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These are the flowers we had in the garden in early summer 2019, taken round the summer solstice on 23 December 2019. They're not all overly pretty, but the purpose of the photos is to record what was in the garden at the time.
The trees in the front of the house seem to be looking better. The Schinus molle that we replanted at the end of last month seems to be improving. At first sight the comparison between last month and now doesn't seem very different:
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But the leaves are growing:
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So I'm relatively confident that it's on the way to recovery.
Another plant that gives cause for concern is the Curry tree, which lost all of its leaves after a treatment with soap recommended by our local gardening supplier:
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I repotted it, and it seems to be gradually recovering:
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And for once my Hibiscus rosa-sinensis “Uncle Max” is not looking at all happy:
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It dropped leaves on the shade side some time ago. My guess is that I hadn't watered it enough, and that was its reaction. The other side is looking normal enough:
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So in case of doubt “it needed pruning anyway”.
And the first Hibiscus syriacus of the season is also flowering:
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The Grevillea robusta that wasn't looking so robust last month is now looking better, though it's surprisingly difficult to demonstrate on a photo:
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Again, I have few concerns.
And then there's the Paulownia kawakamii, which should have grown much more. But at least now it's as tall as its star pickets:
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A first is a flower on our Strelitzia nicolai, which became apparent at the end of last month:
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It has been developing since then, but it's still not open. Current status is:
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The second view is from above, and shows a total of four components of the flower.
And the Strelitziae reginae are also flowering for the first time in a couple of years:
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The Clematis “General Sikorski” was just coming into flower last month. Now it has almost finished flowering, but in between it was surprisingly active for such a small plant. Here a photo from 8 December:
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The succulent bed to the north-east of the house continues to grow well:
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Other dry climate flowers are the Kniphofia and Leucospermum cordifolium. The latter has recovered from what I suspect was under-watering:
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Maybe we should plant more of that kind of plant.
Here are the rest:
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