The Best $5 Ever Spent

Around 15 years ago (maybe a little more), I spent $5 at Woolworths on a small rose.

It is still small in structure and now grows in a medium-large sized pot.  It gets full sun in the morning, it gets regularly battered by strong easterly winds, sometimes cooked in scorching summer conditions, only watered every other day, but it delivers, year after year.  The best $5 I have ever spent.

 It is called a Chameleon Rose, and as you will see, it's name is well deserved.

It starts as a sunny yellow bud with a touch of hot pink on the edges

Before turning almost apricot in colour

 A few days later the pink begins to over take the apricot which is softening to cream

 

Before the cream turns to white and the pink is at full intensity

Then the pink slowly fades towards the end, leaving a delicate aging white bloom

And the best thing, is that at any given time there are all the stages on the one rose bush.
Isn't it beautiful?

Thanks for popping by, hope you are having a great weekend. xxx

A New Rooster in the Henhouse

Meet the newest addition to our garden ... Roger.

Isn't he a beauty??  

I hope Roger manages to keep his brilliance in this hot summer, I know that I shall enjoy his company when wandering in the garden.

He joins my 2 African Storks and Hoot the fairy garden owl.  I'm loving adding more than just plants to our garden.  Do you have any garden art?

Thanks for popping by xxx

Jasmine Inspired by PPMJ

I am sharing some of the Jasmine bud and flowers from our garden, inspired by PPMJ's Flowers for Friday.  While she loves hers in the house, my nose is too sensitive for that, but I love them in my garden when I can smell them gently wafting on the breeze.

Look at these buds, almost open 

And all these, and so many more you can't see. 

Hearts In Nature

One of my daughter's friends often posts pictures of 'hearts in nature' she has found on her Facebook page.  When I popped outside today I realised that we have some hearts in nature in our garden.  So I thought I would share here.  I love how they start out such a bright and vibrant green and then turn into the deep purple as they mature.

Have you found any hearts in your backyard?

Raindrops on roses

I have always loved the Sound of Music song 'My Favourite Things' and one of my favourite things really is 'raindrops on roses'.

The early morning autumn rains today blessed me with beautiful raindrops on the roses in my garden, so I thought I would share with you, enjoy.

Healthy Gardens - One of our frogs

Hubby was out reorgansing his orchids the other day when I heard him shout - bring the camera.

Every year we find a couple of lovely frogs hiding somewhere in the orchids. Here is the latest one - isn't he a beauty?

I am sure he is smiling in one photo - happy little frog!

Motorbike Frog - Litoria moorei

Find our more about frogs of WA here - click on the frog sound button and enjoy the chorus we regularly hear in our backyard.

Just Beautiful

We have some lovely orchids on our patio and as usual this year there are many beauties flowering. The one I love the most is this lime with pink centre which finally flowered again this year, it has been around 5 years since she last shared her beauty with me, isn't she beautiful? Last time we got 5 spikes of blooms but this year only 2, still I am not complaining as she is just so beautiful.

Here are some of the others lovelies out at the moment, they are pretty special too.

My hubby deserves all the credit for these, all I have to do is buy them and then admire them, which I do often, it is hard not too. I even like it when they are just lush green leaves.

On Tuesday we went to Ezi Grow Orchid Nursery in Darch (Western Australia) and got 4 more beauties - just loving the two variations of soft white, one with a pink centre and one with a yellow centre and then the yellow with the vibrant orange tongue is absolutely stunning, hubby chose the more subdued but equally lovely brown one.

This post is not sponsored, but I must say, it is an amazing nursery with great, helpful staff and very reasonable prices.

The Fairy Garden Is Growing

A few weeks ago I shared the fairy garden outside my study window on Sunday Selections.

As with all magic, new mushrooms have appeared, surrounded by soft ferns. Have you got a fairy garden, bringing magic to your life?

Friday Flowers - From My Rose Garden

On the third day of winter here in Perth, the temperature is a cool 18C, with blue skies, a very gentle breeze, the Friday of a long weekend. In our garden, our roses are having their last flourish before pruning, and what a flourish it is. The long hot summer and autumn have made our roses thrive, along with the newly installed bore that regularly waters them 3 nights a week.

One rose has special significance for me, it was the rose we planted in memory of the little grandson we never got to meet, it is called Shocking Blue, and while not a 'blue' rose, it is a fragrant lilac. In the last couple of weeks we have cut around 12 blooms just from this rose alone. Every time I lean into the vase to inhale it's beautiful scent, my joy is tinged with a sense of regret. On checking the roses this afternoon I found another 3 buds that will be ready to cut in a day or tow.

In the vase on my bench in my kitchen, these lovely Shocking Blue blooms are surrounded by a Just Joey bud, a bud and some blooms from my other favourite rose Double Delight, a couple of buds of a new yellow rose called Limelight, which while not strongly scented have the most lovely waxy shape and gorgeous colour. And last but not least a single bloom from a new pink rose called Best Friend - the scent of this one just blows your mind - it is divine.

And don't you think that my lime green splashbacks are a perfect foil for these delightful roses? I do!!