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Good to hear your beautiful Rose is okay and there hasn't been too much damage. Now, fingers crossed that the roofing across the road stays in place until the winds die down.

I love the taste of Mango, albeit it within a yoghurt or a dessert here in the UK!

That's a cheerful Christmas tree Sheila ... Michael and I wish you both a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2025. x

Happy Christmas to you and yours Linda.

It's gorgeous, I have put this on to my Favourites.

Stunning foliage.

Happy Christmas wishes from Michael and myself ... have a happy and peaceful time ... :o))x

Lovely colours.

I agree with Klahanie, lovely, well tended garden.

David, I think they can be tricky to grow from seed, cuttings seem to 'strike' for me so I'll take some in the Spring. With luck, I may be able to send you one ... :o)

Bernie, the Rose is fine but a pot with a Camelia in it blew over, no damage, just the top dressing of grit all over the patio. Across from us we can see a TV aerial has fallen on to a house roof and some polycarbonate roofing on a car port is hanging on, bouncing up and down. Hopefully this gale force wind will lessen by early evening if the forecast is to be believed.

Wow, two years of renovation. What a lot of work.

They are a magnificent looking palm. Love the colour of the palm fronds.

Decent sized blooms too!

50,000! What a crowd. Obviously it's a popular event. Palms always look so much better with a decent tidy up.

Oh excellent work Delonix. I'm taking cuttings tomorrow and trying them out in water this time. The ones I popped in seed raising mix seems to be doing okay but the root systems are still in their infancy just yet.

Yes I"ve been reading lots of comments on various gardening forums about Darragh and just how windy it's been in some spots. Hopefully there won't be too much devastation.

I'm waiting for the mangoes to ripen to see just how tasty they're going to be. For the most part, the mangoes we pick up at the roadside stalls in our suburb are just superb.

They're staples in tropical gardens here Linda.

Yes Linda, I see lots of butterflies, bees, wasps, and little birds like the Sunbirds in there. I've also been seeing lots of grasshoppers as well but thankfully they're the small ones.

I won't mention the snakes!

Oh what a contrast! 33 degrees!...those mangoes look very 'handsome '
Storm Darragh is still buffetting this morning...

I love the leaf shapes and the coleus colours go well with the greenery.

It looks really healthy and good for the wildlife too.

A heartfelt thank you for all your lovely good wishes for Gerry and myself for Christmas.
Our son is going to join us for Christmas day.
Let's hope the weather is better for everyone travelling nearer the day.
I wish you joy, love, hope, and a good gardening year for 2025.

The high season in Palm Springs is from mid-November through April or maybe mid-May, after that it an oven!

It was kind of discovered longer than 20 years ago, but was thought to be a variant of Beccaiophoenix madagascariensis. I did quite a bit of research on this palm about 15 years ago. Because of my horticulture/botany background and being a member of the IPS (International Palm Society) since 1984, it’s just me. 😂

Season's greetings to you Sheila.

Merry Christmas to you as well Linda. Your Christmas bauble is simply lovely.

Heck that really is horrible heat!!! Not my sort of place either. I'm barely able to cope with the occasional highs we get here of around 40-45 deg C and I've lived here all my life!!

Palm Springs, CA. has lots of Ixoras growing outside. They grow in areas where there’s refected heat, also. It gets up to 125 degrees f (52 c) in Palm Springs. Yuck!!!

Palm Springs is about a two hr drive from me, but I rarely go there because of the extreme, horrible heat! Yuck! 😂

So sorry to hear the news about your colleague, Kate. I'm thinking of you and the few colleagues left to do the work that's needed in such a large area.

I think everyone understands why you won't be around for a while and we wish you all the best during this rather distressing time.

Dear Sheila,
Happy Christmas and all the best in a New year... especially good health.
Your tree looks very bright and cheerful .

Definitely not a silly idea! I'd say 'quirky', which provides loads of interest.

Wishing you a lovely, joyful time at Christmas Linda

Yes I agree with you there Delonix. I can't see Ixoras doing well as houseplants. Perhaps they would do well in a hot, sun-filled greenhouse or conservatory but even then, they'd need many, many hours of sun.

well I made sure my 2 got sandy/muddy/wet.grazed knees etc just like I had done. We also had a marine aquarium and I remember being woken up about 11.30pm to watch a hermit crab move shell. I'd have been about 6 or 7.
both of them still do enjoy being 'outside'.

I was thinking about you lately Kate. I was missing you around here and assumed that something is not right .

Life is not always kind to us and I am very sorry to hear about your friend. Very depressing.
Lucky you have some supportive friends. Keep strong and take care of yourself.XX

Hopefully it will survive the winds.

I do sympathise Kate. It’s so hard to get back to reality after such a shock. A few weeks ago, a friend (one in my book group) had a stroke and didn’t recover consciousness. We still can’t quite believe that we’ll never see her again, and she was only 71, but your colleague was far too young.
Don’t worry about posting on here, and do look after yourself. xx

Thank you.

Thank you Bushbernie. This is by our guest house and not part of our garden. I have lots of silly ideas implementing around the land.

Thank you, Karen, it's very kind of you, I appreciate it. Yes, it's been quite an emotional few weeks, the initial shock has been sinking in. Everything seems to be happening all at once...I shall heed your thoughtful advice, thanks so much xx

Thank you, Julia. It's definitely been a very strange and emotional few weeks...now, a time of uncertainty.
I am still doing a yoga class and a zumba class...it's a good distraction as well as helping me de-stress. My friends, Jo and Elaine have been supportive too.
I'll keep in touch, thank you for your kindness xx

Thanks Karen, hope your first Christmas in your new house will be memorable! x

On Wikipedia there is quite a bit of info on this palm:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beccariophoenix_alfredii

It is a beautiful palm tree, Andy! To think that it was discovered less than 20 years ago & has now become a popular tree in California!

You're the first this year to wish GoY members a happy Christmas, Lindak! I wish you a happy time over Christmas as well.

We will be spending Christmas with our Spanish granddaughter with whom we have never spend Christmas in the 10 years she's been in this life.

We have spent the last 17 Christmases with our first granddaughter who was born here in the UK. It will be the first time we haven't spent Christmas with her! :(

Her 2 brothers will miss us as well! ;( Our daughter said she would miss us greatly as well. In her nearly 50 Christmases she has only had a handful without us as well! ;(

Beautiful!

I love this hibiscus! I don’t know why I’ve never purchased it before.

Rarely is Ixora offered as a houseplant. It needs full, very hot, blasting all day sun to bloom well. Even here in San Diego I plant Ixoras on the south side of my house.

A lovely colour, Shirley! I had one some years ago that a friend gave me but it didn't last more than a year on the balcony! :( Can you grow them from seed?

I've done the same, Karen! But then who hasn't? There are times we forget what plants we grew in the past & GoY brings them back to mind.

I've been getting Memories from Google Photos & I see a lot of plants that I no longer have - like these orange or dark red or even white Christmas Cacti I used to grow many years ago. Just this morning I was sent photos I took of them on this date 5 or 6 years ago!

I like to see these memory reminders as you can then look back at the photos you took long ago & see what you had in flower at the time or even events that happened way back then. If you have photos of them weather stored on Google photos you can also see if you had snow at such & such a date or perhaps flooding.