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...

A couple of weeks ago, I took a trip across town for a dentist checkup (no fillings - yay!). It was a beautiful sunny morning and I had a bit of free time following my appointment, so I decided to stop in at the nearby Himeji Japanese Garden. Himeji Garden entrance, shaded by a large mulberry tree and underplanted with assorted juniper Continuing through the gatehouse, nearby signage states:   '...you will see the water bowl (chozubachi) so visitors may purify themselves by washing their hands and adopting a humble kneeling attitude.' I don't see many Australians doing this, but I think it is a lovely idea. Water bowl, chozubachi, flanked by Nandina domestica and Juniperus sp.   Having not been to this garden for years, my immediate impression upon walking through the entrance way was how beautifully tidy and well maintained everything looked. For a free public garden, I think this level of care is quite extraordinary. The garden was opened in 1985, to symbolise the bo...