The last month of Spring

It seems a long time since I got around to writing a blog post but thought I would say hello to those of you who read my blog to let you know I am still alive and kicking. As winter has passed and the warm weather comes and goes, which is typical at this time of year, the view in the garden has changed and the Freesias and the Sweet Peas are going to seed but the Alstroemeria are starting to flower along with the ever beautiful Hollyhocks. Here are a few photos of the beauties....

Alstroemeria

This year I didn't visit any of the parks during the Carnival of Flowers  but we did go to the Bromeliad Show as usual and bought a new brom Vriesea Tiger Tim . Well, I guess you can never have too many bromeliads. 

The Hippiastrums looked stunning during their brief time of flowering...

...the striped one was gifted by a friend who has green thumbs. 

Another friend bought me this beautiful Spirit of Peace rose as a gift. I do have some nice friends.

My green thumbed friend had given me her German Empress Cactus Orchid last year which I placed under the camellia tree as it is shady there and I came across it a few weeks ago and hadn't noticed it was flowering beautifully. 

She also gave me this bearded iris. It  is great to have friends who share their plants. 

The Hollyhocks must be about 8 foot tall by now. We have purple.....

...pink, red and mauve. They are a lovely plant to grow if you have the required weather conditions. Once they have gone to seed you will have hundreds to plant for the next growing season. 

The Sweet Peas were also a beautiful crop but are now going to seed and we will have plenty to plant on St.Paddy's Day next year. 

If there are any soapmakers out there reading this, Elly has worked out a recipe for Castile Soap using Rice Bran Oil only instead of the extremely expensive Olive Oil. It is a really easy soap to make and I had no problems with it at all but did as Elly suggested in her video Elly's Everyday Rice Bran Oil Castile Soap and cooled the lye mixture first before adding it to the oil. I didn't use the blender either so it was an extremely simple soap to make and I can't wait to try it out. Instead of adding colour I threw in some dried calendula leaves I had sitting in the cupboard. 

We are due for a heatwave here in Queensland and I can feel the temperature rising at the moment as we head up to 32C. I think we have a day or so of 35C this week so I will head down to the aircon in the shopping centre. 

Have a great week everyone!