Last month of Spring down under.

[Goldfields]

That title on this post is depressing, Spring is my favorite season. Let me see what I can find. The David Austin rose, Grace. Some of my many Snapdragons, which have put on a lovely show, and purple Honesty. I have never grown Honesty before, does anyone know if I have to wait for the seed heads to dry right out before I pick them? Oh, the reason for the lack of lawn is that some of the flower beds are in a reclaimed small sheep paddock, bordering on another paddock. Still looks better than it did when sheep or our house cow were in it. LOL.

[Goldfields]

Next, I think, is a Peruvian Lily. (Alstroemeria). Some of my Sweet Peas, and finally a rose that most likely is Winchester Cathedral.

[Goldfields]

Must say that Pansies are a big favorite here, I put them everywhere. Petunias are just getting going. Finally, the rose is another David Austin, Mary Rose. Not only is she beautiful, she is as tough as all get out, coping with our hot Summer easily.

[Dee-O-Gee]

Oh how I love the David Austin roses. I myself am more partial to Fairy Tale Breeds as they seem to hold up to our harsh winters.

The Winchester Cathedral also looks like the Iceberg too.

You have beautiful flowers GF and thank you so much for bringing us some spring memories.

[Goldfields]

A grasshopper view of the David Austin rose, The Herbalist, one of the older DA's. Quite an eye catching pink. Another Bearded Iris, and one of the many Callistemons(bottlebrushes), I think it is called Fire Cracker or something similar. Best display it's had for years because of our wetter year.

[Goldfields]

A couple of the Callistemons out the front now. The cream one is either C. Pallidus, or C. Salignus, and the red might be C. Kings Park Special. The tree behind the cream one is a Pomegranate which I tolerate because of it's lovely bright orange flowers, we never use the fruit itself but I think the possums like it.
Finally, just another Snapdragon shot.

[hazelrunpack]

Lovely gardens, GF!! I love the purple and pink theme going on in your third post! I've never seen bottle-brushes before--those are cool!

[Dee-O-Gee]

I butted in earlier and you weren't finished. Goldfields.

That bottle brush is so kewl! I've never seen anything like that before. I'm gonna have to google that.

[Goldfields]

Golly, you haven't seen bottlebrushes, klm and Hazel. I nearly didn't include them because they are so mundane/common here. I went mad on them when I decided I wanted to encourage native honeyeaters and what I like about them is the different sorts of foliage, and how some are upright and rigid, others soft and weepy, and they have their own distinct perfume. I'll show you some of my old photo's/favorites. An apology first, the bright red one I showed you before is C. Captain Cook, and the third one in this series is in fact. C. Kings Park Special. The first two are the rigid type, Violaceous and Scarlet Bottlebrush.

[Goldfields]

Everything is late this year because it's been cool and wet, that's why I have to resort to old photo's. Here we have C. Citrinus Burgundy, C. Dawson River Weeper, and C. Mauve Mist. The good thing about these is you can prune them hard and they survive, you can saw them off at ground level and they regrow.

[Goldfields]

Now, a better photo of The Herbalist(DA) taken this morning, then Tantau's Bernstein Rose and the big fat buds you get on Tipsy Imperial Concubine.

[Goldfields]

This is the first ever Sprekelia in my garden. I think I'll buy some more next bulb season. Very exotic.

[hazelrunpack]

Nope, I've never seen bottlebrushes. I have such a moldy thumb that I have to concentrate on native wildflowers cuz I kill just about everything else. Even my cultivated flowers are often derivatives of plants native to this area...

That Sprekelia is beautiful, too!!! (I've never seen that, either )

I'm going to have to try snapdragons again. I used to have good luck with them as a kid. Yours were beautiful this year!!!

[Goldfields]

Don't worry, Hazel, I've killed my share and more. We are just having an exceptionally good year following 13 years of drought so I figured if I was ever going to have a pretty garden it had to be now. I reckon you could grow Callistemons(bottlebrushes), they are used a lot as Street trees here, without much care at all given to them. All sorts of soil too. Oh, don't know if they'd take snow though. Sprekelia looks like an alien plant to me. Like the even more alien looking Black Bat Plant. Very not of this world. Snapdragons are great value I think, tough and colourful.
Meant to say, when you mentioned my white/pink/mauves and purple theme, that was meant to compliment the white Iceberg roses, which now look like flowering when all the rest have died. I echoed it in the Sweet Peas along the fence behind that garden. It was originally just a big raised empty vegie bed and I thought the roses looked lonely in their temporary home. Typical of my enthusiasm, it now looks like a jungle. A couple of photo's here, plus the beautiful Soaring Spirits rose, some of the sale proceeds for this rose help fund the Memorial Garden for victims of the Twin Towers bombing.

[hazelrunpack]

Beautiful, GF!

[Goldfields]

One last one especially for you, Hazel, a jumble of delphiniums.

[hazelrunpack]

Heavenly blue!

[Goldfields]

My pleasure, Hazel.

[Dog Dancer]

Wow GF, your gardens are beautiful! I love the assortment of flowers and colours. You have a knack for gardening apparently. I have the same moldy thumb as Hazel, my kitchen window sill is now called "death row".

[Goldfields]

That's funny, Dog Dancer, because my kitchen window sill is where I germinate all my tomato and flower seedlings, there and the laundry window sill. My grandfather, who died at 88, back when I was less than 10 years old, had the genuine article, a true cottage garden that took up every inch of his block, then two blocks behind it were his market garden(vegetables). I can NEVER do as well as he did. For starters where I live the rainfall is less than half what he had, but he inspired me at an early age even if I let things like showing horses, then dogs, delay my own garden. We had 13 years of serious drought here, where the dam went dry, fruit trees died, no gardening could be done, then we had a so-so year, with a Spring that dried off too soon, but every indication was that this year would be wet, hence this garden of mine. It's about to be hit by a locust plague so I just can't win, and the big question is, what will happen next year? Anyone who's been through that long a drought does not have confidence that we won't go back into drought again. All I could say is that I have the potential to be a gardener if only Mother Nature would cut us some slack. Give us a break.

Here are some more pretties though. The lovely roses, Regensberg and Maggie, and some Flanders poppies.

[Goldfields]

Must get offline and do a bit but here is the David Austin rose, The Dark Lady. Then my first Sunflower for the year, which happens to be a Dwarf variety, and finally what I term our cockatoo's garden. Planted in front of her aviary.

[luckypenny]

Originally Posted by Goldfields

Golly, you haven't seen bottlebrushes, klm and Hazel.

Neither have I. Are they ever wonderful! I think my favorite is the Purple Honesty...they're so pretty and delicate looking . All these flowers are making me want to start ordering seeds early...wish I could be so enthusiastic about digging up new beds .

Wishing you a successful summer garden as well, can't wait to see those photos either .

[Goldfields]

Well, the bad news is, LP, that in the past I never aimed for a Summer garden, not with it verging on semi-arid here. We always had to ration water because we never knew how deep the dam was. I guess now we are on the pipeline things can change. I've just taken some tomatoes in to our local nursery owner and had a bit of a look for summer flowering plants, but there is just nothing that catches my eye. I may be inspired when the summer catalogue from The Digger's Club comes out. To keep your spirits up in the freezing cold months I could always share friend's garden photo's with you. Those that were lucky enough to always be on town water.

[luckypenny]

Anything with a bit of color would be nice...come February, I'll even be looking forward to seeing pics of green weeds . Although Winter is probably my favorite season, it's gets a bit depressing when there's no color.

How cold do your Winters get btw?

[Dee-O-Gee]

I have to say that I'm in heaven with all your beautiful pictures as summer is my favorite season.

You surely do have quite a collection of different species and adore every one of them.

O.K., keep em coming.

[Goldfields]

LP, I laughed when you said you could even be looking forward to seeing green weeds. During our drought my house yard here, I do not exaggerate, was bare dirt. I remember looking at some photo's later and wondering why they looked so weird, and it was that first tinge of green arriving.

Not Summer yet, klm, but it did reach 33C here today. On days like this certain roses will be a bud in the morning, will have opened and be burnt to a crisp almost by nightfall. So, these are the toughies, still looking reasonable. Apricot Nectar, then the pink Australia Felix keeping company with the white Pascali. Finally a bud from a rose named Sun Blessed. I suppose it's the roses with thicker petals that can stand the heat.
It is very easy to get addicted to certain plants and start craving all those your friends show on garden forums. My friends in a small private forum feed the addiction too. Hippeastrums/Day Lilies/Frangipanis(Plumeria?)/dahlias etc.. You name it, they want to share it. Gardeners are lovely people.

[Goldfields]

My paths between the standard Icebergs are gradually getting narrower, as witnessed by the first photo. I wish those Icebergs would hurry up and flower before the locusts eat them. The other two are Salvias, the candy pink one is Salvia Joan but I forget the name of the purple one.

[chico2]

Wow GF,beautiful,beautiful flowers,I cannot wait for spring and summer,I don't really HATE winter,we have to live with it,but I LOVE summer.
I too love those Bottle-Brushes,wonder if we can get the here

[Goldfields]

Chico, sadly I somehow doubt if you would be able to get bottlebrushes. They are suited to zones 9 to 11 or 12. Pity because honeyeaters love them and they really brighten a garden up as well as providing shade.
For today, something mundane. Some Statice(Limonium). a Columbine, and some cheery Californian Poppies.

[Goldfields]

Next we have a mystery rose I am hoping someone will ID for me on a garden forum here. It was labelled Loving Memory but that rose is red. Hate it when things are mislabelled. Then there is Apricot Nectar. The heads of roses on this bush are so big that I have had to stake them up. We are going to get heavy rain today and tomorrow and they'd be flat on the ground otherwise. Finally a favorite rose, Makybe Diva, named after the champion racehorse mare that won 3 consecutive Melbourne Cups(the race that stops the Nation here in Oz, prizemoney now of 6 million dollars). A beautiful rose for an incredible mare.