TULIPS...

Force-flowered, so a couple of seasons early for us in the Southern Hemisphere...

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

PREMATURE SPRING!

Yes, the daffodils and hyacinths are out in full bloom in our nurseries, even though we are currently in the last Autumn month of May in the Southern Hemisphere. The flower industry is force-blooming hundreds of thousands of bulbs so that they are available for Mother's Day this Sunday. I'm not complaining it's just odd and a bit (well, a lot, really) unnatural...

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RUDBECKIA 'OPHELIA'

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

AUTUMN ROSE

With the second month of Autumn nearly over, our chrysanthemums have started to bloom profusely. A few roses persist to bloom and this fragrant pink beauty is an example, with golden chryssies in the background.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

CHRYSANTHEMUM

First Chrysanthemum of the season. A double, burgundy hybrid growing in our garden.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

ZINNIA AND BEE

Zinnias are currently in bloom in our Autumnal garden and the bees are feasting on them! They certainly provide vivid splashes of colour in th elate Summer and Autumnal garden.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

AUTUMN ROSE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

FIRST DAISY

Our weather has been very topsy-turvy these last few weeks, with much variation in temperature and precipitation. Our poor plants are a little confused: On the one hand, roses are blooming late, lingering until Winter's beginning, while lawn daisies have started to appear. Chrysanthemums ,are blooming at the same time as Spring bulbs and while plane trees are shedding yellow leaves, ash trees are blossoming!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

ANTARCTIC BLAST

We are in late Autumn, so colder weather and short days are to be expected. This week, we've had an Antarctic blast that caused leaden skies, wet weather and cold temperatures.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SUNSET SILHOUETTES

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

FENNEL SKY

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SUNSET FLIGHT

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

AUTUMN ROSES

The days keep getting shorter and the rose bushes are full of rose hips and a few late blooming roses, saying a belated goodbye to Summer.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FRUITING SEASON

It's fruiting time for many decorative plants in the gardens, and as if to compensate for the relatively fewer flowers, this season brings us a wealth of fruits, nuts and seeds. From left to right: Victorian box (Pittosporum undulatum); Broad-leaf Privet (Ligustrum lucidum); Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima); Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepsis indica), and Hawthorn haws (Crataegus monogyna).

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

BLACK NIGHTSHADE

Solanum nigrum, the European black nightshade or simply black nightshade or blackberry nightshade, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Solanum, native to Eurasia and introduced in the Americas, Australasia, and South Africa. Ripe berries and cooked leaves of edible strains are used as food in some locales, and plant parts are used as a traditional medicine. A tendency exists in literature to incorrectly refer to many of the other "black nightshade" species as "Solanum nigrum".

Solanum nigrum has been recorded from deposits of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic era of ancient Britain and it is suggested by the botanist and ecologist Edward Salisbury that it was part of the native flora there before Neolithic agriculture emerged. The species was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD and by the great herbalists, including Dioscorides. In 1753, Carl Linnaeus described six varieties of Solanum nigrum in Species Plantarum.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AUTUMN

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

RAINY

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme.

AUTUMN ROSE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AUTUMN HARBINGER

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

DAHLIA

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native mainly in Mexico, but also Central America, and Colombia. A member of the Asteraceae dicotyledonous plants, related species include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum and zinnia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants.

Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as 5.1 cm diameter or up to 30 cm ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids (that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes), whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons (genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele), which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.

The stems are leafy, ranging in height from as low as 30 cm to more than 1.8–2.4 m. The majority of species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars. Like most plants that do not attract pollinating insects through scent, they are brightly coloured, displaying most hues, with the exception of blue.The dahlia was declared the national flower of Mexico in 1963. The tubers were grown as a food crop by the Aztecs, but this use largely died out after the Spanish Conquest. Attempts to introduce the tubers as a food crop in Europe were unsuccessful.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.