SPRING WEATHER and FLOWERS

Last week the weather here was quite cold, getting down to 7-8 C overnight and only up to 14 in the day  time. This week has been warm. On Saturday, yesterday, it was overcast and I put the heater on in the living room;  today it was quite hot with bright sun. Our weather is so variable in Victoria, especially in Spring. Last weekend I did a lot of pruning in the garden. There are some trees in the front garden that were overhanging the garage and so the gutters were full of leaves. This is potentially a serious risk in the bushfire season at the end of summer. If burning embers are blown into the dry leaves in the gutters the roof of the house can catch fire. I feel a bit more safe having done the pruning but I think I really need to do a bit more. I really love the trees in our garden but I must make sure they don't endanger the house. As you can see from the photo below there are some big trees behind the garage, which is the building on the left. 


Below is a view looking up the garden path toward the street where you can see a tall eucalyptus.


This picture below is of the first flowering of the Mr Lincoln rose in our garden this season. I bought a bunch of these roses many years ago from a florist that sold flowers that were sometimes grown in private gardens rather than from the flower market. I was amazed at the fresh fragrance of this rose. It always delights me with it's scent that reminds me of apples. The blooms are relatively large.  When we created our garden I was determined to have Mr Lincoln as one of the flowering plants.


I have placed one in a 'specimen' vase in the bedroom and the fragrance is noticeable each time I walk past. I like the contrast between the rich red and the dark blue of the wall. 


For next week I have set my advanced students the exercise of making an arrangement using a three or more flowers of related colours and a single leaf. I decided the New Zealand flax leaf I was using was too big so I split it into two. The flowers are: Goodenia, Broom and a pale yellow callistemon. All are from the garden. The vase is a bizen style vase by Ian Jones of Laughing Frog Pottery in New South Wales.


Greetings from Christopher
23rd October 2011

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