Playing with photos

Taking photos is one thing that I really enjoy doing and then playing with them is also something I like to do. Using filters when taking photo's can add to the character and appeal of a photo, here is a sample of some photos I've taken recently.

Days Harvest

Well JT I thought I would post some photo's of my harvest today from the vegetable garden, just so you can see how well the garden in producing over here in Australia. Today we picked green beans, butter beans, snow peas, strawberries, zucchini. Our beans are producing very well, the amount we picked today was about seven kilo's. It took about an hour and a half to process them and get them into the freezer, we won't need to buy beans over the next twelve months. I enjoy this time of the year planting out the garden, then caring for the plants and watching them grow. Most of all  harvesting the product of our labour. Got to love that....

Time To Blog

 Finding time to update my blog has been impossible lately due to a son spending time in hospital, visiting twice a day most days. Also working six days a week for the past three weeks there has not been much time to myself. It does not matter how old your children are you never stop being their mum. I have managed to take a photo or two as flowers open, some are short lived so didn't want to miss them. Here is a photo of the first flower from my Lilium Vermeer, I bought these bulbs from  Tesselaar Tulip Fesrival earlier this year.

 

Day Lily

I was given this Day Lily by a lady tidying up her garden, I had no idea until it bloomed what colour it was. What a nice surprise it was to find it in my garden.

Day Lily

Gladiolus x colvillei - Blushing Bride

I was given some bulbs from a lady on free cycle who was cleaning up her garden, she had lots of bits a pieces to give away. Not having pen and paper with me I was unable to write down the names of bulbs I was given. So I planted them and was pleasantly surprised by some of the flowers that bloomed. One being Gladiolus x colvillei - Blushing Bride, very attractive this one, flowering here in Victoria September-October.

Epicacti

A stray plant given to me by a neighbour that on longer wanted it has finely flowered and it was well worth the wait. Named for me by a member of a garden forum as Epicacti, not a very good looking plant but what a stunning flower..

Rhodohypoxis Baurii

Rhodohypoxis Baurii this small bulb with pink, white and crimson flowers, is well suited to pots, rockeries and in mass plantings along garden borders. I have had these growing in a shallow pot for about three years now, come spring they shoot again giving a lovely display of colour.

Russelia equisetiformis

 

 My Russelia equisetiformis common name Tangerine Falls is in flower and looking lovely at the moment. This small evergreen shrub is grown for it's showy pendant clusters of tangerine tubular flowers, which appear  from Spring to late Autumn along it's wiry, rush-like stems. Tangerine Falls is ideal for hanging baskets and decorative tubs, it also comes in firecracker red and yellow form.  My plant is growing in a large pot under the canopy of a large tree and is healthy and happy, I love it's draping/weeping/ cascading growth habit.. This plant is a winner for me, so much so that I went out and bought a firecracker red form....

Cala Lilies

 

 My Cala lilies are growing so well this year, my first for the season is now in full bloom with several others close behind. They are blooming early this year, in past years my lilies have not bloomed until December.

Pansy

Pansies are one of the most popular and recognizable cool weather annuals, the humble pansies make a superb massed display in  garden beds or a feature of their flowers in pots, window boxes and hanging baskets. Breeding has produced many bi-coloured varieties some with face like centre markings, making them a striking addition to any garden. New spreading varieties make a wonderful display in hanging baskets.

Garden Guardians

beneficial insect attracting flowers

Recently I have been doing some reading and research on beneficial insects and the roll they play in the home garden. The hardest thing I found was identification of a good bug from a bad one, so I purchased a very informative book called Garden Guardians to help me with identification. The book also covered the plants and flowers that will attract beneficial insects to the garden and encourage them to stay and work for you. This requires a gardener to become organic and stay away from synthetic pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers as these will effect good and bad bugs alike. So to encourage good bugs into my garden I have planted a selection of annuals and perennials including some herbs (Alyssum, pansies, cosmos, lobelia, marigolds, daisies, coriander, basil, mint, thyme, oregano) to name a few. I do hope to see some good results from beneficial bugs as time goes on the Aphids have been a big problem in my garden this Spring, there have been very for plants that have not had Aphids attacking them.

Eremophila Bignoniflora x Polyclada

We planted Eremophila Bignoniflora x Polyclada about five years ago, it appears to like our sandy soil and has grown to about 8ft high. It has rather large flowers for an Eremophila and blooms for a long period of time from mid Spring into Summer.

Birdbath

Time to think about water in the garden for the bird life that come to visit my garden. With summer not to far away time to clean and fill the bird baths ready for the long hot days.

No Time

Not much time for my blog over this past two weeks, son returned from overseas with his beautiful young lady Riya. Much of my time spent helping them find a place to live and then helping them get settled. So nice to have them back home, I'm looking forward to a wedding next year an exciting time for them both.

Flower Seedlings

Working at a wholesale nursery does have it's benefits, staff sales are where I buy my flower seedlings by the tray to re-plant my garden for summer colour. I bought Pansy and Petunia this week and have planted them in mass groups to add effect and colour to the garden.

Wattle Australia's National Floral Emblem

 Acacia pycnantha

The wattle in Australia are the largest genus of flowering plants. There 1380 species of acacia in the world and Australia has about 985.

 

 Wattles are natural pioneer plants, they are the first to germinate after fire or flood. Being nitrogen fixers they help enrich the soil and provide protection for other seedlings growing underneath in a natural succession of the bush.

The word wattle comes from green sticks called 'wattles' which were used to reinforce walls made of mud and clay. The clay was then packed in between and over the top of the wattles and allowed to dry. Acacia branches are very flexible and well suited to being used as wattles, hence the name wattle became associated with acacias.