Summer shots

14 Feb '07 10:02 am

Me too Gordon ,(with the snowdrops and hellebores)- both non -showy but so sweet in their unassuming way -I have both of these white flowers and really couldn't be without their shy and simple beauty.
Dixie.

14 Feb '07 3:14 pm

Thanks so much to all of you who complimented me on the pictures! My garden, as a whole, looks pretty dead and messy just now, so it was really good to know that at least little bits of it are good! A friend of mine (my local gardening buddy) has cleaned her garden up already, even though I persist in telling her that we're still due for a cold spell. Well, her garden looks so good that I feel a bit ashamed of the appearance of mine, but I'm still holding off on the big spring cleanup.

I guess you all know how cheering it is to be able to look at pictures of other gardens in full bloom at this time of year when one's own is asleep or just awakening. I look forward to seeing more of your wonderful pictures! Especially those from the southern hemisphere, as autumn is my favourite season!

Cheers,

gordonf

14 Feb '07 9:17 pm

Wow, another wonderful series of garden pics! Your last pic with the web formation is my favourite...impressive and priceless...I'd say perfect timing!! Thanks, Jack! Very Happy

Gordon, thanks to you too for that beautiful iris...soooo blue...lovely!! I also fancied your snowdrops and the rest! Very Happy

15 Feb '07 7:48 pm

Wow! I've been spending time going through all the postings I've missed for awhile now and have been amazed by the many, many photos of the most wonderful plants and garden settings.
But, what do I find hidden amongst them - not in the UFO (unidentified flowering object) section - but a challenge to identify a blue flowering annual. It goes against the grain to leave that challenge untried, so here is my effort. Could it be Angelonia - the summer snapdragon. If it is, then it isn't a native of South Africa as far as I know.

3 Mar '07 9:15 pm

Hi all - I'm back - limping along slowly technologically speaking, but back. I'm using bluetooth and a non-3G mobile phone - so I need to multitask whilst posting and edit out the lesser pics!

Thanks for your suggestion, teecee! Angelonia is quite a new introduction to SA, a lovely plant, but one that I strangely enough have not been able to overwinter even through the mild 2005 winter. Odd how 'tender' and 'hardy' mean different things to different plants. As you might have seen, I had it identified by the lady who first gave it to us many years ago as Browallia americana. She in turn got it from a local gardener many years before. I found it since the search started in someone else's garden - she got it from the sister-in-law of the person who gave it to me! (And didn't know its name.) It has been magnificent all over the garden this year, and seems to prefer t he long, hot, dry summer this one has been.

Today I'm posting from a file I've had ready for over two weeks... so put your minds back! But despite all my talk of autumn, it is incredibly hot and dry. Last night (Friday)I sat on the Rosemary Terrace at dusk, and it was a summer evening to remember! I will still do a post on it. Here meanwhile is some stale news:

Oops! No news is good news. I thought I'd written a post - I've only collected a few loose pics with a vague early autumn theme to them. Let them speak for themselves.

3 Mar '07 10:38 pm

OOPs! Your beautiful, S.African Autumn is back, dear Jack! Lucky you! Lucky-us! A lot of beautiful spots in your farm to take lovely Autumnal photos - again!

4 Mar '07 3:46 am

Jack, your Autumn shots are as lovely as always. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that your fall is fast approaching, since spring is rapidly coming here in the Northern Hemisphere. I look forward to your essay on the summer evening on the Rosemary Terrace.

4 Mar '07 8:58 am

Late summer this year has caught me up. With the Rosemary Borders doing their thing magnificently we have, for the first time, a real focus through the second half of summer. It is hot and dry – in fact, the only rain of any consequence in Feb., usually one of our wettest months, was 55mm in one night last week. But as the sun sets the cooling breezes bring relief and last night I sat on the wall at the Rosemary Terrace after completing my photography and let the dusk wash over me. The birds loved the cool, and I was surrounded by fluttering wings and the twitter of discovery; all around seeds and insects were there for the picking. And I do believe birds too have an appreciation of beauty…

The Rosemary Borders are successful beyond my wildest dreams. Lush and extravagant, they are tall enough to give the effect of double herbaceous borders now, especially when sitting down as I was. The formal features at the two ends with their focus on foliage and structure punctuate the sweep of flowers. High summer is a time of triumph!

But also: all over the flowers are getting lanky, the seedheads outnumbering the buds, the weeds growing out of control among the flowers as more weeding will push the display over the edge into patchiness. Besides: the wild grasses act as stakes…

So it is also a time of dissatisfaction. Like Middle Age demands more lead time and more recovery time, not to mention softer lighting (You too will understand that one day, Bambi…), the garden doesn’t stand up to close inspection. Walking in the garden becomes a balancing act: see the colour and extravagance don’t see the weeds and the maintenance. Don’t become one of those “you should have seen it last week...”-gardeners. Don’t despair because of all that needs to be done. Don’t complain. Celebrate.

4 Mar '07 2:07 pm

Hi, Jack - great pictures! Loved them all, especially those of the dogs: they really are like children, aren't they? Regarding the "Floating Perfection" image - could that flower have been a gaillardia, perhaps? I thought heleniums were more double than that, but I have been known to be wrong (once or twice Rolling Eyes

)!

Cheers,

gordonf

4 Mar '07 7:16 pm

It is not (I think) Gaillardia, Gordon, unless it is a form I don't know. I've never seen Heleniums in SA, but loved them in the UK, where I never learnt to recognise them. They were to me always of the "What's that beautiful daisy?"-type.

I guess I need to take a good look at the flowers, the foliage, the growth... and then the books! Rolling Eyes

Here meanwhile are a few more pretty pics taken early this morning.

Summer shots

garden awakes

Thank You All!

That blue flower

Back at last

Lovely Autumn is back!

Autumn so soon?

Late summer thoughts

Great Pictures!!

Helenium or not