Flowers Update & Mucking Around in the Garden.

Little man and I were admiring the blooming tulips along our driveway when we discovered loads of green juicy aphids attacking the poor tulips. They have been planted here along the shady driveway so this welcomed those pesky creatures. My son and I had fun squishing (sounds cruel) the aphids, esp my son. 

The centre of the tulip is very pretty so I snapped a picture of it.

The little yellow daffodils at the patch next to my garage are slowly blooming, it's 3rd season.

Below the plum tree are the King Alfred daffodils.  They are very tall but not as big and beautiful as I thought they were.

Little man has the habit of putting his hands into his pockets as he walks nowadays.  He was enjoying the fluttering white petals of the plum tree as the wind blew and I snapped a shot of him.

Mid-winter, and all the daisies are flowering their heads away.

 Calendulas too...

The three cyclamens out of my kitchen window are looking glorious. I love the leaves and the butterfly-like bright flowers.

Finally I divided up the very much neglected evening primrose plants.  I threw away a lot and have about 6 pots left.  I wonder how they will end up (I mean in terms of look) 

The star jasmine plant is growing well on this fence and I cant wait for it to flower.  I cant wait to indulge in the killer fragrance they produce.

 I have decided to hang my two pots of kalanchoe out of my kitchen window so I can admire their flowering day and night (since I spend so much time spending in front of the window where my sink is!).

 This is the pot of kalanchoe which I have propagated successfully.  It is blooming beautifully.

Tulips from last year are sprouting up next to the small black gate where my conifer is.  This picture shows the left side of the gate.  Unfortunately only one is sprouting up from the right side of the gate.

Flowers Update

Spring has come and so did spring showers and strong winds. It still feels cold most days with a few warm days in between. Last year, I planted three lily bulbs (Lilium LA Hybrid) in the patch next to the garage. The flowers were 'so so'. I am so surprised but very pleased to see them come back this spring. At first there were two rosetting green heads appearing when I was doing work at the patch. Then there is the third one. I hope the flower quality will be better this spring/summer.

This pretty yellow daffodil under the plum tree was part of what I bought from the reject shop. Two which had opened was white and yellow which I was not a fan of. I did not realise that the pack was mixed daffodil bulbs. So far only three daffodils and lots of green leaves. Hope the daffodils under the plum tree next year will be more numerous, showy and impressive.

My 20+ tulips are growing...but slow...I am almost certain the flower quality will not be too fantastic this first season.

The numerous tiny pink flowers of the jade plants are withering, not a pretty sight now.

Annabel dwarf maguerite daisies have swarmed the whole bush.

My purple pak choy (left) and green pak choys (right) have towered more than a metre. The flowers of the purple pak choy has an amazing perfume. I am waiting for seed harvesting.

The seed pods...I did not know that pak choy seeds are packaged this way.

Look at my pretty pinkish white cyclamen flowers! What a sight out of my kitchen window. I just cant get sick of looking at them while at the kitchen sink.

Pretty butterfly-like flowers.

And the red ones too.

I took a picture of my trailing kalanchoe. This picture does not do the look favor. The bell-like red flowers with jade-green caps are very pretty. I beam with pride seeing them flower successfully through winter to spring.

How about earring designs like these? So dainty and sweet.

Merry Christmas! First Gladioli Opens!

Yippee! My Christma present from the garden...the first gladioli has opened! Very pretty flower! Here's a picture of the patch taken from the road. This patch next to the garage was tough work but amazingly the plants are doing fantastic after a hard time establishing themselves.

The gladioli close-up with the matching orangy-yellow calendulas behind.

Here's the Annabel dwarf marguerite daisy shrub and two blue marguerites, oregano and rosemary.

I hope gladioli flowers will last long for admiring.

Work at New House

Before I fly off again after moving into my new place, there are lots of work to do. One of it is pruning my pittosporum golden sheens, watering and fertilising it since it is spring. This is how they look like after my job, a few of them are shorter than the rest as I did not bother to measure using a string. :P

Although I have sown some tomato seeds recently but I do not have the feeling that they will work out. Feelings can be very true at times. Sometimes when my gut tells me that it wont work, it really wont, and sometimes when my gut tells me that it will, it will. Anyway, that made me buy a pot of beef steak tomato from Kmart and planted it into the new vege patch 1.

I spent a bomb at Kmart buying pots of flowers for the patch in front of the garage : Diosma Sunset Red, Candy Tuft, Annabel dwarf marguerite daisy, Blue Marguerite.

I planted them into the patch in front of the garage, plus one pot of rosemary which I have propagated and a pot of oregano which I hope will become some sort of edible groundcover. Thyme is another candidate which I am still considering about. It will take time and care before the patch be transformed into a nice flower and herb area. The front portion has yellow daffodils and I intend to plant King Alfred daffodils to another portion so that there is contrast in heights of all the flowers and herbs :

The three 'uprooted' snow pea plants (below) have been planted into Patch 2 of my new backyard.

Hope they survive the transplanting shock :

I also bought three pots of strawberry. Pretty leaves.

Had two planted into Patch 3 :

And the third one into a pot :