Figures of our Bassets, sadly no longer with us and our garden artillary.
Grandson Leo with Dahlias. Dahlias have struggled not to collapse in wet weather.
A wettish autumn so far has meant luxuriant growth and lots of flower bud development. Easter has come and gone with the family and I can still swim comfortably in the pool each morning so cold is not upon us.Dombeya tilaceus, Holmskioldia chinensis including the 'Blue Mandarin' variety and Hypoestes aristata are flowering beautifully this year. The sasanqua camellias especially 'Beatrice Emily', 'Edna Butt" and 'Mignonne' are covered in flower. The equally lovely but slightly too pink 'Hiryu', 'Red Willow' and 'Dazzler' are also in flower as had been our very large specimen of Camellia crapnelliana with its single white flowers.
Display is everywhere and Gordonia axillaris is carpeting the ground with white flowers with yellow stamens from a canopy full of blossom and bees. Next to it Camellia sasanqua 'Setsugekka' has very similar flowers which is a bit of a ? mistake given the overwhelming impact of its enormous neighbour.
The garden is full of flowers from various Plectranthus and on practically all the Salvias including the autumn/winter flowering Salvia involucrata. Salvia leucantha varieties of all sorts including both pink and white 'velour' are in display as is Salvia curviflora. Lepechinia salviae and Hemizygia transvaalensis are both in flower, the latter being a struggle to achieve.
We have had very few losses but I must record loss in the wet weather of a Osmanthus heterophylla variegata and of an Escallonia. Poppy seed hasn't germinated yet and containers of sweet peas have failed.. However the pea relative vine Clitoria ternata has returned and a great crop of Browallia are reseeded and emerging.
Our fernery wall and propagation house construction is settled in and all that was needed was to add a cannon to the garden, which I have always wanted to do. We found it in a nursery at Mount Tamborine.
Michael Simpson
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