The Garden in October - Part Three

Continuing the epic tour around the garden this month, with photos that were taken on 15th, but there were just too many to publish on that day.

The next section is a combination of the native bed, and the "Gondwana" bed, which includes Australian natives and some South African plants.

There are several leucodendrons, but this red one is the most spectacular at the moment:

This Acacia glaucoptera has fascinating flowers that appear to grow from the middle of the leaves:

but botanically they aren't actually leaves.

This was a surprise:

Another flower on my Limelight protea! I had no idea it was there. There was a previous flower this year in June/July, so I wasn't expecting any more until next winter.

Cheating a bit, because these are buds rather than open flowers, kangaroo paw:

Staying on the kangaroo theme, this is a kangaroo apple:

A couple of grevilleas, first a shrub version:

and next a ground-cover:

Diggers speedwell:

Last time I posted a picture of this plant, I described it as "a native like billy buttons", because the tag was somewhere hidden underneath. And it still is.

Lastly in the native bed, the two austral stork's bills, Pelargonium australe, are flowering:

These are not just natives, they are indigenous to this area.

Along the driveway we find this daisy which attracts large numbers of insects:

It is nice to have room to grow large plants like this melianthus, which is very attractive to wattlebirds:

On the other hand, there's always space for more small plants, too, like this miniature bearded iris:

 

Across the front of the house not a lot is flowering right now, as most of the plants there are summer-flowering. But there are several daylilies,

a cistus,

 And this first flower on a full-size bearded iris which opened the morning I took these photos.

If you notice some touches of red in the background, those are red-hot pokers which I don't think I got a separate photo of.

Another plant with room to spread out:

One of our large echium clumps, with the last few tulips.

On the western side of the house, these succulents are covered in flowers:

As is this ceanothus:

I was surprised by this one camellia bloom:

But not surprised by abutilons, which seem to have flowers all year round:

I probably say it every time, but I love the colour of these osteospermum daisies:

Almost at the end, a weigela which is just beginning:

And a foxglove looking like it is growing in the middle of nowhere, but that is because it is the beginning of a new garden bed for annuals:

And that really is the end of the garden tour for this month. However it is not everything that is in flower, as I forgot to photograph one of my African violets, which has just started blooming again.

If you have read this far, thanks for looking at my garden! I hope you enjoyed it, particularly if you are in the northern hemisphere and heading towards winter.