Just squeezing in late this week with my IAVOM contribution. Truth be told, I completely forgot yesterday, as both myself and my other half had the day off. It was a gorgeous winter day with SUN and I spent a fair bit of it outside working on the garden. Most of the camellias in our garden are in full bloom now, although there are a couple of late flowering varieties yet to open their buds.  The bowl was gifted to me by my MIL, who claims it is specifically a bowl for camellias - I'm not so sure, but they do display well in it. Blooms displayed include, 'Margaret Davis', 'Debutante', 'Bob Hope', 'Black Tie', 'The Zsar' and two unknown varieties.  I'm off to do a bit of work in the veggie patch today. Vegetable gardening - as satisfying as it is - also reaps financial rewards at this time. Our recent widespread Australian floods have resulted in a shortage of some vegetables, particularly lettuce, which are currently retailing at $10... e...

Being winter here in Australia, it's nearly time to prune the roses (I normally do this in July). Despite the impending chop, one of my favorite roses, 'Candy Stripe' is still putting on a lovely display of blooms. 'Candy Stripe' is a tall, vigorous rose, growing to about 6 feet tall. It puts up with a lot; it's planted in heavy clay soil and each year it gets overrun by the giant Mexican tree daisy growing nearby. I've never seen even a hint of black spot on the leaves and the plant is rarely without flowers. Perhaps this rose's only downfall is its very faint perfume. I'm willing to forgive this for all its other positive attributes.  Placed in the vase alongside 'Candy Stripe' is the spike of an unknown dark red Cymbidium sp. Usually I don't pick orchids, preferring to bring them inside in their pots to enjoy their blooms. However, this one was a lost in its pot and a little snail munched, so I thought it would be better apprecia...

Though I'm not really a fan of cold weather, there is one winter spectacle I always look forward to: the first camellia bloom of the season. Camellia japonica 'Debutante' We are lucky to have three large established camellias in our garden. Judging by their size, I'd say they are the same age as our house, which was built in the 1960s. I also keep an additional five varieties in pots, the largest being C. japonica 'Black Tie', which is currently about 1.8 metres (six feet) tall. It has been happily growing in its container for many years now. Brown glazed bowl: no ID camellia Green triangle bowl: C. japonica 'Black Tie' Round green bowl: pale pink peony form C. japonica 'Debutante', white peony form with pink edges C. japonica ' Margaret Davis', mid pink no ID Small green vase: C. japonica 'Debutante' Square plate: Ginkgo biloba leaves While I was out picking flowers for this post, the beautiful golden leaves of a large p...

This week's feature flower, with its towering canes of exploding white daisy flowers, is the standout plant in my garden at this time of year. Easily reaching 4 metres (13 feet) tall, Mexican tree daisy Montanoa bipinnatifida is loved by bees and passers-by, several of whom have snuck up our driveway to snap a photo with their phones in recent days. Mexican tree daisy triffid The blooms are so fresh and pure Wrestling with a rose in our driveway   I recall picking a large vase full of of these flowers to take in to my Mother in hospital a few years ago. Disappointingly, they completely flopped during the car journey, even though I had placed them into water immediately after cutting. For this reason, I decided to display the blooms floating in a bowl - this way I could avoid wilting stems and enjoy the flowers close up. Simple and sweet With my hand for scale A bowl full of happiness Head over to Cathy's blog, Rambling in the Garden to see this week's vase-worthy creation...

It's late autumn here in Australia and though there are a few flowers in my garden, I thought I'd have a go at creating an arrangement that draws on foliage colours and forms rather than flowers for interest. Though Adelaide has a Mediterranean climate, I grow a fair number of tropical foliage plants in pots, moving them undercover in winter to keep them dry in the cooler weather. Here's what I came up with: Foliage: Iresine herbstii , Aucuba japonica , Plectranthus argentatus , Hypoestes phyllostachya , Alpinia sp., Syngonium podophyllum 'Neon Robusta' (I think), Ctenanthe setosa , Ctenanthe setosa 'Grey Star'. Flowers: Begonia 'Mega Red'. Fruit: Sold to me as 'Chinese 5 colour chilli', from a garage sale over a decade ago - I've been saving the seeds and growing it every year since.       Here's the arrangement with a few props: Props: being late autumn, it's persimmon season. Yum. I like the vanilla type; the knitted black ca...

In Australia, chrysanthemums are synonymous with Mother's Day. In the week leading up to this date, they are everywhere; brightly coloured bunches appear at pop-up roadside stalls and potted 'mums' are placed strategically near the counter of every supermarket, garden centre and hardware store.  I grow a few of these plants in my garden, including a pale pink variety which belonged to my Nana, who grew loads of them and sold excess blooms to local florists. This week's IAVOM arrangement was created and given to my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day.  As my Nana's pink chysanthemums are not quite fully opened yet, I will admit that the pale pink 'mums' in this bunch were purchased to bulk out the arrangement. All of the additional flowers and foliage, including the gold chysanthemums, are from my garden.    I hope all Mums had a happy day on Sunday. Flowers: shrimp plant Justicia brandegeeana, Hydrangea macrophylla (unknown cultivar), Chysanthemum (gold, unk...