.  The other vine is climbing all over the hakea tree in my outside garden.  I can see the hakea flowers amongst the choko leaves.

The choko flowers are tiny.  Out of these three flowers one choko may form.  There are enough flowers to give me some chokos in winter, I hope.

feijoa and chilli

In March I did not expect to see the feijoa fruits grow any bigger as they seem to have remained the size of my little finger nail.  I blamed the absence of rain.  In the last few weeks a few of the fruits suddenly doubled, then tripled in size.  I have placed a net over the bush to protect the few precious fruits which are about the size of a small roma tomato.

These Thai chillies will keep me happy over the next few weeks.  I hope there will be enough warm days to ripen the green ones.

hydrangea

This picture of the hydrangea bushes behind the vegetable boxes was taken in early summer before the week of hot days which sizzled some of the tips and flower heads which were exposed.  I covered the bushes on hot days.

 
This pink hydrangea survived the heat.  Strangely, the flowers in the bush beside it are bluish even though the plants were cuttings taken from the same bush.  I wonder if one bush gets more leaf litter than the other.

These flower heads are from the same bush but they are at different stage of maturity.  The colours fade as the flowers age.

hibiscus

These brilliant red hibiscus sprout from a spindly plant which has been fed and watered but has no inclination to grow into a healthy bush.  I grew up with this flower, the national floral emblem of Malaysia.

A close up view of the hibiscus.

This hibiscus, a double pink, has been in this pot for years, I was told, when it was given to me by a friend of a friend who was moving to New South Wales.  At times this small bush could have up to four flowers in bloom.  Put into the ground it could grow to a big bush but I think it shall remain in the pot for the time being.

A close up view.