Early summer downunder: Cassia fistula (Golden Shower Tree) is blooming again!

thats lovely

WOW that looks so summery and warm, its freezing over here, thanks for the photo.

You're most welcome Carol...thought I'd share some of the warmth!

Very much needed, where i live dont get snow very often thank goodness but we do get some terrible cold bitting winds,just but a photo on of the little bit of snow we had last night.

Will have to have a look Carol ... haven't had a chance to go through many of the photos for a couple of days now...been busy tidying up and trimming in the garden - getting ready for our 'wet' and also cyclone season.

Suppose we should be greatful we dont get them, and where i am we dont get floods either.

There's always some horrible type of weather no matter where you are I think - we spend time preparing our gardens for our summer's weather just as you do for your winter weather ... we might not wrap plants up .. Lol! .. but we do have to clear up and trim old branches etc.

Thats true i know i could deffinetly not live in countries where its dark for most of the year, now that would do my head in.

Lol ... me too Carol. I suppose I'm so used to lots of bright sunshine ... I think I'd go nuts if the days were dark!

LOL:o)))) Makes to of us.

its really lovely bernieh

Lovely colourful tree Bernieh, reminds me a bit of a laburnum.

spectacular the yellow against the blue sky . ............

Gorgeous....just what we need on this cold winter's day. Thank you...

Bernieh:

Very stunning flowers! Love it!

I wish this tree was more widely grown here!

So nice to see blue skies and golden leaves, lol!! :-)) All the Very Best for Christmas and New Year, Bern! :-))

Thanks David ... Best of the season to you and yours! Stay snug and warm! I'll try to send some extra warmth with some more blue sky photos!!

What a lovely photo Bernieh. The flowers are beautiful against the sky.I had a cassia in Tenerife and it never seemed to stop flowering.

Thanks Gwen ... this particular cassia only flowers through the summer and into autumn ... then drops its leaves and drips with its long black seed pods for a while. It's drop-dead gorgeous when it's blooming though.

Marguerite:

Can you grow this tree where you live now?

Beautiful colour and effect

Margeurite - it is one of the great summer sights here! I'm sure there must be a terrific summer bloomer over there as well.

Thanks Sixpence - it's one of my favourite summer flowering trees!

It would be mine too, if we had it here, I can see why its your favourite.

Posting here - Many Thanks, Bern, for the later pics of Palms, blue skies and sea, Rainbow Lorikeets, etc! Spent only one December in "Oz" (in 1988 - Bicentennial year)/ I vividly remember it snowing in Sydney, staring at TVs in shop windows, listening to how it was the coldest Dec day on record there, so jumped on the next bus to Brisbane. 48hrs later I was on the beach, watching a surfing contest with fully clothed Santas in 98 degreeesC. Had always grown up not gettting my head round the fact that Christmas could occur without freezing temps. etc. in reality, I found that I loved it all, and could easily adapt to that - Ho Ho Ho! :-)) X

Yes it's a vast country David and there's such a range of weather variations from state to state ... and even within each state! Are you sure you saw snow in Sydney? I've heard of soft hail falling that has been mistaken for snow ... but I didn't think it got cold enough there for snow. Amazing!

Generations of us Aussies have known nothing other than a hot Christmas ... sunny, sweaty and bright! It's the time when the cicadas start singing and the huge Xmas beetles start flying around. It's the time when we barbecue almost every week and visit the beach at least once a week if not once a day! It's the long school holiday time and the time when most families take their holiday break by the beach or out in the bush. It's definitely the time of the year when we get out and about the most.

WOw, snow in Sydney! Global warming probably eliminated that option ages ago - I'm pretty sure, like Bernieh said, that it must have been soft hail!!

We had a wintery Christmas in Sydney this year. It was quite miserable, in fact, with rain on Boxing Day.

David, Bernieh, Pip c:

I've read the same thing...it's never snowed in Sydney! It has pretty much a subtropical climate. I don't think all the subtropical and tropical plants would grow at the Sydney Royal Botanical Garden...if it ever snowed there.
: > )

Yes ... snow is such a rare sight downunder ... and is restricted to a few mountain areas, mostly in Victoria and Tasmania - although I have heard of snow falling up in the Blue Mountains which are to the west of Sydney.

Bernieh:

That's sounds correct from what I can remember about studying world climatology.

It's very different in the U.S. Many areas have snow in the winter...even in California we have very high mountains...to 14,000 feet / 4276 meters tall...which have snow all winter long. The mountains in San Diego County have snow about 3 or 4 times a year...it snows sometimes as low as 4,000 - but mostly around 5,000 to 6,000 feet. (it doesn't last long...usually only a couple of days)

The area that does get the most snow here is actually called the Snowy Mountains ... that's how rare it is, we call the area that gets snow 'The Snowy Mountains'!!! Anyway ... the highest point of that area is just over 2200 metres high ... that's Mt. Kosciuszko which is our country's highest mountain! Not very tall at all in comparison. The lowest temperature up there in winter doesn't get much below -6 degrees C!

Bernieh:

Yes, 2200 meters/ 7216 feet is not very high by camparison to our mountains here in the U.S. -6 degrees C. / 21 degrees F. would be nice mild weather in the mountains of the west and upper mid-west of the U.S. in winter. It's not uncommon for the temps to go down to -25 degrees F. / -32 degrees C. or lower. Now that's cold weather! : > )

Can't imagine that sort of cold!

Bernieh:

The coldest temp I've ever fetlt in my life was around 18 degrees F. / - 8 degrees C. at Lake Tahoe, CA. in the Sierra Mountains. I can't imagine anything any colder...my Hawaiian blood just would not tolerate it! lol : >)

It might freeze in your veins, Delonix !!!

Hmmm, cryogenics ;-)

Louise1:

Yes, it would! LOL! : > )