For you, from my garden

You could be forgiven, when looking at these photos, if you think I must have a beautiful garden.  I don’t!  It’s a jungle, really … but it’s amazing what a deceptive web I can weave with a little bit of close-up photography, which maximises the marvellous and minimises the messy! 🙂

I don’t even know what some of the stuff is in my garden – take this, for instance, which could even be a weed for all I know (I’m counting on the gardeners amongst you to enlighten me …):

Whatever it is, those two little bugs you can see spent a l-o-n-g time inspecting and sampling it, so it can stay even if it is a weed 😉

And then there’s the odds and sods, one of which is definitely a weed, but I just cannot resist its beautiful violet flowers …

Let’s not forget the snowball tree – oh, and who can resist the forget-me-nots (even if they do have a tendency to procreate and populate at an alarming rate!):

And what about the rhododendrons, the first of which starts flowering in late July and the last of which is just coming into bud now – such beautiful colours, and they just keep on keeping on, despite receiving no TLC whatsoever from me:

I’ve saved my very favouritest (!) for last:  the clematis.  I have two of these, one of which starts flowering some time in October, and the other of which is much later (so no photos of that this time – but later on, I promise! 🙂 ):

And you know what I’m really enjoying about the garden, now that I’ve retired?  I have all day, every day, to spend out there if I want to – soaking up the smells and the sounds and the colours, with or without my camera as I feel so inclined:  blissful!  Of course, there is also the fact that now I’m retired and I have all this time on my hands, there is no longer any excuse for a messy jungle out there … 🙂

 

 

Clematis (yes, again!) … with a little bit of lily, more azalea, and a whole lot of iris …

Every year, as the clematis goes through all its various stages of growth, flowering, and decline in preparation for the next season, I thank again and again the spirits that moved me to plant the pink one (Clematis montana Elizabeth) that grows over my verandah:  it gives me such pleasure and joy, and so many photo opportunities!  And in the sun and the rain the other day I couldn’t resist just a few more shots …

Ain’t it purty? 🙂

And then there’s the arum lily which grows on the bank of the water race that runs alongside the garden, and this year just seems to be bursting with flowers – as does my little red azalea which lives in an old washing machine bowl, and the dwarf irises which loiter beside the rhododendrons:  what a spring it’s been!

PS  Did you notice the interloper atop one of the irises?

More from the garden

The weather was a bit of a bonus today, as they’d promised us rain but it never arrived, and instead we had another mild sort of a day, which encouraged me to take a few more shots around the garden.

Today’s gallery features clematis (again, I know!), ivy, grevillea and a spider web 🙂

  

   This ivy leaf is almost like a watercolour painting – look how the colours blend into each other, but in a blotchy sort of way, just as watercolours do.  I was also taken by the ‘L’ shape formed by the two leaves.

  I always think of ballet dancers doing a pas de jete (or whatever that leap in the air is that they do) when I see the grevillea flowers – can’t you just see the legs going out in all directions? 😉

  Such beautiful, vivid pinks amongst the green foliage, all coiled and ready to spring …

  It’s a bit ragged in a couple of places, but this spider’s done a good job with this web, don’t you reckon?

Out with the camera on a winter’s afternoon

Despite the fact that we are now officially in winter, it’s been a lovely day today, quite mild with lots of lovely sunshine and a bustling nor’west wind to go with it: good for drying the washing 🙂

Sat up last night to watch the first men’s semi-final in the French Tennis Open – I got as far as the end of the 4th set, when it was 2-2, before I headed off to bed at 2am, and then watched the final set in the highlights this morning: what a match!!! I’m not a real Nadal fan, but have to admire the way he’s come back from his injury and surgery last year, and now seems to be as good as he ever was. I can’t see David Ferrar getting anywhere near him in the final. And as far as the women’s final goes, I couldn’t care less about either of them: Sharapova drives me mad with her shrieking, and I’ve never been a fan of Serena Williams, so guess who won’t be watching that match tonight. 🙂 The All Blacks (our national rugby team, for those not familiar with NZ sports teams) play the French tonight, so that’s definitely on my to view list, and after that I’ll probably turn over to watch the ICC Champions Trophy cricket game between England and Australia (can’t make up my mind who to support in that one …).

Late this afternoon, after I’d finished setting up a supply of wood for the week, I took a stroll around the garden with my camera to see what I could find. The wind made things a little tricky, but I was fascinated by the twists and turns of the dry clematis stalks; found signs of old and new growth amongst the rhodos and the lilac; encountered some members of the pukeko family who live in the vicinity; and was struck by the glow of lichen growth in the later afternoon sun.

First, the clematis:

Next, the rhodos and the lilac:

 

 

And finally, the pukekos and the lichen:

 

And now it’s dinner and couch potato time! 🙂

Just a few photos …

My brain is on strike tonight, so here are some photos instead, taken over the last couple of years or so in various locations …