Sunday, 30 September 2012

Sunday Selections #89

Sunday Selections, was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock,  as an ongoing theme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

The theme is now continued by  River at Drifting through life.

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.

Like River I generally run with a theme. This week the garden has been going gang-busters.  As have the weeds.  I have been ignoring the weeds and carefully not photographing them either.  Everything else?  My trigger finger was getting sore.  And there are more things out each day.  Which is just as well - the cockatoos (bless their black hearts) have been snapping the tulip flowers off as they open.  Hiss and spit.
























And this is the vase filled with some of the tulips that the cockatoos beheaded.  None of them were left with stems more than two inches long.


79 comments:

  1. Lovely. We have so much to look forward to. As soon as winter is over.

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    1. Joanne Noragon: Thank you. I feel that I have a lot to look forward to when summer is over.

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  2. Wow. You can see them drinking up the warmth and sunlight. Love the poppies particularly.

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    1. Alexia: There are no poppies on this post. Tulips? The red ones under the crab apple?

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  3. What wondrous splashes of vibrant colours. A visual delight and tulip temptations for curious cockatoos...
    Gary :)

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    1. Gary: Thank you. The black hearted birds have been at it again today.

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  4. These flowers are gorgeous. Am seeing lots of blooms in NZ as we travel. Hope I'm not arrested for loitering as I linger with my camera near front fences with camellia bushes.

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    1. Mrs Catch: My mother always carried secateurs in her handbag. Now that was loitering with intent.

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  5. I love these!!!! The poppies especially!!

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    1. One Too Many: Now you have got me doubting myself. I have been back and checked. No poppies. I have some inside, but I bought rather than grew them.

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    2. I should have read the other posts!!!! The red tulips are awesome..:)

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    3. I should have read the other posts!!!! The red tulips are awesome..:)

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  6. Truly gorgeous photos! Love the poppies! Remember...weeds are just misplaced flowers ;)

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    1. Karen: I have a lot of misplaced plants. And rampant violets are one of them.

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  7. What magical spring flower shots. The light is lovely.

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  8. A few here that I don't recognise. The purple bloom in the first photo, is that clematis?
    The brilliant orange cups? Poppies but what kind?
    The lovely five petalled blooms on the branch, what are they? My mind says forsythia, but I think not.
    They're all so beautiful, your garden must be an amazing sight to anyone walking past.

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  9. Ah! What I thought were poppies are tulips! I should remember to read other comments first.

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    1. River: The purple flower is a ranuncula. The orange ones, and the green and the red are tulips. Your mind was right - forsythia it is.
      The garden is a bit of a jungle with things falling over each other. It should cut down on the weeding - but it doesn't. I hope other people like it.

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  10. I wonder why the cockatoos do that??? Like the poster above, I also thought the red tulip was a poppy. Just beautiful.

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    1. Lynn: Cockatoos are endlessly curious birds. They are also noted for their destructive behaviour. Beak work? Mindless vandalism? One of my brothers said that the crimson rosellas behead their gazanias each year...

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  11. Thanks you so much for sharing your beautiful garden with us. I once had Spanish bluebells but no more. Wonder where they went? Just keep those beautiful pictures coming our way. xx

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    1. Mimsie: Gardens do that don't they? Some things just disappear - hopefully they will also re-appear.

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  12. Your garden is glorious, I assume these are all those many many bulbs you planted coming into flower. They are just a riot of colour and lushness, you must enjoy spending time out there enjoying the fruits of planting. xxx

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    1. Kakka: Yup, fruits of blood, sweat and tears. All mine. Since by the time they bloom the pain is just a memory I will probably succumb to the garden porn (catalogues) next year as well. A slow learner at best.

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  13. What fabulous pictures! I'm glad it's beautiful like that somewhere in the world, as everything is dying back here. And thank you for sharing your garden with me; I am sated with flowers, just right. It's always nice to hear from you.

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    1. DJan: Thank you - I always love to see your snow capped peaks and mountain tops. So our photos meet a need in each other. Which is great.

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  14. Beautiful beautiful beautiful!

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  15. y1ou must have a beautiful garden

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    1. Molly: Parts of it are nice, and parts of it are out of control. More work ahead. Much more...

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  16. Wonderful flowers, wonderful colours. I am greeting

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  17. Oh how lovely, EC! Gorgeous blooms. These photos are so lush I can smell them.

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    1. Austan: I am so glad. Gardens should be shared.

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  18. Those are lovely, what is the first one?

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    1. Riot Kitty: The first is a ranuncula. A rich and lucious colour.

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  19. You are just starting spring yes??? We should spend our time half in Oz and half in Canada...it would be lovely year round that way. Gorgeous flowers.

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    1. mybabyjohn/Delores: Spring is powering past at a rate of knots. I like spring, but the summer behind it is a bit worrying.

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  20. Refreshing to see all the blooming as all the flowers here are disappearing...beautiful captures , Cheers from NYC :-)

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    1. King of New York Hacks: Welcome and thank you.

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  21. What a wealth of colour - you have marvellous gardens, and we know who did the work to get them that way :) Thanks for sharing the loveliness.

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    1. jenny_o: Yes, a lot of work does go into it, but it is (mostly) a labour of love. The skinny portion helps with planting when he can but doesn't weed unless I allow poison. Which I don't.

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  22. What an explosion of beauty and color...My garden is very desolated, I barely have some grass...this year's drought decimated everything.

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  23. Glorious, a real floral delight! Thanks indeed for these.

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  24. Wow, so many beautiful flowers! I have those purple daisies and they seem to go on and on flowering. They've just flowered again, last week. I have them in pots, I wonder should I bring them indoors for the winter, would they carry on?
    Thinking often of you both, with love x

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    1. bugerlugs63: I suspect the daisies would be happier inside. Ours are outside all winter and do get cut back - and our winters are much, much milder than yours. Thank you so much for thinking of us...

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  25. What an incredible feast for the eyes!!! Excellent photography. You always seem to find blue skies to accentuate your shots.

    And thank you so much for reading my story at knowonder! and leaving a comment. That was very kind and I really appreciate it. X

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    1. CarrieBoo: Thank you. I forwarded the link for your story to my nephew's wife and she loved it too. If (and it is a big if) her boys start behaving she will share it with them.

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  26. Oh what a wonderful display of flowers. Can I persuade you to join in with Today's Flowers sometime? Pretty please with sugar on top as the old saying goes? :)

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    1. DeniseinVA: Thank you. Some day when life settles down a little I would be honoured to join in with Today's Flowers.

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  27. What spectacular flowers - all the flowers of spring. And here, it is turning to fall. Nice to remember the glory of when things are new and fresh and bright!

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    1. Melissa Ann Goodwin: Spring is an exciting time for all of us. And through the wonders of the blogosphere we now get two each year.

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  28. Dear EC, one of the truly wonderful things about blogging is that I've met people like you who live "down under"! And so you experience spring when we are having fall here. And thus, I get to enjoy two springs--ours and then yours--through your photographs. Thank you. Those blossoms on the fruit trees are joyous. Peace.

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    1. Dee: The gentleman who lived across the road from us used to hold morning tea parties so he and his guests could enjoy our crab apple. I was so touched when I found that out after his death. Your comments always give me a warm inner glow. Thankk you.

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  29. I enjoy your flower pics so much...well the bird pics also even if they behead a flower:)

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    1. Kim @ Stuff: As you know, I love our cockatoos. Eight tulips was pushing the friendship a little though. They seem (everything crossed) to have stopped that game.

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  30. I can't tell you how many times I thought of you this week. I keep trimming dead flowers and getting everything ready for winter. So it makes me glad, I can come to your spot and have a breath of spring. Keep posting the hopeful beauty, and thanks.

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    1. barbfroman: Thank you - that was a lovely thing to say. Tomorrow, if the weather is kind, we are going to Tulip Tops and I will be posting many, many photos of Spring in its glory.

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  31. That third shot is a particularly lovely cluster of pastel colors. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. John Wiswell: Parts of our garden are tasteful, and parts are an explosion of colour. I like them both, and I am glad that you found some pleasure here too.

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  32. Oh what a glorious garden you have, how I miss mine (my lavender and botanical farm) in California, what are the first and next to last flowers?

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    1. Linda Starr: Thank you. The first is a rananuncula, and the next to last is the start of our elm (we were told) coming into leaf. This is another thing that the cockatoos like to rip into. I must take a photo of the area in front of the tree so you can see what I mean.

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  33. Your cat below is a real hoot, one of my cats kept climbing on a sideboard and scratching it so we brought the ladder in so she could climb up it and get on top of the sideboard, now she has stopped going up there. Ha.

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    1. Linda Starr: Jazz still loves (with a passion) getting on top of the fridge. From there he can get to a ledge behind the kitchen cupboards. It is very disconcerting to hear a cupboard start to purr as you walk past it.

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  34. --b e a u t i f u l
    I LOVE poppies!

    Sending you much loooooove from MN. Xxx

    And to your black panthers, too.

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    1. My Inner Chick: Thank you. I can see that I am going to have to plant many more poppies next year. The ones I have put in are not out yet.

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  35. So much colour, such variety of shape combined to create happiness and delight. Thank you so much.

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    1. the cuby poet: Thank you. Our garden is really a cacophany of colour and shape - but we like it that way. Or I do. Himself likes straight rows. He plants in straight rows. And then I come along behind him and plant in front, between and behind his rows so that they are not evident to any but the trained eye.

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  36. I invited you to join the Sisterhood of the world bloggers, it's a blog award. You can pass it on or not...whatever you choose is ok :)...kisses and congrats.

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    1. unikorna: Why thank you. How nice of you. What do I need to do?

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  37. I reckon you live in Heaven, I do I do. Just beautiful :)

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