I haven't participated in IAVOM for ages - I've been busy preparing things for the arrival of our first baby, due any day now. But I've still been creating bunches - mostly for friends. Being able to create an interesting, generous home grown bunch to give away gives me a lot of pleasure. Sometimes I even remember to make one for myself! Though I haven't posted for a while, I've still enjoyed seeing the beauty and diversity displayed in the bunches of other IAVOM contributors, even if I haven't had the time to leave a comment.  This is a sort of mega-post, showing all of the bunches I've created over the past several months, as well as a few other assorted garden niceties. I don't have time to list the names of everything just now, but happy to provide IDs of anything if requested. 8 Dec 2022 - A slow start to summer 17 Dec 2022 - First dahlia Dahlia 'Hillier Tanunda' 20 Dec 2022 - Jungle kitty So cute - couldn't resist taking his photo! 9 J

Still more rain this week (will it ever be summer?) which has meant that the cooler season blooms such as Nigella damascena and larkspur Consolida ambigua 'Imperial Mix' continue to bloom happily (when we get a heatwave, the nigella in particular, tends to go straight to seed). I made two bunches this week, both to give away to friends. The first features flowers and foliage from my own garden: This bunch featured: catmint Nepeta 'Walker's Blue', larkspur Consolida ambigua 'Imperial Mix', love-in-a-mist Nigella damascena, Rosa 'Camp David' , apple mint Mentha suaveolens , liquorice plant Helichrysum petiolare , lamb's ear Stachys byzantina and statice Limonium sinuatum My arrangement briefly looked good sitting on our red kitchen table until it was given away a couple of hours later. The bowl of fruit on the right are loquats Eriobotrya japonica , one of my favourite fruits, given to me by a friend. I've never seen them for sale in a

Firstly, a big CONGRATULATIONS to Cathy of Rambling in the Garden for initiating the IAVOM meme and keeping it going for an astonishing 9 years! Though relatively new to this meme, I have enjoyed participating and seeing the weekly creations of others around the world.  The weird weather continues this week in South Australia. After a brief hit of summer temps last week, we're back to cold and wet. A full-on storm arrived Saturday, with horizontal rain and winds gusts in excess of 106kms (65 miles) per hour!  Luckily, we had little damage at our place and the garden held up well. Others in the neighbourhood were not so lucky. Lots of trees lost limbs or were completely uprooted and many households are still without power.    Today's bunch features cool blue flowers to reflect the cool temperatures. I love larkspurs and have planted them from punnets for the past few years. This year, however (most likely due to all the rain we've had) they self-seeded everywhere - even in