One of the first plants we put in our garden here in our little patch of paradise was a rose mallee. We both love them but just didn't have room to put one in when we lived in Greenmount. We really love the form of the mallee and the incredible flowers. So, you can imagine how excited we were when buds formed on the tree this year. Super excited. But that tree sure makes you wait to see the flower. The mallee is planted in the bottom paddock, and we've been going down every week to see if the flowers have opened. For about the last three months!! Finally, we got to see some of the buds open. It was definitely worth the wait. I'm not sure the photos do the flowers justice, but it will give you an idea at least.
This is the bud. They're huge and impressive to look out. Who needs flowers to show off!!
If the parrots and cockatoos don't get to them first, this is how the flower opens:
Once it's shed its cap, it takes few days for the flower to full open.
We also have a grevillea in the bottom paddock which has flowered nicely this year. Its flowers are on the end of a very long stem, which is unusual. I can't remember what type of grevillea it is. But I love it. Like all grevilleas.
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We have lost about a quarter of the plants we've put in over the last four years. Overall I'd say we're pretty happy with our progress though. We've still got plenty of room to put more plants in. And now we've plenty of time to do planting too. We just need to be patient and wait until Summer is over.
