The rain has finally arrived and I expect to see more plants flowering in the days ahead. For now, I’m really happy to see flowers on the tomato plants — especially as the fruit is so sweet.
Friday Flowers
#fridayflowers
Dancing in the sun
Image: Su Leslie 2020
Friday Flowers
Purples and blue
Lemon bergamot. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Hydrangea. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Agapanthus. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Fading hydrangea. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Lemon bergamot. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Climbing beans. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Blue borage. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Climbing beans. Image: Su Leslie 2020
There’s definitely some colour-coding of what’s blooming — and fading — in my garden.
Friday Flowers
A study in orange
Playing with the multiple exposure function of my camera again; with a little more deliberation this time.
Three views of the same calendula flower.
Friday Flowers
More soft pinks
Friday flowers
Wishing you all a peaceful and happy weekend, and thinking especially of my trans-Tasman friends suffering so badly in the bush fires. Kia Kaha. Nga mihi nui.
Hydrangea Homecoming
Smaller plant potted; larger still looking for suitable home in the garden. Image: Su Leslie 2019
It rained so hard during my over-night stop in Turangi that the hydrangea bucket was in danger of overflowing (never mind the river less than 100 metres from my room).
Despite (or maybe because) of the drenching, the plants looked much healthier in the morning and survived the journey home.
I’ve potted the smaller one. It looks a bit wonky with one large flower-head hanging off the side, but there is another, quite robust-looking stem growing straight.
Hydrangea One — the mother-plant — is still bucketed and seems to be doing fine. Now I just have to find a suitable space in the garden for her.
Image: Su Leslie 2019
The back-story:
How to travel with a hydrangea
How to travel with a hydrangea: day two
Posted to Friday Flowers
“… taken in wine is good for melancholy”
Buckwheat flower (fagopyrum esculentum). Image: Su Leslie 2019
According to Culpepper’s English Physician and Complete Herbal, buckwheat also “provoketh urine, increaseth milk, and looseneth the belly.”
And to think, I just planted it to attract the bees.
Friday Flowers
Friday flowers
First flowering. Lime-scented geranium (Pelargonium nervosum). Image: Su Leslie 2019
Friday flowers
Image: Su Leslie 2019One of the more unusual gardens included in the Taranaki Garden Festival was actually a cemetery — Te Henui Cemetery.
On the edge of New Plymouth’s CBD, Te Henui is the city’s oldest cemetery, with graves dating back to 1861. It occupies almost 10 hectares (24 acres) and is extensively planted with fruit and ornamental trees, while flower beds bring colour, texture and fragrance to the (mostly heritage) plots.
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019Large-scale maintenance is done by the council’s park’s’ staff, but the magnificent flower-plantings are entirely due to the efforts of a small group of volunteers.
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Su Leslie 2019I find cemeteries fascinating; sad and poignant, and full of glimpses into other people’s lives and families. Sadly, in New Zealand at least, I don’t often find them beautiful. Graves that are lovingly tended by partners and children quickly become neglected as generations pass on. Many of us don’t know even where our grandparents and other members of the wider whanau are buried, let alone have the ability to visit and care for their graves.
Through their wonderful gardening efforts, the volunteers at Te Henui are dissolving time and distance. The beautiful, tranquil, contemplative space that they maintain and watch over helps connect the present and the past, and remind us all of our humanity.
Image: Su Leslie 2019Regular Random: five minutes with a rhododendron
Image: Su Leslie 2019
It hasn’t been much of a week for walking, so I was extra-grateful for the absence of rain yesterday morning. Not a long walk, but enough to see what is happening in the “street-of-beautifully-kept-gardens.”
Lots of the camellia flowers are gone — lost to the wind and rain. But the single rhododendron that I can photograph without actually trespassing is looking really good.
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Image: Su Leslie 2019
Regular Random is a photography project hosted by Desley at desleyjane pictures. There are two versions:
Version 1:
- choose a subject or a scene
- spend five minutes photographing it – no more!
- try to not interfere with the subject, instead see it from many angles, look through something at it, change the light that’s hitting it
- have fun!
- tag your post #regularrandom and
- ping back to Desley’s latest post
Version 2:
- choose an object
- spend five minutes photographing it – no more!
- put the object in different locations to see how the background or surroundings can change the way the object looks
- have fun!
- tag your post #regularrandom and ping back to Desley’s latest post
And since it’s Friday … #fridayflowers
