End-of-Summer Downunder - front garden at sunset

your garden must be like paradise!

Not during our dry season, Sticki. It's brown and parched for anything up to nine months of the year. There are little corners that don't look too bad for most of the year ... the courtyard and the shadehouse gardens.

it looks amazing in this shot ~ what is the pink flowering shrub in the centre?

That's my Mussaenda philippica 'Bangkok Rose'. It's coming to the end of another blooming cycle right now, so it's not looking its very best.

it looks lovely much brighter than i thought!

I think the rosy glow of the sunset yesterday evening does make it look a lot brighter.

its good to have a plant that pops up with colour in the garden ~ or white for that matter

Bernieh:

Is the shrub on the left Acalypha?

How wonderful!

Andy, yes that's a couple of Acalyphas on the left. They're the old-fashioned variety that you see in many old gardens around here. They're both in full bloom right now and showing off their long flowering tendrils.

Thanks Paul. It definitely looks a lot better when we've had a little rain at wet season time. Otherwise it's a bit of a dry parched view.

I love my Acalyphas! I just cut my large Acalypha back a day ago. It was getting so huge! It should come back even stronger this spring, summer and fall.

I'm sure yours will come back beautifully. They just love a decent cut back. I have to cut mine back after every wet season as they get so huge!

I cut my large Acalypha back last year for the first time...and it grew back fuller and faster.