ANIMAL CRACKERS XIX - CUTE AS PUPPIES...

It's been four years since I put up an Animal Crackers post and I've only just found out that this little sweetie qualifies, having taken the photo a month ago.  Meet the Pink River Rose or Dog Rose bauera rubioides. This specimen is growing in the Noosa Botanic Gardens by the pond there.  Perhaps I'll find some more qualifiers there if I look hard enough.

STILL FLOWERING DESPITE MY NEGLECT...

After a quick turn around the yard this morning I find I do still have flowers, despite my neglect. Thank goodness for recent rains.  

This little daisy is in a hanging pot and I confess to completely forgetting about it quite often; possibly because the pot once was much lower and I kept bumping my head on it, so I put it up higher.  Out of sight and out of mind.

 A recent purchase is this lovely mini rose to see how it would go in a pot out front where nothing has ever lasted more than 2 or 3 weeks before giving up the ghost.  9 days and counting.  This flower is no more than 2cm across but a couple of others are 3cm.

  I have some coriander in what's left of the vege patch and, as it is want to do, it is going to seed but the flowers are very sweet.

My goldfish plant has never let me down and in return I try to keep it in tip top condition (Pam, gave it to me for my birthday some years ago and would be very annoyed with me if it died). I have photo-shopped the shot on the right so you can see even better why they call it a gold fish plant.

Another gift (from my daughter) is this very pretty allamanda, called Jamaican Sunset.  Gone berserk and trying to climb up the stairs.  Might help hold the railing up anyway. 

 Despite being cut back hard because of some disease, the murraya is flowering again and has a delicate fragrance.

I have to confess that although this post might give the impression that my garden could be an entrant in a garden show, that is not the case; selective photography can be deceiving I assure you.

2014 CALENDAR

2013 is almost over so I thought I'd share the selections for my yearly calendar.  I hope you all enjoyed your holiday break if you were lucky enough to have one.  With luck, you'd have received loads of gifts and got a lot of enjoyment from your own gift giving. I did.

 Thanks for staying with me throughout the year and I look forward to having you return in 2014.

A ROSE BY ANY NAME.....

Today I thought I'd share a selection of the beautiful roses on display in Victoria at the moment.  Being me, I didn't get any names. The larger photo  of the multicoloured rose shows my favourite of all that we saw at the Victoria State Rose Garden.  Mind you, we literally did a quick click and run there after we'd been to the Werribee Zoo so there could be others worthy of that sought after mantle "my favourite". So many roses to admire, so little time. The bottom four shots were taken at the Hanging Rock Winery garden a couple of days earlier.

What would you call this structure? A Gazebo?

View across the vines at Hanging Rock Winery looking towards Hanging Rock. Wines were delectable.

If you're interested, part 1 of the trip is on our other blog.

:)

MELBOURNE FLOWERS ON DISPLAY

 I recently went to Melbourne and whilst there attended the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. So I present some of the snaps I took during my visit.  It was extremely crowded, being school holidays and a Saturday afternoon.  At times I'm not sure my feet were actually touching the ground; I was just being carried along with the crowd.  Sometimes people walked in front of me just as I had lined up the perfect shot. Very frustrating. A private tour would have been nice.

 There were lots of roses there as you'd expect, particularly in the floral displays which was in the Exhibition Building. These roses were called Fiesta. 

 This lily looked like a black arum lily although this photo is showing it as a very dark red.  I couldn't resist taking a shot of the 'S'.

 Winner of the wierdest floral display (to my mind anyway) apparently celebrating Day of the Dead that is a festival held in Mexico.

 More roses, this time Deep Water (shouldn't they be blue?)...

 and High and Mighty (pink and green).

I love these flowers which were in my eldest's wedding bouquet, lisianthus.

 How's this for a Begonia???  Absolutely beautiful.

 A variety of flowers: tulips, freesias, lilium, those black lilies again and green Chrysanthemum (I think, nothing was labelled on this display).

These orange tulips were almost irridescent and quite stunning combined with the hyacinth and green foliage.

A ROSE BY ANY NAME...

Pam and I are just back from our trip to Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island and took lots of photos while we were there.  We have a travel blog at http://sisterhoodofthetravellingrants.blogspot.com.au/ with more photos if you want to look there. 

The sweet little rose above was taken in nearby Arrowtown at the rear of a restored miner's cottage which was converted to a convent for Sisters of St Joseph by Saint Mary McKillop when she lived in the village in the late 1890's. 

The people of Arrowtown have a bit of a love affair with roses and you can take a walking tour of the town's best roses during the season.