Flower Friday

I have an odd mix of plants this week, from Australian natives and South African daisies to tulips, pansies and Mexican lily flowers. All are fabulous for the flower colour and plant form.

These lovely Gazinia flowers come from South Africa. They are a bright addition to any garden, but with a word of caution. As they come from a country with a very similar climate to Australia, Gazinias do so well here that they can be really weedy and spread beyond where they should. This is why you need to care for your garden plants plants-to prevent their spread so that they don’t outcompete native plants in bushland of various forms if they escape from the garden.

Indian hawthorn flowers are still looking fabulous this week, so here are the mass of white flowers.

Sweet viburnum (Viburnum odoratissimim) is a common hedging plant here in Sydney. I’m not sure why as it’s a bit of a messy hedge due to the fact that it’s got really big leaves. I don’t hate the plant at all, I just don’t like the way it’s usually used. It does have a very nice positive-these tiny white flowers are lovely in spring.

I can’t resist a grevillea flower. This tree was covered in these lovely pale yellow flowers-it’s loving the warmer temperatures we are getting at the moment.

Turpentine flowers are usually too high to see properly, so I enjoyed looking at these ones when I was working on a rooftop garden this week.

Mexican lily flowers are a new favourite this month. Pink and green, rather large and showy-they are a bit in-your-face, but I appreciate that more as I’m getting older!

Clivia flowers are also really nice to see-the contrast between the deep orange flowers and dark green leaves is something that I really enjoy seeing. This particular cultivar is my favourite, but I’m unsure of its name.

Lavender is always a nice plant to have around, from the lovely purple flowers to the smell and the fact that bees love it. I think that the world needs more lavender around, for both the smell and flower colour.

Banksia is a favourite genus of mine. I have two for you this week. The first is Banksia hookeriana, or Hookers Banksia, which is native to south-west Western Australia.

The second banksia is heath-leaved banksia, or Banksia ericifolia. This is one of my favourite banksias, as I like the colour of the flowers.

Wattles (in the Acacia genus) have been looking so good in the past couple of months with their yellow flowers. There are many shades of yellow, which varies by species. They also have a wonderful smell to them as well. This particular species is Acacia cognata, or bower wattle. I think that this is a fabulous tree, with its weeping branches and masses of yellow flowers. This species is native to the area between Nowra in New South Wales to Orbost in Victoria.

Finally, I have some tulips and pansies form the Floriade Festival in Canberra that’s on at the moment. I’ve include all these brightly coloured flowers because this sort of planting isn’t common in Australia, but does remind me a little of England. I’ll talk about my visit to Floriade in my next post and include many more photos of the colourful flowers on display, but here is a selection until then.