Summer has finally arrived here in Sydney. While summer is lovely in many ways, I do struggle with the heat on the hot days we get. Thankfully, I have lots of flowers to enjoy.

Magnolia grandiflora is the most common magnolia that I see in Sydney. When it’s allowed to grow into its full, grand form it is a fabulous tree and understand why it’s used so much-especially when it does so well in Sydney’s climate. The only trouble is that it’s too common-it would be nice to have more variety in the trees I see.

This Corymbia ficifolia cultivar is just fabulous with its red-orange flowers. I really do love these trees at this time of year for their showy colours-other cultivars have flowers in various shades of pink as well as this one below.

Frangipani flowers are also out in force at the moment. I do think the pink ones are my favourite, but the white ones are more common here in Sydney and still really nice.

Crepe myrtles produce great flowers in many shades of pink and white. I love these pink ones because they are so vibrant, especially next to the blue sky. This tree is one of many down the street, all with the same colourful flowers. It looks great at this time of year.

The white flowers of this crepe myrtle is also really fabulous. It’s just a shame that people like to abandon their unwanted clothing in this very garden bed-just don’t get me started on how frustrating I find people dumping their rubbish in anything other than a bin!

Shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) has really nice flowers too. Normally, ginger plants end up looking a little tired and crispy in Sydney’s summer sun, as they are rarely planted in their preferred conditions. I’ll enjoy them for now, before they turn a bit tatty!

Finally, I have some roses. I’ve not seen many roses recently, so it’s good to see these ones in some of my favourite colours.

That’s all for this week, which has been another hot one.