With apologies to my Australian friends, but I never really think of Australia in terms of being pretty. English villages, cottage gardens, bluebell woods, rose gardens and Devon lanes dripping with primroses and violets are pretty. I have, therefore, really enjoyed many of the flowers which are now blooming in the late Australian summer. Here are some of them. I don't know all the names but, of course, that doesn't detract from their prettiness!
We'll start with oleander which reminds me of the time we lived in the Bahamas. It always puts on a terrific show in hot and sunny climes!
We saw these dainty little waterlilies in the Botanical Gardens. They are not like any I have ever seen before!
Any ideas what this might be? It reminds me of a number of flowers - jasmine, stephanotis?
This lovely pink shrub is Crepe Myrtle and there are lots of them everywhere. It looks like lilac from a distance but the flower is completely different and comes in white and very dark pink too!
This is Geisha Girl and it's a beautiful violet coloured shrub. This plant is in someone's front garden and it's the only one I've seen so far.
I love these grasses. They are soft and floaty and light as a feather.
Another hibiscus!
We'll start with oleander which reminds me of the time we lived in the Bahamas. It always puts on a terrific show in hot and sunny climes!
The 'Iceberg' rose is a real favourite in Melbourne. Every other front garden has a bush or bushes and it seems to bloom constantly. It was still flowering robustly when we were here last year, in early winter.
The morning glory convolvulus was one of my mother's favourite wild flowers. She first saw it on a trip to Bermuda in the last 1960s where it sprawls absolutely everywhere. She planted seeds at home for many years after her visit but it doesn't seem to flourish as well in the British climate as the more subtly coloured soft pink and white bindweed, but it's free flowing, wandering habit is just as vigorous. The flowers only last for one day and they are beginning to fade and wilt in the heat by about three in the afternoon, but bright and early next morning there's another fresh and beautiful crop.
I love the pomegranate fruit. They grow on surprisingly spindly looking trees which seem to cope well with the fruits as they get bigger and bigger.
This is an African Iris and they grow prolifically in municipal planting areas. It's a really pretty, dainty flower.
A lovely delicate hibiscus, as opposed to some of the bigger, showier types. So pretty.
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