Agave and eucalyptus

Saw this today and it was stunning. These pics don't come nearly close enough to conveying the subtley of what was actually happening, but I had just come out of the gallery after marvelling at the tones in some Victorian era paintings - greys, salmon and pinks when I stumbled on this on the way back to the car. Agaves are good! Very garden friendly in a potentially viscious, stabby kind of way.

More Dahlias

Dahlia "Lime Gold" which is a really good performer as the colour of the flower marries really well with the foliage. The other one is "Clarion". A very strong, clear lemon yellow. One of the 'Ebony' group and is my favourite tucked under cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'. The top pic is a good old anemone - "Bowles Pink".

Parthenocissus tricuspidata

say it quickly and say it often. Love the Latin.....got a real ring to it. The other pic is of berberis thunbergii "Gold Ring". Really revving up now in this fantastic autumn. In front is lavendula stoechas - one of the best lavenders IMHO.

Opuntia

As I said on my Varporium Central page this is how I contain a prickly pear. Works fine and all you need is a longish thin knife. Here you can see the the new cuts I made today and the old ones I made two years ago. Stops it being so overbearing.

and some more....

Agaves can add some strong design to an otherwise fluffy bunch of perennials. Just cut the leaves off as they begin to offend.

Fond of perennials

But you need the right ones in the right spot.....don't always get it right, but then thats the good thing about gardens - they are so forgiving.

Autumn

At this time of year the garden at Gembrook is a beautifull thing. Made this garden when I lived there eight years ago. I have since moved out, but still work on it and add bits and pieces, but it is pretty much unchanged since it went in. Overcrowded, but everything has more or less got used to each other and they all seem to rub along o.k. The bias is towards drought tolerant plants, but there are a few softies in there too.