Saturday, June 15, 2013

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2013

Welcome again to my garden in the Algarve, southern Portugal (hardiness zone 10).

It's spring here but the weather is still strange - cool, grey and windy, then suddenly sunny and very hot, then windy again - in other words: extremely unstable. Those who came down on the long weekend for some relaxation at the beach were sorely disappointed, I'm afraid.

Curry plant
As I mentioned last month, after reducing the front lawn, I'm turning my attention to the back patio area. In this picture you can just make out the barbecue behind the huge planter that has a small tangerine tree and a big curry plant in flower. I love its fragrance!. Around the barbecue there are some newly added pots of very resistant plants to brighten up this space. Just to the left is an old tangerine tree where my geraniums are blooming like crazy.

Red geranium
The geraniums are doing so well, you can hardly make out the tangerine tree!
 By the kitchen window I have some yellow lilies.

Yellow lily

At the other end of the patio stands the lemon tree. I thought I was going to lose it to the mealie bugs, but it seems to be surviving.

Lemon tree



By the carport I have this bush creating dappled shade:

Blue shade


At the front, the roses are doing well.

Yellow and white roses

I particularly like this white rose, which has a soft pink centre.

White rose

These red ones don't last very long under the midday sun. Whenever I'm home at that time of day I open up an umbrella over them!


This was bought as a yellow rose, and the flowers were yellow... the first year, that is. Now they are this colour. I'm not complaining but why does that happen?

Orange rose

One oleander is in bloom. The others will follow soon.

Pale pink oleander

The bougainvillea continues to bloom.

Wine bougainvillea

This plant appeared here and I decided to wait and see. It doesn't smell as strong as my curry plant but I believe it is a wild variety. I'm happy to let it stay.

Wild curry plant

My white agapanthus have started to flower and I hope to have some blooms of the blue variety soon.

white agapanthus


And now for my lavenders. I have five different ones. One provides pretty, grey, sweet-smelling and long-lasting foliage for flower arrangements, as I have discovered recently by accident.

lavender and oleander

The one above has been here the longest and blooms just about all year round, in the corner by the red oleander. (The orange flowers in the background are from a creeper in the neighbour's garden.)

lovely lavender

This is a lavender I bought as a tiny plant two years ago. Now it's the focal point of the garden, attracting butterflies and bees. I love it!


I hope you have enjoyed visiting my garden. Do come back again. In the meantime, visit Carol, the host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, at May Dreams Garden.




8 comments:

  1. Gorgeous to the nth degree! Zone 10 + June = beautiful things!
    I have some questions: What is that pretty blue flowering bush? I want it!
    I also wondered about the pretty flowers in your lemon tree container? That whole arrangement really works!
    Lastly, and this is administrivia really....I tried to submit my email address to follow you that way instead of via the feed, but couldn't seem to get through. Prob something dumb on my end but I figured I'd let you know!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!
      The blue flowering bush is a blue potato bush (Lycianthes rantonnetii). I have a small one with flowers that are more purplish. I love this bush because it is heat and drought resistant and flowers nearly all year round here.
      I'm working on discovering the name of the plant by the lemon tree. Will post asap.
      Re following by email, I tried with someone else's email and it worked so I don't know what went wrong. Please try again. I love followers.

      Delete
  2. Your Roses are simply lovely, and the Geraniums look fantastic. That blooming Curry Plant is just brilliant. It looks great in the container with the Tangerine tree. I also love the colour of that Oleander. It's such a gorgeous shsde of peach.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Those geraniums really surprised me. I think my garden looks its best in June before it gets too hot.

      Delete
  3. Love roses especially white ones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful photos. We've had crazy weather lately as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks lovey and quite charming, like someplace you'd like to sit for a while. Thanks for taking the time to share your photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. Your comment actually came thru 4 times! (You may have thought comments weren't getting thru because I have comment moderation on to avoid spam.)

      Delete

I love hearing from you so please leave a comment...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...