The colours of spring sparkle and brighten the world around them and a couple of weeks ago we went to Toowoomba, renowned as the garden city, to be enthralled by the beauty of their “Carnival of Flowers” an annual tribute to the blooming of spring.
It is 10 years since I last visited and then it was on a one day bus trip. Hardly enough time to appreciate all the parks and gardens aglow with spring flowers. I promised myself that I would return.
So this time we booked Airbnb accommodation for 3 nights in a delightful Queenslander styled home complete with a picket fence and deep, shady verandas shared with our host Sonja and her 2 delightfully, friendly Beagle dogs.
If you have never tried Airbnb I definitely recommend it. We have used this service many times now and the friendly hosts and reasonable prices make every stay unique.
The Japanese garden was a haven of peace and tranquillity. With the classic red bridge inviting you to stroll and meditate on the beauty.
At first I thought this little fellow was a statue he was so still. Maybe deep in meditation, then he moved his head.
It was pure pleasure wandering around the numerous parks all blazing with meticulously maintained beds of glowing colour.
Can you see Jack I think he will be waiting a long time for this train to take him around… So we walk…
The people of Toowoomba love gardening and the garden competition is an event many prepare for all year. So many entries of all sizes, I wished I had the time and energy to get around more of them. But the Grand Champion I had to see.
I walked up the narrow front garden path enclosed by native plants. And fell in love….
This garden is so lovingly designed and cared for it has brought the use of Australian native plants to a whole new level. There were so many varieties of Grevillea, many I had never seen before. This is perhaps the largest collection of Grevillea in Australia and Gordon and Maria are avid collectors.
Paths winding enticingly invite me to explore further and bright, sunny paper daisies fill all spare spots. 
A pergola with a seat makes restful place to stop and admire the glowing orange of the Clivia
I am inspired by how this couple have created a dense, beauty filled garden in an average sized suburban garden. I talked to Gordon Reynolds who with wife Maria have spent 8 years, after lovingly designing their garden from scratch, in the care and maintenance of it. He was generous with his knowledge and I picked up many tips. The main one being, tip prune natives from an early age to keep them bushy and hard prune once a year.
I’m planning some native corners in our garden. But more on that later…
After looking and remembering all the beautiful gardens in Toowoomba as I write this post I now feel the urge to get out into the garden. So as it has stopped raining I will leave you now. Hope you have enjoyed this visit to the “Carnival of Flowers” (for more click on this link) with me. There are more but I will be back with another post later…
Living in Paradise... 
Even though your seasons are opposite of our, I like to see what blooms there. The seasons are opposite, but the climates are very similar. Many of our plants are Australian, but there are many that we lack.
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G’day Tony, nice to meet you. Aussie plants have found their way all around the world and they are, generally very easy care. Many of the northern plants struggle in our summer heat and humidity, much as I love them I tend to stick with tropical and sub-tropical plants. Ive just been over to have a look at your blog and I do like your blog
layout. What theme are you using?
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Thank you. I do not know what theme I am using. I am new to this blogging. I do not even know what the theme is. I will refine it as I go along. I like to keep things simple.
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I’ve been blogging a long time on my post “Gypsy Life” here’s a post over there about my garden https://pommepal.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/my-garden-my-muse-weekly-photo-challenge/ But now I have changed my lifestyle See here, https://pommepal.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/closing-down/ and decided to start this new blog, which seems to be way more difficult than when I set up my first blog in 2009. But we soldier on…
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I like the look of both sites because they are easy to get around, but not as ‘basic’ as mine. I would need to get someone to do the work for me to make mine look that good. However, like I say, I would like to keep it as simple as practical without it looking too bland. I had a so called manager a while back who made a real flashy page for me that had so much junk on it that it was an embarrassment. It really did not look professional.
Your pictures are very interesting. I did not look at them closely because I have messages to respond to now; but will get back to them later. New Zealand, as well as Australia were two of the hip and trendy places to do internships when I was in school, but I have never been there.
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Thanks Tony, I like the coloured border around your posts it gives them a uniform look, very attractive.WP is not a user friendly program and takes a bit of working out.
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The colored border? that is funny. I thought that is the part that looks too basic. It is good to know that someone else appreciates simplicity.
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Absolutely gorgeous Pauline, I’d like a few days there myself!
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You would love it Gilly
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Lovely, Pauline! Enjoy your time in your own garden!
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Lovely to see this array of colour, just as our flowers are coming to an end.
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I love this time of year, just perfect weather before the heat and humidity of summer hits us.
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Stunning colours! These gardens are wonderful.
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[…] coloured one. A soft, misty grey that I have never seen before.So, with the paper daisies I saw in Toowoomba, they have become a must have for my garden […]
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So lovely Pauline!
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It will be coming into autumn when you get here Cindy another beautiful time over here
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Those poppies are so gorgeous. For some reason, these posts are not appearing in my reader.
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Sorry to hear you cannot find me Cindy. I post about 3-4 times a week. Hope you can find me in the real world ok when you get over here… 🤗
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