I was talking to Jude about the flower Golden Lycra and I made another promise to her to show her some of the blooms that are flowering at the moment, scattered throughout the garden. There are another memory of Geoff who lived down the road. He had a bank at the rear of his place that every year was a sight to behold. He was always thinning out that garden bed, that’s why I have quite a number of flowering plants.
They are quite interesting as all through late winter until mid January I was watering the strap like leaves. Then abruptly the leaves die off and the flower stalks seem to magically appear soon followed bu magnificent flowers.
Golden Lycra’s in the Autumn sun before a big storm.
January has been a quiet month for me but then again a lot of the photos I have posted I didn’t include again. The rain was here for most of the month thank goodness and that had made the grass as well as the flowers and plants in the garden have a lovely season. No there aren’t any Hibiscus in this post, you’ll have to go back a day or so to see those flowers.
I don’t think this is a post that will need a snack or drink but do sit back and enjoy. Here’s another bit of Aussie music to listen as you scroll through my January.
I am going to start with some of the insects who have popped into the garden to check out the flowers
I love this red dragonfly so I had to put it in again 🙂
These two were intent on making more Dragonflies
I thought I had found a new butterfly. It is very similar to a Black Jezebel but the markings are a bit different. I may have to ask an entomologist. Not the best photo but it just didn’t sit still long enough.
The Orchard Swallowtails, one of the biggest butterflies, have been cruising the garden.
I found a small Line Blue Butterfly looking at me. It is sitting on the tip of a Frangipanni leaf.
There was a lot of these Shield Bugs on a bush lemon tree and they really let me know not to get too close
Looking at my little Curry Leaf Tree with its fruits from the top down.
The Lolly Bush has had the most amazing flowering. I have seen the white flowers but this is the first time I have seen the bush do this. I was just walking down the paddock and saw the bright red balls everywhere.
A bit of a closer view
The Tea Trees have had such a wonderful flowering as well. The bees are quite content.
I didn’t go walking in the bush that much in January, too wet and hot, so I didn’t find many fungi. This tiny one was in the garden. Yes there are still some remnants from the fire twelve months ago
I did find some lovely soft mosses.
The Frangipannis looked wonderful this year.
The Ivory Curl flower bud? showed with it’s intricate curly bits which open out to make the full flower. It is endemic to Australia and is from the Proteaceae family.
The wonderful Double Delight Rose from my besties garden.
A Peaceful Dove getting the morning sun
A Yellow-faced Honeyeater drying off in the sun after a quick dip in the birdbath
The Blue-faced Honeyeater on the unfurled palm frond looking a bit worried
You have all seen Tiny, the King Parrot who likes to hang around my place. This is one of his young from last year who is morphing into his male feathers. They come back to the garden every now and then too.
This is the young one from this years hatching.
Yes they do actually hang about my place and sometimes get a bit close. My daughter was on the verandah talking to Tiny when there were six King Parrots on the verandah rail. By the time I came back with my camera, two had flown off. The two at the far end are a couple. Tiny is on the left where you can see her hand and Tiny is not sure whether to go closer.
One morning I was in the kitchen getting breakfast and looking out of the window I wondered who frightened the plants on the front verandah.
OK, time’s up. The sun is setting over the hill. I love these trees. Can you see them in the next photo?
Here is the full sky one evening.
Hope you enjoyed a look at my January 2021. Did you have a favourite photo? Also for Su’s Changing Seasons
This past twelve months since the horrid fires here, everything is coming back with vengeance. Grasses are growing faster than I can do anything. Had to walk down the hill from the house and across country and that grass I had to wade through as it was waist deep!!
Even the garden has not looked this good in quite a few years. Almost two and a half years of drought, the fires and then floods have made everything seem to grow much better. Maybe a few garden photos in a later post as this one, as the title suggests is about the Hibiscus in the garden. Suddenly all the Hibiscus have had flowers and everywhere you look there are splashes of colour. It really is a bonanza for the eyes.
Here is the lovely flowers from the few Hibiscus growing. I have tended to take cuttings of my own plants so there are a few of the same colour hence there’s not lots of different ones like we find at Judy’s in Mexico.
This is the first Hibiscus planted in the old garden. A cutting from my favourite flower that grew at the house I grew up and always remember it in the backyard. This is the biggest flower in the garden.
The lovely bud of an orange flower
Another flower from the same bush. The newer flowers have more of the pink blush.
The bud of a double frilly pink flower
I think these flowers are organised chaos
A while ago I posted for Sunshine’s Macro Monday (Irene has restarted the challenge) about the deception of the bud to the flower in one of the Hibiscus bushes. Here is a bud just starting to open.
This the flower. Another frilly pink double but a deeper colour
The Miniature Red Hibiscus flowers have appeared a few times in my posts over the years. The deep red is so hard to get in a photo no matter what time of day, settings etc. The red is easy to get when it’s a bud, so you’ll have to imagine that red colour on the following flower.
See!!! I have taken this flower with the sun in different spots, cloudy, in shade.
When this song first came out, I wasn’t all that keen but try not to dance, even if it’s in you chair being active for a moment or two….c’mon get your party started…..get your booty on the bus now….make my day
Speaking of being pumped up, look at the legs on this Teddy Bear Bee. I know………cute name for such a muscular bloke but they are quite OK at being who they are. They are a solitary bee is the Teddy Bear Bee, and they make their nest in the ground like other Australian native bees. On my blog there is always Blue-banded Bees somewhere.
A pumped up Teddy Bear Bee on a Pentas flower in my garden
What else can I play but this while you have a quick look if you have time.
Which photo took your fancy? Was I mellow enough for the prompt or a bit too yellow. Oh, almost forgot this one. Can you pick why I wanted this photo is included?
I have gone back through my stats to find what was your favourite post of the month and then get the image or pick one if there is a few photos in the post. It appears that people have taken to the Last on the Card Photo Challenge as it is the most popular post almost every month. Considering it was started as an impulse by me in January 2020 it is fitting that that image of the Sacred Kingfisher be the one for January.
JANUARY 2020
February the Last on the Card and the This is January were popular by you. These two posts, Last on the Card and the This is……. series, are the most popular for the est of the year so I am going with the next one down. This was a Six Word Saturday
FEBRUARY 2020
The favourite from March was a reflection photo part of a three photo challenge
MARCH 2020
April saw the return of an old favourite as part of a photo challenge Animals. This photo is a firm favourite every time it gets and airing.
APRIL 2020
Another photo that has fast become a favourite is the Satin Bowerbirds Bower with his collection of blue stuff. A bit of luck in finding the set up just right
MAY 2020
For June I decided to use a Last on the Card as the following posts had lots of photos and was too hard to pick one.
JUNE 2020
July was time for one of Becky’s Square photo challenges. The photo looking down my road was a favourite for Square Perspectives
July 2020
One of your favourite bridges is the Grafton Bridge. This photo is from an older post re-blogged which turned up a lot of new readers. A post in black and white is always a bit different. I picked an image that I like from this post.
AUGUST 2020
September bought Teddy into our lives and into your hearts too
SEPTEMBER 2020
October was a kindasquare month with so much kindness floating around there had to be one of the months kindas that was the most popular
OCTOBER 2020
I am lucky to have a garden and birds but sometimes they can be a bit demanding. This Little Friarbird was at the window squawking until I moved rooms. You liked his blue face and unruly feathers
NOVEMBER 2020
For December I took part in a 10 day travel photo challenge. It looks like of all of the travel photos, the Pont-Du-Gard aqueduct in France was a favourite
