Sunday, March 2, 2014

What's in Flower - March

This post is a record of everything that is flowering in my garden at the beginning of March. I think my garden normally looks its best in February, but if I do this each month it will be interesting to make the comparison.

Warning: There are lots of photos in this post, and rather a lot of them are pink!

Lilly Pilly (Syzygium smithii):


The bees love the mint flowers:


Bromeliad (Aechmea fasciata) rescued from a skip last year, flowering again:


Vireya "Princess Alexandra" has been blooming since August last year:


The Pink trumpet vine (Podranea ricasoliana) is covered in flowers:


Verbena "Candy Cane" from the mark-down table is still growing and blooming 2 months later:


The gazanias are still looking good:


The bees love the dahlias (Marie Antoinette again):
It is interesting to compare the colour of the pollen she has collected with the pollen from the mint flower, which is much paler.


Salvia "Mystic Spires Blue" started flowering in June last year. It is just about finished now. Also in this picture red valerian, or kiss-me-quick, (Centranthus ruber), which I grew from seed and which has been flowering since September:


Salvia "Indigo Spires" looks pretty similar but has more flowers coming:


My fringe flowers, (Loropetalum chinense var rubrum), have a few blooms, but will do most of their flowering in winter:


The belladonna lilies (Amaryllis belladonna) are a bit later this year, but a few have opened so far:
Just caught that bee as she was flying out. She was gathering nectar from deep inside the flower.


I thought the lavender was finished, but a few more flowers have appeared:


Rosa "Queen Elizabeth":


Rosemary:


Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha):


Rosa "Charles de Gaulle" is more lilac-coloured than it looks here:


Sedum "Autumn Joy" is also flowering a bit later this year, but it is just beginning to open:


Whirling Butterflies (Gaura lindheimeri). I do have a pink one as well, but it hasn't flowered yet this year.


Lastly, "4 o'clock plant" (Mirabilis jalapa), which actually opens between about 5 and 6pm - I guess it doesn't know about daylight saving time!

That was a lot, so congratulations if you made it to the end! But as I loaded these on the computer this evening, I realised I had forgotten to photograph the most obvious flowers; the crepe myrtle trees in my front yard. So this is not quite all the flowers in bloom right now.

5 comments:

Cherry said...

Gorgeous garden!! My favorite is the belladonna lilies - so very pretty & pink. So wonderful to see things blooming and the monthly record will be interesting.

aubirdwoman said...

so you are definitely a green thumb ... glad you are my friend lol I am a bit of learning as I go but I do love the garden.

jacaranda said...

Wonderful photos of your garden. My Belladonna is just starting to poke it's head out of the soil, not one of my roses in the front are flowering but the ones in the backyard are. Must prepare my bed for Sweet Peas.

Marly said...

Beautiful photos, especially clever of you to catch the bees. Rosa Queen Elizabeth is my favourite rose - childhood memories. I've never seen a Lilly Pilly, not even a photo, is it a native Australian plant?

Maria said...

Beautiful flowers in your garden Vireya and what great photos with the bees!