Monday, February 4, 2013

A visit to Australia...


No, sadly I did not visit Australia, not yet at least. But I know someone who recently did and she kindly shared her photos with me. Let’s take a peek! These first few are from Northern Queensland along with a couple of other miscellaneous photos…

Is there anything more beautiful?

And I *love* this!

Isn't it fun?

Another vertical garden...

Looks like a great use for a palm tree "stump"?...

The next five images are from the Chinese Garden in Sydney

And finally from the Royal Botanic Garden, which looks to be a bit of cordyline heaven…

They've got the right attitude wouldn't you say?

Those Agave gypsophila are glowing!

Certainly not a chance of me touching the flying foxes!

How can old rusty wheelbarrows look so beautiful? Must be the huge bromeliads as accents...

And what visit to Australia would be complete with out seeing a Wollemi Pine? A couple of very tall ones indeed!

Hopefully someday I will be sharing my own photos from this part of the world, but until then thank you for the virtual vacation Tamara!

33 comments:

  1. Wow! How lucky is your friend Tamara to have been able to visit Australia! And how lucky are you that she is (apparently) a gardening enthusiast?

    This was quite a fabulous treat this morning. And you've actually given me an idea for how to store my wheelbarrow. I usually just tip it over somewhere near my shed in order to keep it from filling with rainwater. But it's a bit of an eyesore like that. I just need to surround its "spot" with some awesome containers, and maybe some other garden art, and it'll look a garden feature!

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    1. You're right Alison, she is a garden enthusiast! In fact she's sharing her garden with other Portlander's this summer in our HPSO's open garden program.

      Can't wait to see your wheel-barrow feature! (you will be blogging about it right?)

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  2. So many gorgeous plants! I'm ready to move. Love the Bismarkia nobilis and the three palms in the first picture. Bromiliads outside year round? Heaven! And the native grass trees... Looking back at these pictures, there's something in each one of them to love! Is it difficult to immigrate to Queensland?

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    1. No doubt about the fabulous-ness of having Bromeliads outside year round. I'm prepared to be very jealous of the gardens we see in the Bay Area on the GB Fling this year for that very reason. (probably easier to move there too)

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  3. Australia is my favorite country in the world. I loved these photos! A big thank you to your friend for sharing.

    P.S. I've photographed the same Agave gypsophylla at the Royal Botanic Garden. They do stop people in their tracks with their weirdly contorted leaves.

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    1. Have you been to New Zealand Gerhard? That's another on my list...

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  4. Gorgeous, she took some fantastic photos of gardens. Love it all. The succulent tree and everything else just looks so special.

    The wheelbarrows got a second look from me. Our fence crew left an old one here at my request a few years ago and I've been trying to find a place for it since then.

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    1. Isn't it interesting that shot called out to both you and Alison. I have no cool old wheel-barrow but there was just something about it!

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  5. Thank you Loree for taking the time to go through my millions of photos and editing oh so beautifully. Thank you for posting, as I don't have a blog (yet) and I love sharing. It was an incredible treat to go and the least I can do is share. Great plants, weather, people there in Australia! I highly recommend it! Tamara

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    1. Your photos obviously brightened a few peoples Monday mornings, thank you! So it sounds like you're thinking about starting a blog? Yay! Keep us informed.

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  6. Tamara sure got some lovely images, beautiful foliage plants, colour and contrasting leaf shapes, the top beach photo is gorgeous.

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    1. It almost feels like you could just walk right out there on the sand doesn't it? If only...

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  7. Australia is a dream of mine!!! The cordylines at that garden are insane!!! I love it!!! And of course foxtail and bismarkia are of the best palms around!!

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    1. The best huh? Is that like how a certain agave is my favorite...right up until I see another new one?

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    2. exactly! people that know me, tend to laugh when I make statements about my favourite things. I've been mocked on several occasions.

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  8. How fun! Obviously Tamara is a kindred spirit. Her photos are amazing. That huge Dacena, wow. The sunny photos just make me crave summer. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Me too Grace...wasn't last Saturday a dream? There's more on the way if you believe the forecasters!

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  9. Looks fantastic, would love to be able to visit one day. Mark has been some years ago, however to get to travel round would be fantastic. Looks like your friend had a wonderful time, and thanks to you we get to come along for a visit too!

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    1. I can see you guys having a lovely visit there...so many places to see, so little time.

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  10. Great stuff! Especially the "fluffy" palms. I usually find them more scruffy than fluffy.

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    1. They look like big beautiful feather dusters don't they?

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  11. That's too tempting, even on a limited budget of time and money! Looks like their attitude and design / plantsmanship is like some of their fauna - evolved / developed in it's own manner from the rest of the world.

    Back to the cactus ranch...

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    1. Someday we'll get there David...it's a must! Maybe you'll have a rich client who sends you for research...(I know, I'm laughing pretty hard at that one too).

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  12. Amazing! Thank you for sharing your friend's pictures. That palm is beautiful, and so are the rest of them.

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  13. What a wonderful collection of images! What is the plant fourth from bottom, the one with the strongly veined leaves seen from below? Anyone have an ID?

    BTW your blog seems even more valuable in the down season. Thanks for helping us through with your regular posts. Will soon be Spring.

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    1. I was wondering the same, I should have asked in the text with the photo.

      It's the same for me...I was looking through the remaining London photos on Sunday and I could feel my mood lifting. And yes...spring SOON!

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  14. That's a DRACAENA?! Good lord! The dracaenas we get here in Minnesota are barely seedlings in comparison! I just cannot get over how all the plants we treat as annuals are just outside doing their thing. Oh! and the cordylines, the agaves, the palms, those awesome pines... It is my goal to see an Australian Tree Fern IN Australia!

    Now, how can I afford to go there?

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    1. You and me both Jenn! If you figure out a way please let me know.

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  15. My friend Steve is from W. Australia and has a gorgeous bunch of Native plants at his home in Malibu, CA from seeds he's collected on trips back to W.A. He sent me some recent photos of the mid-winter blooming going on in his garden right now.

    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-BZxkRfW/0/L/Steve3-L.jpg
    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-sSV9Ljv/0/L/Steve1-L.jpg
    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-xBjp6vN/0/L/Steve4-L.jpg
    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-gzCKQJC/0/L/Steve5-L.jpg
    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-btFkTjg/0/L/Steve6-L.jpg
    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-JHBxHZp/0/L/Steve2_edited-1-L.jpg

    Steve isn't familiar with "reducing" photo sizes when he emails you an image and they are usually huge, megabite-wise. He tried to send these same photos to another friend but the email was bounced back to him. I told him that her email server may have rejected the photos because the were too large and he may have to reduce the size of the pictures.

    Here was his solution to "reduce" the size of the photos :)

    http://casalava.smugmug.com/Other/Flora-fauna/i-ckFTKbt/0/L/steve%20cut%20flowers-L.jpg

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    1. Haha...that's certainly one way to do it! I love every one of those plants...simply gorgeous. How wonderful it would be to grow them in my garden. Damn I need to move somewhere warmer!

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    2. p.s. thank you for sharing!

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  16. Hello!
    What a lovely surprise to see a post about Australia! I actually work right next door to the Botanic Garden in Sydney and I am lucky enough to be able to wander around it whenever I like. Thanks for sharing your friends pics on your blog - they all looked lovely!
    I also love all of the pics you share - Danger Garden is such a lovely start to my day (I get the emails early morning here) and I can say that I am a convert to loving the spiky plant - I was never very fond of them before. Now I have adopted some lovely Cordylines and Yucca's into my garden and I'm hoping to get many more! I've also learned a lot more about plant names and varieties, so thanks!
    Always looking forward to the next batch of pictures and information! Happy gardening!
    Rosie - Sydney, NSW Australia

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