The Garden in July

Winter this year has been milder than previous ones (so far). We have not had any frost yet, so a few autumn-flowering plants are still flowering. There are lots of winter flowers, and the beginnings of spring as well. Warning - That all adds up to a lot of flower photos!

The tree dahlia is just about finished, but at least this year it is finishing naturally, not because the frost destroyed it:

Salvias have usually been knocked down by frost before now, but they are still going strong.
Pink

Blue

White

And even the red one is flowering again after having been stripped by crimson rosellas last month.

The white Japanese wind-flower still has lots of buds to open,

but I have given up on the pink one flowering this year. No sign of a bud anywhere.

Plants normally in flower at this time of year include the bergenia:

Zygocactus:

Wintersweet:

Flowering quinces (Chaenomeles), pink

 and red

Red hot pokers:

Leucadendron:

Correa "dusky bells":

A grevillea I couldn't find the tag on:

Thryptomene:

Senecio blue chalk sticks:

Other plants currently flowering include lavender, rosemary, abutilons and euphorbias.


I thought the cyclamen wasn't going to flower this year, but under the leaves the flowers are almost ready to open:

The first flowers are appearing in the orchard. This is the catkin, or male flower, of a hazelnut:

 The female flower is very hard to photograph. It is a tiny red tuft:

I hope this means we will have some home-grown hazelnuts!


Jonquils, yellow

 and white:

are signs that spring is coming. But the ultimate sign of spring is this:

A little spot of pink which is my newest peony, "Lady Bird" beginning to emerge.