Spring Flowers

The garden is darling hubby's creation and it was delightful to return from Melbourne to a garden full of lovely flowers. Especially as many are native orchids ...

We've lots of Dendrobium kingianums growing in the rocks around the fish pond :-) some are man-made hibrids (with D. falcorostrum aka beech orchid) so they vary -

they smell very sweet and more traditionally floral than most of the Dendis.

Checking on the google web I find that they've been reclassified and renamed Thelychiton kingianum - as Dendrobium means "tree living" and Kingys like to live on rocks (one common name is Pink Rock Orchid) this seems sensible but these constant name changes are really confusing for us amateurs. Shall I be cheeky and point out to my botanist friends that D. speciosum (common name King Orchid which is confusing) also likes a home made of stone - nice crumbly sandstone. We've a couple of Kings in the garden and the biggest has 3 flower spikes this year :-) Big fox-tails of secretive creamy lemon flowers with a wonderful scent - powdery and burnt sweetness like a burnt honey cake or overdone toasted marshmallows.

Also just starting to flower is the D. gracilicaule - graceful because of the long thin stems - I love the plump little flowers -

Again the scent is a bit burnt & powdery but this time with a citrus tang.

Finally a non-orchid and not an Ozzie but quite lovely - Spanish Bluebells.