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.
Comments
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!
Posted by: linda | October 16, 2008 12:30 PM
Gorgeous blooms today Stuart. Like Linda, I am unfamiliar with some of these. It's nice to discover exciting new to me plants in other's gardens.
Posted by: Racquel | October 16, 2008 1:59 PM
I like Leptospermum. In the UK they are considered tender plants. Bit I have a spot marked out for one - when our roof is completed. I can understand why they they are flavor of the month in your garden - they are lovely.
Posted by: Karen - An Artists Garden | October 16, 2008 5:09 PM
I love the intensity of the Ceonothus - mine is has greyish blue flowers not nearly as nice.
Posted by: Helen - Patientgardener | October 16, 2008 7:25 PM
Finally I'm finding time and energy to read many gardening blogs again, Stuart. I've missed visiting but it's been a challenging summer. It's so cool to see what you're enjoying for blooms as our garden here winds down for the year.
Posted by: jodi | October 18, 2008 10:26 AM
I'm very late in getting around to all the bloom day posts. Thanks for the nice comment on my blog. I like to see your blooms, there are always some flowers I've never hard of.
Posted by: Carol, May Dreams Gardens | October 26, 2008 5:27 AM