Saturday 27 February 2010

Friday Fertilizer

G'Day,
My Friday fertilizer entry for this week is a bit of a cheat because the flowers are not mine. I do still have some flowers around me at this very late stage of summer but yesterday I went to the Canberra show and I took some pictures there to share with you, so here they are.
Being late summer here, there was not a big number of flowers at the show, which I found a bit disappointing because where I lived before at Junee the show was on in mid spring and there were lots of flowers to look at. They were my main reason for going there each year. I won several awards for my roses and other bits and pieces at the Junee show in the years that I could participate due to work commitments. But that is another story, another life. Anyway.
The first pic, above, is of the display put on by the floral art guild. The next pic is by the same group.
A table full of naked ladys. Amaryllis is their proper name I think.
The flower entries consisted of almost only dahlia blooms. Some of them were lovely. I used to grow them but ditched that idea after leaving them in the ground for too long and they formed huge clumps that were very tough to dig up and separate, you look after them all year to get one flush of flowers and that is it, they are nothing much for the rest of the year, so I thought they were a bit of a take. The little bi color one in the picture was very cute.
Big yellow cactus style dahlia. Pom pom style at the back, they remind me of big heavy headed drum sticks.

You can see from the pic above the flower display was rather sparse. The display at the back was fruit and veges and looked great. The ones of these at the Sydney Easter show are really a sight to see.
Horsey dressage.
Big animals and little. On the way back to the car there was a little girl on these camels screaming her head off "I want to get down, let me off" which is exactly what I would have been doing at her age if I was put up there on a camel. I always liked my feet planted firmly in the earth.
Piggy wigs.
Aren't we just ducky! Children's farmyard. My aunt used to keep ducks, I always thought they were cute when they were little but when they grew up they were stinky and dirty. My neice Cassie used to have a pet duck called Balthazar when she was in her teens and it was nasty and aggressive, but she loved him.
Cute little chickies. I do miss not being able to have my own chooks were we live now. I loved my Junee chooks. I had a little family of silkies amongst them and they were lovely, plus some cross breds which gave me the best eggs. Home grown always tastes better doesn't it.

Last but not least. Here are some little button wildflowers I found growing in the park down the road from me the other day. Not many wildflowers in suburbia but some of the tough little guys like these ones manage to survive.
The flowers around my yard at the moment consist of the faithful old oleander bushes. They have been flowering happily since late spring last year. I also have a couple of gardenia flowers, heavenly if you walk outside at night time when they scent the air, and my ivy geraniums which have not been without a flower on them for 4 months or more. I have discovered a small clump of autumn crocus have popped up under a tree out the back, but they are not flowering yet.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Linda May, These are wonderful photos. I havent been to a flower show in ages - I should the next time there's one around. Thanks for the tour, Ev

Rosie said...

Hello Linda May

Thankyou so much for visiting my blog and I did go over to that other blog you told me about and introduced myself. Thankyou so much.

You certainly had a great time at that show. Autumn isn't far away from you now that you have dahlia's out in flower.

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda May, thanks for stopping by. I sure did enjoy your tour of the flower show. We have one every year at our County Fair too. I love to go. Thanks for warning me about the size of that pine tree. I will keep an eye on it. Don't know if it would survive outside or not. I will have to look that up. Blessings
QMM

Carla said...

How pretty, makes me want to attend our local show (happening in a couple of months), what sweet babies, hard to remember how messy they are when looking at your pictures:)

Tootsie said...

what a fantastic day!!! I am so glad you took me/us along!
I have never been to a flower show...but this show reminds me of the fair that used to be held in the tiny little town that I grew up in...there was everything from flower arrangements to livestock to crochet to preserves!
I am glad you visited...and linked in this week..now I need to know what type of dahlia did you use that it only flowered for a little bit? mine go from May to Sept...or till the frost kills them off! I get sick of the dead heading!
They are an annual here...I imagine that if you grew them as perennial that they would have their down season too...just curious...they are one of the favorites here because of the amount of blooms I can make them have...
happy weekend!! It blows me away that our seasons are so opposite...and I can still visit you! hahahaha

deb said...

Thank you so much for taking us along on your tour. I very much enjoted it. I feel the same way about ducks..cute when they're little, then messy ;~)
Have a great weekend!!
*hugs*deb

Alea Milham said...

I love visiting fairs. Thanks for the virtual tour as I have to wait until the end of August to attend out fair. The pictures are lovley. I love that you captured so many elements of the fair.

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda May. I will sure check about Colleen McCullough book. I love her books. The Thorn Birds my favorite. I just recently read Secret River by Kate Greenville about a Englishman convicted of a crime sent to Australia and he lived there long enough to be allowed to have land and build a ranch. I have always been fascinated by Australia. This Norfolk Island Pine has tiny sparkling spots on it. Is that normal or is it just added for Christmas?
QMM

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

It's always fun to see what flower shows are like in other places. What pretty displays! I love the Naked Ladies, what a pretty pink.

Unknown said...

Love dem Piggies...heh heh heh...

little pig little pig lemmee come in.......

Bimbimbie said...

Awwwww look at those gorgeous little piggywigs ... *!*

Mountain Mama said...

The flowers are so pretty. I suppose for we sun starved folks they are especially appreciated. Those pink lilies are just gorgeous! I wish I cold have more lilies here but we have an awful peoblem with slugh and they sdevour lillies. I have to grow things that slugs and deer don't like.