Spring continues

Pandorea pandorana “Ruby Belle”

Pandorea pandorana

We are slowly moving towards the warmer weather and despite experiencing a few frosts last week the spring flowers are continuing to appear. Besides the waratahs photographed for the last post we have three other native plants looking lovely. We have two different varieties of Pandorea pandorana. The white one is a selection very close to the species, although the throat in the ones I have seen in the bush is a little more purple. The second is a reddish variety most likely “Ruby Belle”.

Dendrobium kingianum

We are trying to increase the orchids both native and introduced. Our Dendrobium speciosum is not doing well but a Dendrobium kingianum planted in an old banksia stump is flowering well. There are cymbidiums planted into the ground in nearby gardens so I am trialing them too. More generally in the garden we have Moraea collina flowering.

Moraea collina

It is an unusual flower in the local gardens because we are continually asked it’s name. It is a native of South Africa and known as the Cape tulip. I suspect it has been in this garden for a long time surviving through periods of attention and neglect. I found the echium seedling volunteering in the Margaret Steven’s garden a few years ago so it is in it’s prime now. The thujas were planted when the garden was begun in 1966 and are now a little taller than I would like them as they add to the shade already cast by the 2 storey building.

Echium candicans and Thuja occidentalis “fastigiata”

Viburnum plicatum tormentosum “Double File”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The viburnum is in it’s 3rd year and the first year in which it seems to have established. We are trying to improve the bluebell area by various means including removing some tree cover and planting shrubs. This is the first year we have had a few flowers on the viburnum and though few none-the-less lovely.

 

Waratahs at Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens

The oldest Shady Lady  waratah in the Waldorf patch

We have a small patch of waratahs at Waldorf and when they where looking their best we decided to visit Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens and check out the waratah collection there. Mt Tomah is on the Bells line of road which runs across the Blue Mountains from Richmond to Lithgow on the northern side of the Grose Valley. We drove from Leura along the GWH to Mt Victoria and crossed over to the Bells line via the Darling causeway and then headed back east to reach Mt Tomah. We were greeted at the entry by a very substantial “Shady Lady” waratah and came across some giants further down the slope.

 

Mt Tomah entrance Shady Lady

Waratahs further down the slope

 

 

 

 

 

We were advised to visit the Heath and Heather section as there has been much work put in there  recently. On the way we came across a row of white waratahs and and an unlabelled red waratah with a spectacular flower.

White waratahs

Waratah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way back past the Burnet garden and found a satin bowerbird in his bower. We took a long range photo of bird and bower and as the bower was just over a low hedge beside the path we could take a close look at both the bower itself and it’s decorations as the bird hopped a short distance away.

Satin bowerbird

Looking down into the bower with decorations in front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final waratah sighting was of the state emblem of NSW clipped into a lawn. In hindsight I wonder if maybe a dwarfing agent has been used. I am still puzzling about it.

Lawn waratah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Festival Highlights

Wisteria chinensis viewed  from our festival cafe with the golf fairway in the background

The Leura Gardens Festival has come and gone.The weather was very windy and cool for the first few days but still the tickets sales were very good and there should be at least as much money raised for the Blue Mountains Anzac Memorial Hospital as last year. We host the music in our gardens at lunchtime throughout the

Cantrice singing under the Linden tree

festival and so one of the highlights for me involved the music played or sung under the Linden tree once the weather had calmed down a bit. The Linden will not come into leaf until the end of this month.

Swing West Jazz Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiona and Gillian braving the wind in the entrance for a tulip shot

 

Another highlight of the festival is all the gardening minded visitors including Fiona and Gillian who visited while the weather was still fairly chilly.

 

 

 

Fothergilla major “Mt Airy”

The exquisite blooms  spared  by the rosellas on the Shogetsu cherry