My garden is really progressing nicely. There has been lots of changes since the beginning of development, almost one year! Ofcourse I want everything to grow faster and be more lush and my soil to be less sandy and more nutrient rich… but oh well, it is all a work in progress! And so far so good!
I invested in a hydrangea from Bunnings recently, a risky move for the start of a Perth summer. But they looked SO pretty, I could not resist. They will be like babies needing suckling I dare say, but I am onto it, watering daily, sometimes twice daily. I love the sound of watering, I love the nurturing of my plants. I am a waterer, a feeder, a nurturer. It’s in my European roots. Are you hungry? You must eat!
I am also way more into roses too. I have so much respect for this delightful little plant, always producing flowers and staying green, enduring our full intense scorching sun, it really is impressive.
Don’t mind my water heater! But how pretty is this little rose? Since I bought it, it has been always blooming. Always producing beauty, now that is my kind of plant.
As you can see I like a lot of colour. I have this terrific climber with red flowers, I like to call ‘Red riding hood’, it is performing very well and has wound its way up both banisters under my verandah. The begonia in centre of the second photo, is also producing very well, I recently attempted to plant another one from a cutting, and so far so good. Begonia’s appear to be very good growers, and easily multiply, even better. Do you like how I made the lemon tree feel included?
I buy plants weekly, it is my biggest weakness right now in spending money. And when I think about it, besides food, it is all I spend my money on, which is pretty good really!
I bought three bags of mulch the other day, a new frangipani, a geisha girl and a new white flowered creeper, and some double petunias. Already all in the ground, they look fab!! I really was wanting more height in the far garden bed. Now everything just needs to grow!! Come on! (Think Leighton Hewitt tennis player, that’s me in the garden willing growth from my trees…) This sentiment could bite me in the arse in time to come, when my garden turns into a forest!
My Estonian cornflower is also flowering well still. A hardy little flower I am happy to still have it going well in the garden. It is starting to look a little stringy though, so it may be time soon to replace it. We will see. What to replace it with is my next question?! How exciting! I get to go back to Bunnings!
I want to show you some before and after photos. You will be amazed at the difference. This is what my back yard used to look like!
And now this is what I have created! What a change eh?? It is only going to get better too. I am looking forward to seeing more changes in my garden in time to come.
Perhaps I should go into Garden landscaping? If you would like me to help you in your garden and you live in Perth, please contact me through my blog!
Anita x
What flowers can you recommend I plant next?
Live Your Truth 
Anita, you are doing a great job. Your garden looks beautiful already. I can understand your joy of buying plants for your garden. I was also buying many new plants when we got our garden less then 3 years ago. Initially there was a lot of space since the garden was almost empty. Now I am running out of space, so can not buy that many plants anymore.
In your climate, you might try some butterfly bush (be careful what you choose, some can grow pretty big and be invasive, but I believe now there are also sterile cultivars available, as well as many smaller varieties). You can also add dahlias, which like warm climate and bloom a lot and I would also recommend guara flowers, which like warmer climate and also bloom for a very long time (there are many colour varieties). They are not too big, but beautiful and look a bit like small butterflies.
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Thanks for your lovely comment! I have just planted some dahlias! I really love them, but I find they bloom, then die and thats it. I prefer the plants that stay green in between flowering. I will look into the butterfly bush, sounds great! 🙂 Thanks again!
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I looked up the butterfly bush and I already have one of those!! We must call it something different. So far mine is quite small, hoping it will survive summer!
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Hi Anita,
I am sorry to hear your dahlias are just drying out after blooming. Maybe your soil needs some more clay or other ingredient to hold water better? In my garden they continue blooming all summer and fall long till the frost, but I am in a different climate (Toronto area) and the soils is pretty heavy, even if I have added some peat moss etc. to make it lighter. This is growing zone 5 b and we often have hot, but usually quite humid summers and pretty cold winters. You might like to try other dahlias varieties, perhaps the bigger kind and plant them in partial shade instead of full sun. Maybe it will help.
Regarding butterfly bush, also called budleia, I hope they will do better in your garden, but I know that they like a lot of water especially till they get well established. Once they finish blooming you need to cut them back hard since they bloom on new wood and also some might grow pretty big. I wrote an article about them here and it might be helpful to you if you plan to keep these plants in your garden: http://bit.ly/2gOWFSn
Good luck with your gardening and getting many more plants you will love and I hope they will be growing very well in your garden.
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Thanks very much!!
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You did a great job in your garden Anita👍👏
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Thanks so much!! X
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