A Bee

I found this little fellow having a rest on the end of a crab cactus leaf. I am not sure what he is, presumably a bee of some sort, he's too pretty for a fly. I love the sparkle in his wings.

Making Hay

In the three weeks that the weigela is in flower, the bees are busy making hay while the sun shines. Well, collecting pollen anyway. This little fellow is in very deep

Weigela Pt 4

The older they get, the deeper pink the flowers get. The shrub looks very pretty for three weeks in spring when it is a mass of flowers, in varying shades of pink.

Weigela Pt 3

As the flowers age the shade of pink deepens.

Weigela Continued

When they first come out they are very pale pink in colour.

Weigela

The weigela in full bloom.

A Closer View

An Old Favourite

The geranium, pink, from a cutting taken from my Mother's garden many years ago. Hardy & pretty when in flower.

Keeping Guard

One of the many eight legged creatures that inhabit my garden.

Perfection Continued.............

The Jennifer Rose.....continued

A Closer View

The Jennifer Rose

A picture paints a thousand words.

White Rose

The roses are out in all their glory.

Interesting

This has come up in the middle of the front lawn. Obviously a weed of some kind, but I don't know what it is. We used to call it "Shivery Grass" when we were kids, but I am sure that is not the correct name. It's still interesting.

Weeds

I must admit that when I see a dandelion like this, I really, really, really want to blow on it. Though of course I don't, I very carefully pluck them off & throw them in the green waste bin. It is amazing how fast they go from flowers to this, maximum 24 hours I think. Then all they need is a gentle knock or a gentle puff, & the seeds go off to do their thing. No winder they are weeds.

Scented Geranium

The scented geranium by the side gate is a mass of flowers. Another plant grown from a cutting.

New Growth

The bird's nest fern is sprouting lots of new fronds. I must feed it with a pile of gum leaves from the back yard.

An Orchid

One of my orchids is in flower. Disappointing results this year, only two spikes. Though the man at the local orchid display a few weeks back said that it wasn't a good year for orchids. I wonder why?

Just Resting

I found this fellow just resting on the back screen door.

The May Bush

The may bush has been a mass of these tiny white flowers, making a stunning display in the back corner. About five years old now, I grew it from a cutting.

Garlic Chives

The garlic chives are pretty flowers, normally a carousel of mauve blooms on one stem. This stem was a little lopsided from all the wind.

Blue Splashes

The irises have been & gone this spring. This year I was very happy to have seven flowers scattered through the garden. They are slowly multiplying from the single bulb I bought a few years back.

Moth, Butterfly Or ..............................?

This pretty little creature was resting under a branch on my climbing rose. Just over 1cm
long.

A Baby

I found this fellow sitting on top of all the garden clippings in the green waste bin. Obviously only a baby, look at the size of his wings.

Building

I caught this little fellow building his cocoon in the base of my orchids. I thought I would leave him there & see what happened. However, the next day he was gone. Maybe he did not like being disturbed in his work.

The Pollinater

The last few posts are just some of the colours of African Daisies that are currently flowering in my garden. I am not even sure where the original plants come from. However, the bees love them, & pollinate them. The seeds form & they self sow, giving this wonderful array of patterns & colours come spring.

Although this little fellow is busy collecting pollen, he is also managing to pollinate the seeds of this flower. I wonder what colour variants I will get next year?

A Hint of White

Radial Colour

Shades of Pink

Subtle shades of colour.

Natures Colour Schemes

A close up view.

Hints of Colour

White with hints of pink. Interesting how the colour is only on the tips & in the center.

Subtle Stripes

More stripes, but more subtle than yesterdays.

Stripes

I love these stripes.

African Daisies

The African daisies are making a spectacular show in my garden at present.

Yellow Daisy

Bushes of these yellow daisies seem to love my garden. A mass of flowers in spring, the bees love them, pollinate them, then they drop their little black seeds to start another bush. I am forever pulling then out.

Pink Roses

I've lost count how many roses there have been this spring on the climbing rose on the back fence. It has had one flush of flowers already so far this spring, and now there are new shoots coming which I am sure will bring still more blooms.

May Bush

The May Bush is just a sea of white, made up of thousands of these tiny white flowers.

Prospective Fruit

The lemon tree has been flowering quite prolifically and the smell has been divine.

Ivy Geranium

An ivy geranium that I grew from a cutting. Very easy to grow.

Getting Ready

I have three pots of crab cactus, all getting ready to make a spectacular show.

Geraniums

The red geraniums are in flower. Originally a cutting from my Mum's garden.

Rock Orchid

My rock orchid has been in flower. Seven spikes full of these wonderful little blooms.

The New Season of Roses

The new season of roses has already started. This is one of my climbing roses on the side fence, complete with aphids. The fence has already been a wall of pink blooms, and I have trimmed a lot of the dead heads back already. As I was doing this task I noticed all the new shoots after all the rain, so hopefully there will be more lots of more flowers to come.

A New Tennant

Look who I found has moved into my lemon tree. I found him about a week ago & have no idea as to how long he was there before hand. So I am now watching & waiting to see who emerges. The cocoon is so interesting, and totally different to this one in my rain gauge last year. I am hoping that this one might be a beautiful butterfly, rather than the ugly moth that emerged from the rain gauge. Only time will tell & I am hoping I am around to see it happen.

Friends Of The Lemon Tree

It's Spring, & everything is comming to life in my garden. This is just one of the spiders that has called my lemon tree home. He kept running away from the camera, hence the pic could be better. I was more interested in his spots & tiny size than anything. He is actually sitting on a lemon flower bud so you can get the proportion of size.

The Last of the Roses

Yesterday was pruning day, pruning my roses that is. They were covered in black spot & rust from all the rain that we have had. Also because of the rain, there were new shoots coming everywhere, and probably new flowers too. But it is winter, they are supposed to be dormant, and now is the time to prune, so I did. Quite often I get lovely bunches of flowers when I prune, but this year I just got this one. The last stem from my Jennifer rose. It lookes & smells divine.

Nest Building

It's that time of year again, nest building time for the crows. This would have to be about the fifth year in a row that they have made their home in the big gum tree next door. I must admit I think it is still a little early, but I guess by the time they finish building, lay & incubate eggs, the worst of winter will be hopefully over. Here we can see one of them on next door's garage roof, with a beak full of bark that was gathered from my back yard.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr .................. continued

Well, yesterday on the news they told us that it had been the coldest June morning for 27 years, and this morning has been even colder. Old Jack Frost has even been visiting my back balcony again. I wonder how my strawberries will cope with a second dose? Mid July is usually our coldest time, which is when the snow hits the mountains about an hours drive away. Hibernation time has come I think.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Winter has arrived!

Clear nights, cold changes, lower temperatures & no wind mean frost! Frost is something we rarely get in our little part of the world. Being at the top of the hill is one reason, as is all the houses around with all the warmth. Then there are the gum trees in the neighbour's yard which also give us a little shelter. It's not that Sydney doesn't get frost, it certainly does, every year. Our little suburb does too, but they usually appear down the hill closer to the river, or in the open parks.

This morning though was different. The temperatures plummeted below zero & Old Jack Frost decided he was going to visit. These were my strawberries, at 8am this morning, up high on my back balcony where the frost has not reached for a number of years. I wonder how long it will be before we see it up here again.