AUTUMN WINDS

Autumn this week has brought some cooler strong winds that were being enjoyed by the windsurfers on the 'front beach' at Torquay this afternoon. 

               

The view above is looking west along the Torquay surf beach with a cool southerly blowing, but bright sunshine being enjoyed by the walkers. 

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The typical colours associated with Autumn are not very apparent in our predominantly native Australian garden. Such colours are characteristic of deciduous northern hemisphere plants. This lead me to look at what Australian plants are flowering at the moment in our garden. 

I noticed this eucalyptus was flowering and is particularly attractive to a considerable number of medium sized green parrots.

Beneath the eucalypt is this pink correa * "dusky bells", very sweet, but usually too short for ikebana purposes.

Autumn colour in the garden is being provided by an ornamental grape (Vitis coignetiae * ) that I moved onto a metal frame last year. It has done a fair job of covering the frame in one season.

    

    

   

The leaves have a wonderful rough texture and colour up richly as the nights grow cooler.

I re-worked, and significantly shortened, the very tall, beautiful Autumnal materials of last week's ikebana, so that I could enjoy it in the house. In this version the arrangement has a loose but more massed feel in which the oranges and reds have become emphasised.

Greetings from Christopher
5th April 2016

My apologies for this posting being late. I was waiting to include further images from the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show * .