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.

Flowering Plants Growing

My gorgeous jadeplants have put on their tiny pink flowers. In fact, lots of neighbourns have these plants and they are all in bloom. Very nice! One calla lily flower is starting to un-twirl. Better get a nice picture before it opens completely.

I bought two packs of tulip bulbs from Bunnings and planted them around my two conifers. Samuel helped me with the planting and watering :

The three cyclamens are growing well at this spot under the pomegranate tree. The one in the middle has produced some white flowers but they are quite small.

These daffodils which I have bought from Dandenong Market have appeared from under the mulching. Their shoots look a little different from those I have bought in Tasmania. They are supposed to produce yellow heads, I do hope so because I only like the large yellow ones.

This pot of daffodils is doing great eversince I took it out from the garage. I predicted there was still life after the previous bath (which did not yield a single flower)and I was right. I hope for this season, I would see some flowers. I told myself that I will not fertilise the pot in any way this time. The bulbs were bought during our 09 trip to Tassie.

Over here, gorgeous daffodils at the patch next to the garage that died down last summer are coming up again, with even more shoots and I will expect more flowers this time. They are of the same type as those in the pot.

One of my candy tuft plants at the patch next to the garage has died leaving the one as shown above. A small part of it has also died and I pulled it out easily. Since its planting in early 08, it has put on a single flower. Disappointing.

My trailing kalanchoe in its pot has put on loads of buds. I thought it would be difficult to get it to flower from some reading up that I have done, but it has done so on its own. This beautiful plant has been the subject of moth caterpillars from spring to autumn and I had resorted to netting it. It has been resilient and sprang back with flower buds as mid-winter approaches.

Snapshots of my Garden Babies.

It's been quite a while since I spent some good time doing gardening. Our family had spent some time grieving the loss of our second baby because we had a miscarriage. We were thankful that it happened early pregnancy but still we were sad. And thankfully it is autumn and most work had been done. I spent little bits of time doing harvesting instead. The garden does need some tidying up and today I did just that as the weather was warmer. The chilli padi plants are doing well and the chillies are steadily ripening. My mum, who is here for holiday, has been the sole customer of my chillies. :) The three cyclamens which I have planted last year are coming back well. I cannot wait for them to flower and bloom :

And amazingly, they have sent out bulbs somewhere else and new cyclamen plants are sprouting up 1 metre away :

My calamondin comquat tree in its pot is doing great too, producing many bunches of fruits. Hoping to make belacan chilli out of them :

I have propagated some cuttings of sweet potato, hoping they can last through winter and be replanted next spring. Here is one successful one :

These few oriental radishes are doing fine under neglect at Patch A:

Recently I picked one brown turkey fig off this tree and it was a bit fleshy and pink. It was quite large. Here is another one waiting to be picked. This tree has produced a dozen of figs but so far only two are a little edible, the rest were dry and yucky :

My Flemings' brown turkey has several small figs. Hoping that they will be better in quality. So interesting to have figs in pots! :

Here's a tuft of chives which I bought and planted where the passionfruit panama is :

And here's the beautiful passionfruit panama gold. It has sent out so many new growth despite me pruning it again and again, cos I really dont know where to encourage it to head. I did not want it to climb up the shed's roof or in summer, it will be cooked :

Strawberry delight...dangling strawberries... :

I have this plant growing in the calamondin comquat pot. It looks like a marigold :

Today, I finally did some work to protect my chilli fire with plastic in preparation for winter. I hope it can survive the winter. This plant has given me loads of green chillies for pickling :

I transplanted the five snow pea seedlings out on the front where the sunflowers used to be. They are doing well :

A friend, Li, passed me some mustard and I planted them in the frontyard. I have not found out much about this vegetable but will soon :

Another friend, Eliada, gave me two pots of chives. They are looking the same after two weeks in the ground.

Today, I pulled up all the lucerne growing in this patch F. I am intending to use it for vegetables? Still thinking. Added some black gold compost to it. Notice one leading branch of my carolina black rose is missing? It was up the pongola ceiling but when I returned from Lakes Entrance, it was found broken. Not sure if the wind or Marco was the culprit. Anyway, I had to cut it down completely and now there is only one leading branch left.