Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ... It's Our End-of-Autumn Month of May.

We've had such beautiful autumn days lately.  Vast expanses of beautiful blue sky, loads of lovely sunshine and the most pleasant temperatures.  There's really not a great deal of variation when it comes to the seasons here in the tropics, except for that drop in temperatures and humidity levels after early autumn, and the rain takes a break for three-quarters of the year.

The Dragonflies have certainly been appreciating these beautiful sunny days and are everywhere in the garden right now.


The plants are also welcoming this lovely weather.  So there are a few that are able to put their best foot forward at last for this Bloom Day post.

It's a truth that some spots in my garden show little variation in the way they look from year to year, as there's so many all-year-round bloomers here.  This means they're usually always a part of my GBBD posts ... and here they are again.


Pentas, Impatiens walleriana, Pseudomussaenda flava, Dragonwing Begonias, and red flowering Hibiscus.

The trauma inflicted by torrential rain and cyclonic winds experienced during the sumer/early autumn means there are quite a few things that are out of whack in my garden.  They should be blooming during May.  But, there are no flowers on my Spathodea campanulata or African Tulip Tree ... it's still a stump.  Nor is the pink Calliandra surinamensis or Pink Powderpuff flowering as it continues to recover from its' severe cut back.

There are however lots of other plants showing their beauty right now though including ...


Bracteantha bracteata, Angelonia angustifolia, Crossandra infundibuliformis, Viola hederaceae, Dianthera nodosa, Barleria obtusa and, in the middle, Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'.

I've had far more success getting some of my Pelargoniums through the 'wet' season/summer at the beginning of this year, and it was a doozy.  Not only was there plenty of heavy rain and almost no strong sunlight, the air is just laden with moisture as the humidity levels reach 90% some days.  Pellies hate these conditions, so I'm very pleased that I've finally managed to coddle a few through these horrors.  The survivors are now beginning to bloom once again.


This is a Pelargonium hybrid from the 'Caliente' series.  It blends the best characteristics of the zonal and the ivy pelargoniums.  I'm so impressed with its' staying power, not to mention its' stunning blooms.

Now for another of my great Pellie survivors.


It's this pretty Pelargonium peltatum.  I adore the clusters of double, white flowers with these magenta markings in the middle.  I think this is 'Blanche Roche'


The Torenia fournieri seedlings are now all potted up and starting to bloom.  They will keep on showing off for months now ... at least until the next 'wet' when they find it hard-going.  It's amazing to see that there are little ones that have self-seeded from the last flowering season and are now popping up in between the bricks on the courtyard floor ... I will have to move them so they don't get trampled underfoot.


I've managed to pot up a few other annual seedlings as well and I'm pleased to see them take off.


Sweet Alyssum, Snapdragon 'Strawberry Crush' and Shock Wave Petunia 'Pink Ice'.

Elsewhere ...


Bromeliads are blooming.


My Cordyline cannifolia or Palm Lily is showing off its' first sprays of flowers.


My red Gerberas are showing their faces and there's a few sprays of flowers on my Bougainvillea.


Flowers are popping up on the Scuttellaria  suffrutescens, the Gomphrena globosa, the Salvia leucantha, the Cleome spinosa, the dwarf Scaveola ... and those orange and yellow flowers that have just showed up in my garden all by themselves.  There are clumps of these growing in spots next to the roads up here in the hills, but this is the first time I've ever seen any of these on our property.  I think they look like Cosmos sulphureus to me.  I don't think I would mind if they stayed.

This is the time of year that I enjoy the most out in the garden.  I can wander around all day long without getting scorched or sunburnt or drenched.  I find myself pottering about, under the watchful gaze of the local birdlife, for hours and hours and it's bloomin' marvellous!




For lots of fabulous GBBD posts,
visit Carol in the U.S. at May Dreams Gardens

and pop over to see Gesine at Seahorse Garden in Germany. 
Both these sites are hosts for fantastic posts about what's blooming this May in gardens around the world.


I'm also joining in the Mosaic Monday meme

... and in the Today's Flowers meme with this post.  Go and take a look.
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