The Way we were... a bit later...

A fairly inadequate photograph of Melaleula Fulgens. A beautiful fairly open bush, but the flowers with their prominent golden tips on bright red brushes, are truly beautiful.

More of the native section, with Geraldton Wax on the right and Prostanthera Incisa on the left. Both have been great in the light sandy soil in that position. The prostantera is tough in all locations in the garden I have tried it including full sun and heavier soil. Both these bushes are still going strong tucked away down in that corner of the yard. Real troupers.

 Looking back from the bush garden to the rose garden and chook shed with Golden Celebration and Charles Austin flowering in front of the shed.

 A seedling iris I picked up at one of Rainbow Ridges open days at Burnt Yards out near Orange. .. with some evening primrose looking abundant and happy.

Climbing Lorraine Lee and.. I can't recall which red climber it is. Hybrid Tea at any rate.

Bearded Iris - Romantic Evening

Dianthus - Mars I think it is. Wonderful, tough and drought tolerant ground cover. It put on a wonderful display every year and I never had to touch it. Even so it always looked neat and tidy.

 The pink and white rose to the left of the red climber is Princess De Monaco.

The purple iris in this shot is Titan's Glory. A beautiful flower, but I didn't find it to be a particularly vigorous grower. The young rose, which did get much much larger was a real performer.  I have a mental block as to the name. One of the classic HTs. Totally reliable in this gentle eastern facing position but the blooms did tend to fade in the sun.

Crepuscule growing through Winter Honeysuckle. A wonderful combination as when the rose is quiet in winter, the honeysuckle flowers. This is a combination I would like to include in the garden again - though it does require a reasonable amount of space.

the rose in this shot is Pink Panther. Not much smell but it is a pretty flower. The salvia red and white in front is, I believe, lipstick salvia.. and it gets really large.  Quite a tough useful bush and pretty, but it does like to monopolise the bed if left to its own.

the dark red rose is Papa Meilland. It is being embraced by a rambler rose Alberic Barbier. this is a tough position with quite a lot of root competition from the nearby Coral Tree.

Alberic Barbier close up. This was a good year for ol' Alberic but overall the position was too tough for him and he really needed more water and food to flower well consistently.

You can just see a glimpse of Albertine there behind Alberic Barbier.

Golden Celebration above, followed by Charles Austin below.

The Wilderness. Really challenging area of the garden this. Out of sight at the right of the shot is a mature Coral tree. this is behind the old chook shed and no doubt this corner of the yard once accommodated a flock of chickens in the shade. 

This was about as good as Alberic Barbier got for me.  Great glossy healthy foliage.