Cheers Sophie.

Ahhh, how very beautiful, Jack and Sophie, thank you!

Jackson is the orchid yours? I have one very similar that?s only just starting to open.

Unfortunately not. It's in the Wintergarden, which gives it a head start I guess.

Lasiandra, aka Tibouchina, a bit confusing. Very hard to get my camera to capture the colour?.

Crikey, outdoor cymbidiums, must be Auckland! ;-)

Lovely Sofie B.

And thanks Sophie G.

Oh, no it's indoor in this glass house.

Ah! Your hint of blue sky had me fooled.

Your hint of blue sky had me fooled.

Blue window back light. I... got lucky.

Not on the garden, I hope! You might have damaged the plants. ;-)

Now I'll leave it to others for a bit. Apparently I'm off to a BBQ. Hope it's an indoor one.

Hey, you've got sky-flowers, what could be grander than that? :-)

Too soon for blossom here, so I'll go with one I prepared earlier. Late September. Japanese flowering cherry.

Nice, kind of glowering, with bright rays for relief!

Beautifully unreal!

Both weeds. The top vine is Podranea ricasoliana. Vigorous rambler on our back fence. Great for fast coverage.
Now the bottom I thought was an opening buttercup but not so sure. They sprung up with the grass new growth last year.

The rain that was promised with the sky-flowers would be nice. Rain cleans the air. Rain dumps the air pollution on the ground. And on my car, but better there than in my daughter's lungs. But you're right.

And?

Thanks. It was one of those rare occasions when my phone cooperated, although it did still need a bit of fiddling to get it to show what I saw. I miss the camera in my old N72.

ETA: Oops... forgot to?

They look like a rose. Even a rambling rose on the ground. Someone will know.....

definitely a rose. must just be one of those really robust ones. or maybe artificial? though the leaves look real enough.

Or, "else omelet" as autocorrect would prefer. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcVKr8TJYdo&feature=youtu.be

Love them gulls too.

Yeah. Here's a pic from a previous year.?

It's not just the beauty of roses that make them popular for front gardens.

That's a stunning photo Emma. Thanks.

And thanks, Jackson. It was one of those "look at the light! run get the camera!" moments.

This is Euphorbia today ? complete with ants. And raindrops.

Helleborus

And moving to white?.

Angels trumpet

Aren?t they, though. Plant porn! All those immodest angiosperms. ;-)

A hyacinth! I can smell it from here...

And another lotus, in the Guishui River, Yanqing county town.

*a kind of aunt. Chinese family words are very specific.

My new mission now, gorgeous.
Moving along from spring a bit, but ?..

Fascinating mixture of real and artificial!

Warning: adult themes! :-)

So some actual spring flowers from a few months ago.

ohhhhh that must hurt !

Nearly caught it! Still, there is flowering rosemary.

levitating goldfinch, lovely! Who needs wings?

That's fab.

And Jonathan, that's some serious pink.

Good luck with that. I've probably put Tui 1 of 5 up before but if not.....

BTW, meant to say, these two bulbs in pots are beautiful pictures, such lovely light!

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking?

1) Ripples.
2) Shadowplay.
3) Toi toi.

chrysanthemums

Pretty things they are.

Oh Jack, what beautiful pictures! Particularly love the toetoe on the beach.

Can someone remind me why I'm living in this earthquake-riddled, dictator-infested, ruddy swamp??

What are house prices like in Orua Bay?

As to house prices, it is in the Auckland 'Beach House' market, so I'm guessing... ridiculous.

Particularly love the toetoe on the beach.

Ah yes, apparently I just fell into the 'commonly misspelled as' trap. Although I note I am not alone. ;-)

yeah, you and the design store! And the winery, and the florist....

Mm, I like the idea of having a pony to match the house.

Here's a tui from this morning, outside my front door in my dressing gown...

Wish I had a dressing gown like that! ;-)

But seriously, lovely shot. And Sofie, I love yours too, with the tui almost flying backwards, just shows what a range of movement they have.

Really nice dressing gown, the fabric, loving it. ;)

The ones up our way are really shy but there is 5 in the driveway.

Shame it is sooo unpopular in this country, but completely understandable. My hands are evidence of removing the stuff. It's not so easy in an organic area, but then again that does have its own advantages.
The Toetoe also.... invasive.

Whichever this one is, it?s been framed.

This photo is old but makes me think of Summer.

They really are spesh huh?
This is from this afternoon. :)

Thanks , I liken those to the mood. 2 is like a mad womans shit. All over the place. :)

1) Peach blossom.
2) Succulents.

Jackson, you're a fun guy! ;-)

That guy at the bottom looks like a flying sorcerer : )

Georgous light too...

Here's another flower.

Ahhh : ) Tulips ......

And a spring time gate in a far away country.

I love columbines! Some of my gardener friends consider them a vile weed. They're certainly good at surviving. :-)

Nice gate too.

And if you think you're a dedicated photographer, check out the page on photographing slime moulds!

I once read a gardening column about cultivating oxalis. Cultivating! It suggested keeping it in a pot if you were worried it might become invasive. :-)

I think it's popular like that in Greece. Then there's the decorative hedge – privet...

I gots me a puke on the walk to work, proud young one...

Good-looking!

I remember visiting the wildlife centre at Mt Bruce (near Masterton) and seeing the "takahe" hand-puppet with a plastic beak that they use for feeding takahe chicks. I thought the plastic beak looked incredibly fake and unconvincing until I saw a real takahe in the flesh and?

You must have been at one of those gigs at the zoo ;)

nor do I know what it is.
its like this one, but different leaves, so not like this?

Which one?
Actually, on reviewing the photos it probably is if you mean my photo. So, not so bad.

Is that the same as the Kermadec Pohutakawa? Which is what all my Tui and bird photos are in.

There's 100s in our Kermadec at the moment. And those Goldfinches are around still, but proving elusive when the camera comes out.

Envy no more – get out and grab yourself a camera! I love my Panasonic Lumix DMC FH25. It's at the cheap end?

The tricky bit will be the 24mm lens with a rangefinder. Most compacts have dropped the rangefinder altogether. My pick right now would?

Happens to the best of us. You might be interested in this then.

Now there is something I will investigate; I had no idea I?

Scary radioactive plants! :-)

Nice photo.

Good lord, I've never seen them do that! Great shot.

Hanging upsidedown and looking over its shoulder! Beautiful.

Round here, Royal Australian spoonbills nest in the same area & trees as kotuku – they seem to be quite handy in the Waitangi-taona bush...

"The royal spoonbill is here, really a beak with a bird
attached, kotuku-ngutupapa?

A couple of comments triggered by earlier posts?

I love the flowers on japonica. Joe Wylie mentioned his __"mum?s generation?

Think I better stop there and let someone else have a go :)

Don?t be stupid ;) more!
lovely shots. Think you may be right about the albizia too. The young leaves start to make sense.
While I?m here ?

Aye. As is this one.
+1 Euphorbia

Either that, or it's blooming like Aaron's rod. :-)

Thanks for joining in Venetia, Geoff and of course everyone else, with more wonderful, colourful, springness.

Venetia, I did actually add a link yesterday to the bottom of the original post to the poem in question. An oversight from when first posted.

Cheers.

All headlines should come with footnotes! :-)

I'd say it was more pink. ;-)

In fact, often purple.

Tibouchina Elsa, my resident Twitter botanist informed me, with a little help from Google images. ;-)

ETA: Link changed. Found better.

And the elegant pieris is doing it's thing

Our pleasure. :) You must live in a wonderful spot Jos. And. your photography prowess is a delight. I'm feeling more inadequate now, almost clumsy at best, ;)

And going back to page 1 now, I think that's your white?

As is Aucks

Ahh, patience, it was big in the 60's . When I'm up North, I have time to sit for hours to get maybe 4 good shots. Well, good enough for me. They are well enjoyable.

Some of them come like that. ;-)

That really is quite stunning.

Are those on a wall Sofie, or in paintings you have?

Just lucky that the sun was shining brightly in exactly the right direction at the time! I'm quite a patient person generally but for some reason not when I'm taking photos. About the only technique I can ever manage is?

periwinkle

a wall I?d never paid attention to before

versatile oxalis in a hollow puriri trunk