Here’s a sample of some of the plants that are flowering their heads off in the my garden at the moment.
Leptospermum ‘Merinda’
Leptospermums, commonly called Tea Trees, are the flavour of the month at the moment in my garden. I struggle to walk past them in the nurseries becausethey are just such wonderful bloomers. Merinda starts life growing in a prostrate form and then eventually shrubs. I was hoping that it would flower before this month’s GBBD and the first few blooms popped the night before. It will now flower for at least 2-3 months.
Leptospermum scoparium ‘Apple Blossom’
Another beautiful specimen, Apple Blossom has been in my garden since we started and has always provided a wonderful flourish of pink, ruffled blooms every spring.
Verticordia chrysantha
I was introduced to Verticordias about 5 years ago on a trip into our wheatbelt and vowed that someday I would have one in my garden. Until recently they have been quite hard to find so when I stumbled upon this specimen I wasn’t about to let it go. It was flowering when I bought it more than a month ago and it is still blooming now with no signs of letting up. In fact, the very same flowers are still on display with none fading or dying. It’s a fascinating plant.
Ceanothus dentatus
The Californian Lilac, while certainly not an Aussie native, fits quite comfortably into our backyard native garden. It’s another plant that has been with us since the garden’s inception but this year’s flourish is by far the best. I’m astounded at the detail within each bloom as they start of as little stars and finish resembling a fireworks show.
Arctotis ‘Red Magic’
I have shown my other Arctotis blooms on GTNI before but this is a new one that has now taken centre stage in our perennial border. The vivid red is so enticing and its prostrate growth is wonderful to fill any ‘spot’ in the garden.
Anigozanthus flavidus – Kangaroo Paw
The last remaining Kangaroo Paw that is left in my backyard is flowering again. I had a few of these that eventually died because they couldn’t get enough sun. While they started well, once some of the larger shrubs began to grow they blocked out the much needed sunlight and this is the only one I have left.
Crab-Apple Blooms
Not the most exciting fruit, except for gelling, this tree is beautiful both in its bark but also these abundant blooms. It is definitely one of my favourite trees in the garden and has been fairly maintenance free apart from pruning at the end of autumn and fertilising in spring.
Hawthornia
I’m still deciding what to with this plant. It currently resides in our native garden and is also struggling with the lack of light. It has become quite leggy and while the flowers look gorgeous, the plant itself is looking quite ordinary.
Felicia amelloides ‘Pinwheel Periwinkle’
This is the third Felicia that I have tried growing in the yard and it is proving to be a success. Apart from starting off quite leggy (they are meant to be a small mounding plant) the top half of the plant looks great. I’m sure that an autumn trim will bring it back into line but for the moment I am going to enjoy these dainty blooms.
Beautiful blooms Stuart. You have a number of blooms here I’m not familiar with. It’s fun to visit gardens around the world and find new plants to google!