Not cricket apparel or cool clothes, but flowers: free gifts that appear each summer to brighten my days and my by-then mostly green garden.
They all receive my admiration but none of them need or receive any attention in between.
The Spider Lilies are extraordinary, delicate space age creatures that prance and arabesque from fleshy bulbs and leaves. Beside them flower the herbs yarrow and meadowsweet; the nearby oregano is about to burst into white flower spikes too.
Twining daintily along my verandah and perfuming my evenings is the Mandevilla laxa, commonly called Chilean Jasmine, although it isn’t a jasmine at all.
And the shed is being overwhelmed by a rioting fountain of Chinese Star Jasmine.
The scent of these flowers comes to me separately and together at different spots in the garden.
Sweet summer whites.
Yes, DWG, and white flowers are also fabulous under a full moon, as we have just had. But I wouldn’t vouch for the tranquil state of mind: the horrors out there in the world still reach me. Man’s inhumanity to man, as in Gaza, is just overwhelming. And of course the criminality towards future generations of inaction on climate change.
But being here is some sort of balm, a temporary amnesia.
Sharyn
Lovely, lovely, lovely!!! I have never seen a white spider lily and it is beautiful, even the little red bug on the petal. Assuming that mandevilla is a perennial and we grow them as annuals. They are so beautiful that every year I start again!! The Chinese Star we have here also and I agree it is heavenly in the way it carries itself up a wall, as well as the beautiful fragrance. White is my color in the garden. I love the glow of it in the evenings. You must be in a tranquil state of mind with all this around you. And here we are in Winter and cold rain. Thanks for the beauty you continue to share!
DWG
Hi Fleur,
Have just looked up your W.A. orchids and yes, they are very beautiful; tiny but even more exotic. You have several native ‘Spider’ varieties, all Caladenias, the same family as the little Ladies’ Fingers here. I note you even have one called Daddy Long Legs!
So many of our native gems are small. These foreign spider lilies grow big, like irises.
How beautiful Sharyn! Have you seen WA’s spider orchids? They are just the same as the spider lillies (probably smaller) but they’re a purpley colour and only about .5cm tiny! It’s fun hunting through the bush for them! And I love the smell of jasmine!