In Flower Today

Kew Guild Grand Reunion Garden Party

Thirty four years ago, I graduated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Brisbane Skips Winter, 2013 Becomes Hottest Year Ever (Until 2015, The Latest Hottest Year Ever Beaten by 2016, which was beaten by 2017!)

This year my garden had an extended autumn and now, judging by the flowers outside, it’s spring. Did Brisbane skip winter?

Paronella Park: Queensland’s Juicy Jungle Garden

Paronella Park, near Innisfail, is the legacy created by Jose Paronella, a prodigiously productive person. Born in Catalonia, Spain, and trained as a pastry chef, Jose emigrated to Australia in 1913. He started as a sugarcane-cutter, then worked at improving sugarcane farms before investing his savings and energy into creating Parronella.

Why Do Bat Plants Have ‘Whiskers’?

You know it’s autumn in subtropical Brisbane because the Black Bat flowers bloom their best.

First Flowering: Pandanus cookii

This summer my fifteen year old specimen of Pandanus cookii flowered. It was collected from Cape York by Yuruga Nursery in the Atherton Tableland, where I bought it. Like all Pandanus, they are intolerant of frost and grow best in sub-coastal gardens in full sunshine in an open position with excellent drainage. I watered my…

First Flowering: Freycinetia scandens

Freycinetia scandens is an evergreen scrambling vine which I’ve seen growing in coastal rainforest from far northern Queensland south to Fraser Island. They need a damp, sheltered, semi-shaded position. My plant, grown from a cutting, is now six years old. It first flowered in March and would probably have flowered before now, had I not tip…

This is what’s flowering in our garden during the last week of our brief subtropical autumn:

In Flower Today

The Carpenter bees and mosquitoes are back again – a sure sign of the end of spring.

In Flower Today

There are fifty one plants flowering in my garden. My Ant Plant is still flowering since the last ‘in flower today’ entry on 24.4.06;

Springing To Life

It’s thirteen days since the mulberry, Morus nigra, next door sprouted its new spring leaves – in the middle of July (17.7.06). Here springtime traditionally follows Brisbane’s agricultural show – “The Ecca”, August 10 -19th. The media always look for indicators that springs are arriving earlier due to climate change. It’s such a predictable request…