Friday Flowers

/ Su Leslie
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Roses, cottage garden, Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image; Su Leslie 2019

Another trip to the archives for my Friday flowers.

A while ago, T and I decided to explore the less well-known parks around Auckland and about this time last year, we discovered Scandrett Regional Park, on the Mahurangi Peninsula.

Formerly a farm owned by the Scandrett family, the park still contains the old homestead, and remnants of a once beautiful cottage garden.

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Scandrett homestead. Image: Su Leslie 2019

Old roses growing along a fence drew my attention.

Cottage garden, Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image; Su Leslie 2019
Cottage garden, Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image; Su Leslie 2019
Cottage garden, Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image; Su Leslie 2019

As did the Japanese Maple in all its autumnal glory.

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Autumn leaves, Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie 2019

And these pretty little wild flowers growing along the shore — that I feel I should be able to name but can’t.

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Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie 2019

Of course we needed explore the beach too.

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Scandrett Regional Park, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie 2019

Regional parks are currently closed due to Covid 19, so it may be a little while before we can revisit Scandrett — perhaps on a sunny day?

34 thoughts on “Friday Flowers”

  2. Lovely macros with bokeh. What lens do you normally use? I have probably asked you before but I have a memory of a goldfish these days. I like the cute homestead but that’s a lot of steps to carry the shopping up!

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    • Thank you Jude. I have a 100ml f/2.8 macro lens, but if I’m out I tend to use the camera’s kit lens which is 24-105 f/4.
      Agree about the steps, but actually that would have been the least of the family’s grocery issues. The whole bay is quite isolated and they would have either had to get a horse or farm cart in on a pretty rough (and really steep) track, or rowed around to the nearest settlement.

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  6. that opening photo brought a smile right away – and then I was like – wow – they were lined up so well. and such a perfect pink.
    and nice cottage and that closing photo had such a cool vibe – 🙂
    looking forward to parks opening again

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    • It is a lovely place. Just along the track, nearer the beach, there are three holiday cottages owned by the Council. We were on the verge of renting one for the weekend when we went into lock-down. Now the parks are closed and I’m not sure when we will be able to re-book. But it is a perfect place to BE — especially in winter, and during the week when there is usually no-one else around.

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  11. Love these photos. Once this is over I will make more effort to visit more gardens and parks locally.
    Despite my love of flowers it is that last photo, the beach, which really caught my eye. It is super.
    Your mystery flower is clearly in the Brassica family (4 petals) and resembles Matthiola – Night Scented Stock but if it is wild then it probably is not this.

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    • It is a fabulous beach (the rest of it is sandy and sheltered, so perfect for swimming and kayaking). There are also three houses owned by the council that can be rented as holiday homes. We were on the verge of booking one when we went into lock-down, and now we’ll have to wait for however long until the parks fully re-open 😦
      Thanks for the flower suggestion. I’ve looked at Matthiola images, and I think it’s different. I suspect it is some sort of iris???? “Wild” here is a pretty loose term.

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