Your garden looks so abundant TribbleTrouble, love it!! :-)

Nice day towards the end of Autumn last year, anyone fancy mowing that ?

So nice that my winter flowering stuff is hot coloured!

That could be Silene or Catch Fly or fuschia.

Love your Christmas Cactus in bloom.

@Badger10 I'd mow it if I could then have a picnic on it's banks. :)

Tribble I love marigolds. They ward off pests too.

Thanks for advice on my shrub. Our garden was such a higgle piggies mess when we moved in. Slowly cleaning up and shaping plants and undecided on this one as the flowers are really pretty but it keeps wanting to take over.

If you don't mind me asking on this post, for those with camellias do you think they would be too messy as a backdrop/hedge between a clothesline and the fence? The one I have out the front drops flowers easily but I like the dark glossy foliage. Was thinking something narrow like Camellia sasanqua.

No, not too messy. You can prune after flowering to keep them in line, haha.

Only messy when they are dropping flowers.

My agave-flowering & doing it's bit for the local bees. Started spiking late june and now the flowers are 2/3 to the top..well bottom as the spike has arched right over and currently about 20cm from the ground. Looks like a plant from a Dr Sues book.

Thanks puremichigan60 but it's not a Silene or Catch Fly. It's actually a bush with cane-like branches, and I did some more searching and found it is actually Salvia Timboon. I snapped this as a cutting from a bush on a trail and managed to strike it, but never knew its name until now. It's the first time it's flowered so I am stoked!

Hilde I love learning new things! I'm going to google it, it's beautiful.

TTT it looks like your "gerberas" might actually be gazanias... The latter refuse to open unless the sun is on them.

Hilde, you're so right, serves me right for skipping lunch that day, indeed, gazanias is what I meant to say. I have changed it, just as well you caught it!!

Violets are great for keeping weeds down. Mine die back in very hot weather, even with watering, but they always come back.

i remember when you had your thread, Fiona, my word, your garden has come a long way, no wonder you're pleased!

I have bluebells under a camellia, they come up every year with no special treatment.

I love all the daffodils they grow in abundance in the Western states here. I want to try planting some in Savannah. I haven't seen any. Your camellias are beautiful Fi, Tribble you have so much growing for a winter garden it's amazing.

We don't get snow here.

Neither do we, we did in Colorado. In abundance . Here we get heavy cold rain in late December and through January. Although this year was odd we had really hot weather in late Dec. We get hot rains in the spring from late May to mid-June usually from late afternoon into the night. Summer which is now until about September is very hot. 90 - 110 f dropping to no lower than 80's at night. In the winter it gets to about 40 degrees F. I'm sorry it's too early for me to calculate that. In Colorado we had as low as -25 degrees F in the winter with a meter or more of snow in the lowlands. The higher elevations could get three to four meters of snow in a month. On the other side of that the summers would reach highs of 90's or more. It's a strange country I have to admit.

GTB I had to google meter - you've made me think today and I didn't want to!!

Sorry about that Mich. It's this big. ---------->

Oh, that's not much snow at all. :) I remember snow storms in CO that shut down the city and a restaurant offered a free meal to whoever could make it there. So, of course, a friend and I took that dare and slipped and slided the entire way. Fun times :)

I lived through many of those snow storms. I learned to drive in them. I grew up playing in them, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing. Until a pine tree and I disagreed about which way I should go on a hill. The tree won. I stopped my descent with a broken knee and decided I preferred to watch skiing from the lodge. Over the years the cold and I became enemies. It's too bad , winter used to be my favorite season.

I used to love winter also. It's more fun up north where all those sports are right outside the door. I skied like a toddler and often on the bunny slopes so no big injuries. And apres ski with hot buttered rum usually tempted me by 2 p.m.

My fave skiing was near Leadville - Cooper Mountain. Copper Mountain was nearby but soooo crowded.

Just moved here so this is my inherited winter garden...plenty to do come Spring ;)

Beautiful pics everyone. Apologies in advance for the masses of pics I'm posting. My garden is chockablock (ha, spellcheck didn't even bat an eyelid!) with flowers at the moment. Have a look around :-)

A few babies to start, all settling in nicely

Up close and personal to pigface

All the best things end with "A"

Grevillea...

Hakea...

Banksia...

Protea...

Kunzea...

Calendula...

Pea! :-)

I hate that. I always say they only have to ask and I'd give them a bunch of flowers.

@Jdublya thank you for labeling all your photos , if you didn't I would have no clue what they were. They're so beautiful. I'm stealing ideas from all of you even now. My gardens are new to me and they're really pathetic. The former owner it seems liked to plant things that didn't flower. Long spiky plants and decorative grasses in dull colors. In an area that sings with colorful plants I can't see the point. Thank you all for the ideas.

@Mich Copper Mountain was great, but I liked Winter park better that's where the locals ski. Cheaper, quieter and better slopes. Not for a novice though. That's where Mr. Tree beat me up and stole my kneecap. On the other hand I met a really cute medic on the way off the mountain :)

GTB, if you have high humidity and want Australian natives, you should look at ones from the tropics in Aus.

GTB always a novice because of a fear factor.

Tropical plants are so beautiful, what fun to create a new garden Savanna style. And if I can help you with a design lmk!!

Love pansies. I press the blooms. They make great greeting cards.

We do not worry about a winter garden where I live due to the bitter cold and snow! Snow, for me, is enough winter beauty in itself. I love watching it snow and when it's fresh fallen, seeing the beauty of it on the trees, grass, and houses!

Mich I have an elderly friend that does that. I love getting cards from her with little flowers in them.

Bev- I was saying the same about when I lived in Denver. My winter garden was white.

Wow such lovely flowers,, wouldn't survive here as winter is very wet and heavy frost, thanks for sharing folks.

@wuff Oh yes, the birds (and bees) are having a great time in the garden right now. I saw a group of five rather large and therefore quite heavy wattle birds trying to take nectar from the pink grevillea flowers on the end of the long spikes (2nd photo). The stems were twanging about like great springs and the birds were being flung all over the place, but holding on determined to stay put. Great antics to watch.

I also love watching those bouncy birds. They were alternating between camellia nectar and left-over rice today.