January 2011 - Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Summer has definitely arrived in full this week here in Canberra, Australia.  Mid 30s (^oC) here yesterday and today, so rather toasty.

Some wonderful things flowering here at the moment......

Clerodendrum bungeii is new to me in 2010.  I just love the wonderful ball of pink flowers.

One of my Hydrangeas, this one a lace cap in blue.  So nice in summer.

A couple of Liliums, one a yellow trumpet hybrid and the other Lilium (OT) 'Orania'.  Gorgeous perfumes pervading the back garden at present. 

And lastly for today, a Mimulus species.  I've not had much to do with the perennial Mimulus, but this one I've had for a couple of years in a pot.  Looks to be a healthy spreader, so I'm probably going to keep it confined to a pot unless it escapes out the bottom.  Such a great orange to the flowers.  I have a second one, with I think is red from memory (not in flower this year as yet).

[arillady]

Yesterday was a real stinker here in Keyneton, South Australia - around 40C. Today to start the new year it was quite a pleasant high 20Cs.

[Hoy]

Yesterday was a real stinker here in Keyneton, South Australia - around 40C. Today to start the new year it was quite a pleasant high 20Cs.

I would certainly prefer high 20Cs! Bay the way, we have +3C and that's way better than -10C we had.

[Paul T]

Pat,

I'm glad you didn't get the 43'C I had heard forecast for Adelaide for today.  Not fun at all.  40'C is bad enough though.   High 20s would be nice after that though. 

To those who were in earlier, I've added the pics I originally intended to.  I seem to get sporadic SQL database errors when trying to load pics.  Perseverence usually pays off, but no idea why it is happening.  At least I got my promised pics posted. 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely colours Paul

[Paul T]

David,

Yes, beautifully bright and sunny, aren't they!?     Not a snowflake in sight. 

[Hoy]

Pat,

I'm glad you didn't get the 43'C I had heard forecast for Adelaide for today.  Not fun at all.  40'C is bad enough though.  High 20s would be nice after that though.  

To those who were in earlier, I've added the pics I originally intended to.  I seem to get sporadic SQL database errors when trying to load pics.  Perseverence usually pays off, but no idea why it is happening.  At least I got my promised pics posted.  

I am experiencing the same problem, Paul! It's time consuming

But your lilies were worth waiting for however!

[Paul T]

Trond,

Thanks for letting me know.  Nice to know it isn't just me getting the errors.

I'm glad you liked the Lilium.  I have quite a few of them coming out at present, particularly with the heat we're getting.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks for letting me know.  Nice to know it isn't just me getting the errors.

 Unfortunately this "error thingy" is a problem that many of us are suffering at the moment.... I believe it is due to pressure of traffic on the server. Perhaps when the January sales are over and the general frenzy of internet traffic dies down we will return to a more steady posting service. 

[Paul T]

Thanks Maggi.

It isn't a particularly major problem, just a bit of a delay and having to try a few times when posting pics.  Doesn't seem to be a problem with normal posting thankfully.  You can get the pics up in the end, so that is the main thing.

[annew]

It's worth all your persistence to see a breath of summer. Hope none of our forumists are under water, the floods look pretty awful.

[Paul T]

Anne,

Thankfully a thousand km from here (more or less).  Such a slow flooding for some areas too.... one of the towns they were saying had water through the streets and it was rising, but the peak wouldn't be until Wednesday!!!!    Such flat land that it spreads out and moves so slowly, but I'd never realised that it could take 4 days to peak, and then who knows how long to disappear again.  Any floods we have around Canberra are quick and dirty, here and gone again within 24 hours or so.  I never appreciated how different that is to some areas until now.

[David Nicholson]

Heard on the news that the floods in Queensland cover an area the size of France and Germany combined. It's this kind of stuff that puts a perspective on how large a country Australia is.

[Hoy]

Heard on the news that the floods in Queensland cover an area the size of France and Germany combined. It's this kind of stuff that puts a perspective on how large a country Australia is.

And I thought Australia is an island

[t00lie]

Heard on the news that the floods in Queensland cover an area the size of France and Germany combined. It's this kind of stuff that puts a perspective on how large a country Australia is.

For sure David and when it is reported that water will enter most homes of the city of Rockhampton despite them being built well above the ground in typical Queensland style it also gives one an idea of the depth of the flooding.

A little bit of colour to raise the spirits .

Currently flowering --NZAGS seed Sept 2007 --Habranthus tubispathus.

Cheers Dave.