Not much change in the garden during April. Most of the flowers from March (that you can see here) have faded and died. The leaves of the frangipani have almost all dropped and shades and shapes of green is the predominant colour for April.
The weeds are starting to take over the gravel area. Another job waiting to be done…
I am very fond of variegated foliage, they do give a lift to a green based garden.
The various shapes also lend variety to the beds. From strappy to fluffy I love them all.
While taking the photos this morning in the garden this fresh-faced, feisty Anthurium, glowing like a flame from the undergrowth, was shouting “look at me, I’m not green” I could not resist her…In a sea of green foliage red does stand out like a beacon.
Top right in this photo is my new Grevillea, “Peaches and cream” looking healthy, but rather overwhelmed by its neighbours at the moment. But its time will come.
So that, in a nutshell and 22 photos is our garden at the moment.
Also in April the cooler weather made me restless to be on the move again and the desire to see autumn leaves in all their glorious colours drove me onto the road into the Great Dividing Range to a very successful visit of Tenterfield.
What has been a constant during the month is the glorious sunsets. Tonight was no exception The glow drew me out onto the decks, going from front to back, one facing east and the other west, to gaze in awe as the sun set creating a mesmerizing sight.
I was first drawn on to the back deck facing west. Look at this unusual cloud formation.Then I looked over to the north-west as the sun dipped behind the trees of the nature park at the end of the street. A softer glow and that is the orb of the sun just disappearing behind the trunk of the tree
But it was from the front deck, toward the east and over the ocean, that is the most spectacular. The setting sun reflects back onto the cumulus clouds etching them into a glorious, vivid formation of billowing beauty.
Look carefully and you will see a few silhouettes of birds going to roost.
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Su Leslie of “Zimmerbitch” is hosting a monthly challenge “changing seasons” were she invites you to share the changing seasons in your part of the world, or something that means April. This month Su has given us a delicious recipe for Lemon & rosemary crusted fish fillets
Good post of the garden and the sky with its inexhaustible, never the same, displays.
One of those had me baffled I mistook the power wires for the horizon. I would not have noticed the birds without your reminder, how clear they were when I zoomed in on them.😎
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Handy to be able to enlarge the view on the iPad to see the smaller details
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That anthurium is so red and shiny it almost looks artificial!
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They do look plastic don’t they and the flower lasts for so long
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A lovely variety of greens in your garden, Pauline. And some stunning clouds.
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Lots of green makes it quite an easy care garden. Love this time of the year for clouds. Noticed on weather forecast last night you are getting very cold down there
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Chilly early morning and evenings now with shorter days, but still twenty degrees most of this week 🙂
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Nice to have the variegation, Pauline. 🙂 🙂 And that recipe has me off to see Su- Thanks a lot!
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With lots of foliage it is an easy care garden, well almost!!!
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Love your clouds.
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So do I
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Green is underrated. I love your different shades and textures. Autumn and winter here definitely provide the best of the sunsets. now they are more tones of yellow and lilac. Very different.
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I love how all shades of green blend together with just pops of colour here and there.. never get tired of photographing the sunsets
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Your garden is so lush, and the sunsets are gorgeous!
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Thanks Deborah
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What wonderful sunsets. I’m slightly envious that you can photograph them from your place; we get the gorgeous skies, but have so many other buildings in the way of a good shot.
I am so loving seeing your garden change each month; the shades of green and different shapes of foliage would be sufficient variety in themselves, but the variegated plants really add that little extra. 🙂
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Yes we have a 2 story place and no houses in front of us. Thanks for the link. The months are wizzing by.
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[…] Pauline at Living in Paradise […]
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I love variegated leaves as well! Yours are so lush and healthy!
Love your sunset captures – I do see the birds!
Anthuriums are my maternal granny’s favourite flower – I think of her overtime I see one; thank you for the opportunity to think of her today.
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Pleased this brought back memories for you..I bet you have very tropical gardens in your part of the world
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We do – and it is a treat to have one so closeby to me. As I do not have a lovely huge garden like yours, this will do!
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Oh, I miss coleus. They were popular houseplants when I was a kid. My kindergarten teacher wore hippie like clothing with big wooden beads and bell bottom jeans, and kept a big burgundy coleus on her desk.
It is funny to think that it is autumn there. I like to think of autumn as my favorite season, but they are all so excellent. Now that the rhododendrons are blooming, it is impossible to not appreciate spring. When I was a kid, the apricot orchards would start to smell like green apricots about now.
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My coleus self seed all over and in spring I take lots of cuttings, so many gorgeous colour combos. Autumn definitely my favourite season over here, even without the autumn leaves
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I have never grown them from seed, only cuttings. I try to keep the flowers cut off to favor the foliage.
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I don’t grow them deliberately from seed they do it all on their own, even coming up in the cracks between the paving. Yes I cut off most of the flower heads too
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Lovely post full of colour and life.
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Thanks DJ
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[…] The Bauhinia corymbosa is flowering yet again, it loves this west-facing fence and almost flowers all year brightening up the back garden. The rest of the garden has not changed much from last month (take a look here) […]
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