Her serene Highness Ms Moggie the Fourth.  resorts to this throne after my first stir in the morning when she pulls herself out of my arm where she has spent the night sleeping and rules the world from here until Breakfast time.

This camellia bush is at the front door.  The flowers would be ideal for picking except they fall almost as quickly as a sasanqua does......the weight of them is pulling the bush to the ground.

This one continually has flowers falling to the ground and is smothered in blooms.  I love the pale pink one down low beside it.  It has just hung in through the drought years.

More mid winter from the back garden.

looking out of the back living room is this lovely burst of color from the Japonica.  I must look up when to prune these.  I guess after flowering is logical if you do not want the leaf cover.

And it is also Daphne season.

It seems to almost grow wild here.

I must try a white one some day.

Why do Hellebores hang their heads when they are so delicate and beautiful

A new one this yer below

Winter roses...I think!

A row of pots and I so wish I had the area of concrete I once had before an extension where I could arrange these attractively.

Lots of tulips and hyacinths yet to flower or emerge.


The cat's grass sticking out looks highly attractive.....NOT!

The first of the daffodils in flower out

in the front garden

Ever faithful Early cheer Jonquil.

It is camelia time.

Mainly from the front garden except for the white one which is on the back fence.

A trip to Williamstown, Victoria, Australia

playing around with small camera while waiting for time to pass until lunch time and encouraging a friend to use her new camera.  There was a lot of sun and we were mainly shooting into the sun so had to try a few tricks to get some decent photos.

 I delight in the tracery of bare branches at this time of the year.  Do not delight in having time and date on film and must change the setting.

I wanted to get the sun on the water and get a little detail into the bargain.

Tonight I looked out the kitchen window....oh that I had been a few minutes earlier

The sunset was glorious and I so wished I had seen it 5 min's before but I did the best I could as I raced out with the camera.

There is lattice on top of the back fence as there is an oval behind me.

So the view is through the lattice.

 And then I noticed the two Japonica bushes had begun to flower.....all in the last few days.

Two different bushes at two different stages.  The first gets a little more sun.

 

 Snowdrops at the edge of the rose bed.

 The first blue hyacinth in a blue pot and beside it violas making the pots look pretty till the bulbs make themselves more evident.

The first Hellebore.
I am so glad I read that they are pruned as I had not done that before and the bed looks so much neater and they look much fresher as they emerge without any dying leaves around them.

Why did it take me so long ?

More pansies guarding bulbs peeping through

and below some of the violas.

It is Winter, it is freezing cold, but look what I saw when I looked up at the sky!

It was with great delight that I looked up and saw Magnolia Stellata coming into bloom.  She is just glorious against the blue sky and even looks good against the grey.

 
Some of the signs of later winter in my front garden.

I used to have banks of Azaleas but alas I have about 2 left and a couple of new ones beginning to flower so I grabbed 4 @$3 each in Bunning's yesterday.

I think I will hide what else I purchased for the moment but my guilt is great.

And there is much planting for my handyman to do.

 And while buying those I just happened to forget that I had ordered some discounts from Tesselaars but at least gladiola bulbs do not have to go in straight away..  I also ordered a baby dogwood.  I have never succeeded in getting one to grow so here we go again.  I
One of my Bunning's purchases was an almond tree.  My Doc, whom I had just visited, reminds me to go take an antibiotic, to get a voice fully back, was in front of me in the queue and told me they take a long time to grow so I said, then I shall just have to live a long time!!

And this is a box arrangement I did in a two hour florist class a couple of Saturdays ago.  I put fresh Dutch Iris in yesterday..