Time for some Summer colour

It seems NZ is going through some sort of heatwave at the moment. Last Summer was hot but not nearly this hot and parts of the country are experiencing record temperatures of 35 degrees celsius and even higher sometimes. Since many of you in the Northern hemisphere are in the middle of winter I thought I'd share some Summer colour from my recent visit to Te Puna Quarry Gardens. Rhododendron - as above.

Lovely purple Hydrangea - depending on how much you alter the ph level of the soil you can change the colour of the flowers.

Another lovely cream coloured Rhododendron sticking to the shade.

And in the herb and butterfly gardens some Dahlia and Rudbeckia plus some Buddleia line the pathways. 

Because we live in an apartment I only have a small deck area with some plant pots growing miniature geraniums (perfect for coastal conditions) and some succulents I recently planted from cuttings I got from other peoples gardens which they kindly gave me.

Last week however we've had several events happening here...a music concert, surf life saving championships and cricket games so work has been pretty manic and instead of me having my normal 2 days off I worked 7 days - I'm looking forward to my 3 day weekend next week.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

How's the water Mr Frog?

One of the many sculptures at Te Puna Quarry Park is this huge frog located in a lily pond near the entrance. He looks very comfortable there sitting on his rock eyeing up flies.

I wonder if the water is cool enough for him? It's been sweltering and muggy and humid there, recent rain has cooled the temperatures down but now we're back to heat and blue skies. Bring on Autumn I say!

The dreaming stone...

The dreaming stone - Te Puna Quarry Park...

The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened. ~James Arthur Baldwin

Spring at Te Puna Quarry Park

This morning in an effort to getting rid of that cabin fever feeling we drove out to Te Puna Quarry Park, somewhere I haven't visited in over a year.  Near the entrance this part was chained off but naughty me sneaked in and got this quick shot of one of the pink Magnolia trees starting to bloom.

 

In the Rhododendron garden these pinks and reds caught my eye, looks like the insects were enjoying the flowers too.

Near the end of the path was this garden floor covered in a sea of red and white flowers due to the Magnolia and Rhododendron trees towering above.

This white Magnolia was only just starting to bloom so there were more buds than flowers - we think the rain from the previous night has washed many off their branches.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Views from the Butterfly Garden at Te Puna Quarry

Last week I drove out for a 2nd visit to Te Puna Quarry Gardens and since it was a very very warm sunny Spring day I didn't just limit myself to taking photos of one particular area. This time I walked around 3/4 of the gardens - this shot was taken from the Butterfly Garden section.

This part of the garden was full of annuals and perennials - perfect for the bees and butterflies.

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