Around the Garden

Stunning daylily open to welcome the new year:

This one is Sunset.

A lovely Christmas Lily, Lilium longiflorum, in a pot beside the front door:

 Although given that this is the first bud to open, perhaps it should really be called a "new year lily"!

Speaking of Christmas, today we planted one of my gifts:

Magnolia Vulcan. I first saw one in a nursery in August 2012, and was amazed by its huge beautiful flowers. I hope this one grows happily here, and gives me lots of those stunning flowers for years to come.

Another Christmas gift was a selection of different coloured "Graffiti" geraniums. I've planted them in two large herb planters on the front patio area:

They should enjoy the hot sunshine out there, although there wasn't any today.

To finish, here are a couple of of oddities:

The white flowers in the background are chincherinchees, Ornithogalum thysoide, which have been blooming for ages but I haven't photographed them. In front are allium drumsticks, Allium sphaerocephalon, which attract an amazing variety of insects. I've seen insects visiting them which I have never seen anywhere else, which makes me wonder what those insects would be eating if we hadn't grown the alliums.