Well, here we are in the middle of winter and trying to take photos of the few flowers that exist is almost an epic challenge. While I was able to score a few shots the quality isn't that great as thunderclouds rolled in from the north west and the blooms wouldn't hold still in the strong breeze.

Nevertheless, here are a few spartan tidings from our garden;

Our Eremophila 'Kalbarri Carpet' that we planted at the end of last year is now flowering for the first time. Most eremophilas grown around here, although not indigenously, have brigh red blooms so the orange-yellow hues against the silver foliage are delightful.

We bought this Lechenaultia formosa 'Red Form' a few months ago and it hasn't stopped flowering since. Lechenaultias are normally known for their darling blue flowers but this red form is just as stunning.

This dainty Thryptomene saxicola is one of the true stunners from the Australian bush. It normally grows in rugged conditions competing for every nurtient and resource yet still maintains these petite blooms.

One of my favourite exotics is this shade-loving hellebore. We keep saying to ourselves that we should source some more of these for our southern aspect garden because when they bloom in mid-winter they are such a classy bloom.

Sitting alongside the hellebore is one of the most understated winter bloomers - our Jacobinia pauciflora. Its fire-coloured blooms set the garden alight at this time of the year and the bush is inundated with flowers in various stages of opening.

While this is a very ordinary photo I wanted to show you these dainty, almost insignificant flowers that spot the Albany Woolly Bush every year. Our tree doesn't get a heap of sun so doesn't produce many blooms and this is the first year in three that it has decided to make a display.

Finally, and also another ordinary photo, is this first flowering Acacia ashbyae. Admittedly it did produce one or two little puffs of yellow last year but this year it has grown from its discount-rack size and is displaying a heap of this little pom-pom blooms.