A Few More from the West Coast

Be sure to click on the pictures to get better views of them and for some reason not all the pictures are being shown on this posting so click on the Read More to see them all. Growing Pains!!!!!

Miscellaneous

This is one of the first shots I ever took with a digital camera. I was hooked after this. We are at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and that is the Colonel Walker house in the background. It is still one of my favorite shots that I've taken

What a great place to go to get colorful interesting shots. It certainly made the Stampede grounds more interesting.

You'll be telling me to go fly one of these once you finish all these blog postings.

I no longer ride them, taking pictures is more fun.

Our beautiful dog Bija. She used to be so camera shy but it looks like I finally have her used to it. She doesn't look very happy about the intrusion though come to think of it.

My most favorite picture ever! I can't even take credit for spotting it though as my daughter pointed it out to me when we were at Butchart Gardens. It is of a stack of plastic umbrellas all piled up waiting for the tourists to use on a rainy day.

Aussie Creatures

The Melbourne aquarium had a darkened room with tanks full of jelly fish lit from within the tank. They were just beautiful and were in constant motion. These were my second favorites. There was a tank full of orange ones against a blue background but the camera I had at the time or rather my abilty to get a good shot then wasn't terribly good.

They are just tiny little things about the size of a loonie and just fascinating to watch.

I could have spent the whole day in this place watching these fascinating creatures. Hard to believe a happy looking thing like this got the Crocodile Hunter.

 

I was surprized to find that all the swans in New Zealand and Austraila are black. You would think that the white ones we have would tolerate the heat and sunshine better.




As you can see they are quite tame and will come right up to take tidbits out of your hand. What goes in comes out pretty quickly though so save the scraps until the end of your meal.

This little group is a trio of Tawny Frog Mouth birds. When they decide to wake up and open their mouths they do so widely that their heads disappear from a frontal view and you only see a mouth. I love it when birds and animals pose for me.

Downunder

We came upon this little guy at a golf course in Tasmania. We noticed some little animal dash across the fairway and followed to find him grubbing amid the brush. Since we were the only two people on the whole golf course we had plenty of time to stop and take pictures, what a treasure.

Everyone will recognize these next few pictures from the coast of Austraila out of Melbourne. We took a tour from there and the Apostles scenery was breathtaking. It is mostly misty like in this picture which gives an added quality once you hear the shipwreck stories and tales of heroism that happened at this site.

Those cliffs are about a hundred feet high. One story is that a surviving sailor climbed up the cliff only to hear the cries of the captains daughter coming from below. He went back down, rescued her and helped her back up to the top. Ahhh, chivalery!

The only bad thing about visiting this site is that there are a million flies that attack your face as soon as you step out of your vehicle. They are hunting the mositure from your eyes, nose and mouth. If anyone plans to go there I highly recommend a hat with a mesh that comes over the face, otherwise you will be doing the "Austrailian Wave" which is constantly swinging your hand back and forth in front of your eyes until you give up and get back on the bus.

This one was once attached to the mainland by a "bridge" that enabled tourists to walk out to this part. There was a large group of them out there one day when the bridge collapsed and they were stranded for a few hours. Amazingly no one was on the bridge for the 100 foot drop to the ocean!

Here we are at Bondi Beach, the big surfing place out of Sydney, (for waves and the opposite sex)

This is a swimming pool at the extreme end of Bondi beach. There is nothing to stop swimmers from being washed out of it onto the rocks below, that fence surrounding it is wide open. It didn't look too appealing to us as it was full of seaweed and those waves were driving the foolish swimmers who braved it, into the bottom of the pool.

This foolish fellow you see here, got caught by the next wave and when he finally surfaced, left the pool immediately. Duh!!!!

I appreciate him being in their for my photo though.

This is the lavendar farm in Tasmania. It was so lovely and smelled so nice and we were astonished at how many products they make from the flowers. I really love the essential oil from this farm and am lucky to have a contact that can get it for me whenever I run out.


That's it for Aussie land except for some pics of the animals and sea creatures. If you ever want an interesting country to visit, this is the one.

More Flowers

Welcome to the most viewed post of my blog. I'm so happy there are lots of people out there who enjoy flowers as much as I do. If I've named something wrong (it happens) please let me know.


This is my dinner plate dahlia. Every single one I planted was white, but they were huge, eight to ten inches across. I discovered that snipping them right off at the top of the stem and then floating them in a bowl was the best way to bring them into the house. They would die in one day just stuck in a vase but lasted a week or more this way.

Another variety of Dahlia with spiky petals.

A whole bouquet of them.

It is Fall now and the bloom is definitely off the rose as shown here. Still beautiful and interesting though.

I did find a couple of recent bloomers though that were still prize winners. One example.

I have been searching for a Himalyan Blue Poppy for ages and thought that I'd found one finally. However from the sixteen bulbs I planted I've only had three flowers. One was only half formed, another came and went while we were away for four days so this is the only complete one so far. It starts all folded up in a ball so I had to give it some help opening so I could take a picture of it. Unfortunately this is NOT a Himalyan poppy, they look like the big red poppies only blue and this one is small and except for the center it doesn't really look like a poppy to me at all, more like a crocus. Regardless it is pretty although it doesn't stand out in the garden because it is small in size and the color disappears into the green around it it deserves a spot in the blog.  The search continues for the illusive H. Poppy.

A new flower for me and it's name is Dipladenia! It's so red that it was hard to get details to show in the picture and it is about two inches in diameter.

This is what the whole plant looks like. It is a vine but not a climber vine but one that likes to be wound around a support into a ball of vines. I'm hoping that it gets multiple flowers at once as just one alone is showy and lots of them would be impressive. If that happens I'll add another picture below this one.

This is a Liatrius flower shot from the top before it turned purple. I like the effect and am so grateful for my Macro feature on my camera.

This is what the Liatrius looks like when it blooms. They come up as tall spikes and last a long time. The bees are fond of them.

 This is my favorite picture and it is a weed that everyone hates! I don't want them everywhere as they take over a garden quickly but I always let one or two big healthy ones grow. Monarch butterflies depend on the Milkweed and because so many have been destroyed by herbicide the butterflies are under duress. We need to leave this planet alone as we are not very good at managing it.

Once the flower is finished this huge seed pod develops. Some can be four or five inches in diameter.

This is a close up of the seed pod.

 My daughter and I love these seed pods and she once carried an extremely large and beautiful one home to me from a few blocks away. We were surprised that it didn't blow apart on the way. Most people yank these weeds out of their green spaces as soon as possible but I have been thinking about planting them in my flower bed. If you spray the seed pods with hairspray they last and make wonderful dried arrangements. That's my Martha Stewart tip for the day.

Amaryllis  flower are impressive because of their size and rapid growth once they get going. They are at least a good six inches across and can grow an inch or more a day. There are usually four blooms at the same time but this year it is going to do it in two stages.

 They used to come pretty much in red only, which is the most spectacular one, but now they have messed with the genetics and come up with all different shades.

 The new growth waiting to be the next spectacular flower.

A solid color Amaryllis from last year.










Below is an Alium or ornamental onion. They stand up nice and tall in a garden and from a distance look like they are floating in the air as the stem disappears into the greenery around it.

Flowering chives. Pretty and tasty but they'll spread like crazy if not kept in check. I use these instead of green onions in my cooking as they are milder and loaded with nutrients to boot.

The bud.

Starting to open.
































 Below is a fully open Pasque Flower, more commonly known as a crocus. I don't see any resemblance to a crocus but have seen this label on it whenever I've come across a picture of it.

Vibrant, beautiful water lily.

 A Columbine. I like them because they add a lot of color to the garden and reseed themselves for next year.

My favorite in the garden, Icelandic Poppy. They come in orange,white and yellow although the orange isn't as predominant as the yellow. They are prolific and will bloom all summer if you snip the spent flower stalks off right down at their base. They provide movement in the garden and when the bees get in they sway back and forth like a pendulum.




The following two pictures are of an "orb" spider that I found on a yellow poppy plant. I thought it was an expired bud and was about to pick it when moved.It was hard to get pictures of it as it kept moving under the leaves as I followed it with the camera. I really could have used another hand.

Snapdragons from a garden in Alaska. I was surprised at how abundant and healthy the flowers were up there. I thought the nights might be too cool for them but most of the varieties preferred the cool I think.

Alaska had tons of pansies which are well suited to cool temps. As you see from the raindrops we were there on rainy days.

Ornamental Cabbage. They are beautiful, especially in groupings and alternated with white ones.

Sweet smelling, long lasting viola come in a huge variety of colors. I put them in a planter by the gate where they get a bit of sun but mostly shade and as you enter the yard or leave it, the perfume from them is heady.

Christmas Poinsettias! So colorful and pretty in the midst of winter when nothing else is growing.

Bee on a Speedwell, Rocket variety. I will put a picture of the whole plant in next time I get a chance as it is quite showy in my opinion and the bees concur.




























As promised below is the whole plant.

A Morning Glory, they absolutely glow from their centers.

Tiny Wave Petunias, great for hanging baskets. Their perfumed smell lends charm to a warm evening sitting on the deck.

This is the most expensive plant in the garden centers but happily a neighbor gave me a piece of her plant. It's called a Japanese Peony. Fortunately it is one of the most hardy plants in my garden and survives most things that nature throws at it. It took a couple of years before I got a bloom on it but the leaves are lacy and delicate and look nice on their own.

These aren't completely open but I wanted to get some pictures in here before I forget.

I like getting close-up's of the seed part of flowers and this one really pleased me. It's the center of a poppy.










I'm titling the next pictures "It's a Jungle in my Garden" as while I was trimming dead flowers I noticed a little bee bum in one of the poppies. I took my sissors and lifted the petal so I could see if it was sleeping or not and to my surprise there was a "zombie" orb spider sucking the brains out of this little bee. It was not easy getting a picture as the spider was quite aware of the camera and kept dragging his prize under another petal. My husband came out to help and here are the results. Hope it doesn't gross you out. Poor little bee.

This raindrop in the center of a leaf looks like a diamond.

My deep purple Iris

Looks like a mouth doesn't it. Fuzzy tongue though. 

I like the blurred color effect so included this one as well.

I found a little bee sleeping inside this Calendula flower on a cool day. I thought he was dead at first but he was just dozing away. I like how the petals cocoon him.When they are sleeping like this I always try petting them lightly. They don't like it but I do.

This is a compact form of Sweet William.

A taller, multi colored version of Sweet William

Pinks, they brighten up a garden even on a cloudy day.

This is a Lupin and they are grown from seed. It has taken about three years for the plants to really come on and this year they've done well. They reseed themselves and could become invasive if not kept in check. They are in lots of colors and you never know what you are going to get so you better like surprises.

























Below is a picture of my Sweet William which a couple of pictures above I called a "compact form of Sweet William". Well this year they exploded and they are not so compact anymore. I'm quite happy about that though as they are so colorful and smell wonderful.They attract butterflies which have been quite absent from my garden so that's a bonus.

This is first attempt at growing lilies this year. There was supposed to be three different colors but all I got was yellow and I didn't think they were ever going to bloom. The day after I took this picture a hail storm came through and wiped them all out.

























This pink and white flower is called a Sorbet Peony. We were out walking and saw a huge plant in a neighbouring yard and I just had to have a picture of it.

 I've never seen a peony with a combination of two colors like this, with one in the center and the outer ring a different color. Definitely a show stopper !