Mauve Monday

Today ventured out into the garden to see what's flowering after all the rain we've had, and I'm noticing a theme... deja vu anyone?

 

I've heard that flowers in this colour range are great for attracting insects (and therefore insect-eating birds) and the insect diversity definitely seems to be increasing, so I must be doing something right!

 

 

Melaleuca decussata

  

Melaleuca thymifolia

 

Lagerstroemia hybrid

 

Allium sp.

 

Photo of the week - friends in the garden

We visited the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens last December, and bought a few plants on the way out. A definite favourite was Guichenotia macrantha, with velvety purple ballgown-shapes flowers, and brown fuzzy seed capsules. This one has grown beautifully in the garden ever since, in a dry sunny part of the new native garden. It's now covered in these stunning flowers, and insects like this friendly spider are hanging about in it. What a winner!

Photo of the week - sitting pretty

Found this lovely little chap resting on my buddleja, and he was nice enough to hang around for a photo. Butterflies love buddlejas too, giving them their common name (butterfly bush) but I'm just not quick enough with the camera to share one with you just yet!