quarter acre in NZ

Many of my Facebook friends asked me how big is my land. They asked because I have shared many photos of my flowers around my house in Hamilton. Most of them have not been to see the real flowers, only the photos which I shared now and then on my wall.

Very often I shared photos of fruits planted in my backyard. I seem to be living on an orchard with plums, mandarins, lemons, apples, peaches, persimmons, strawberries, Tamarillo and many types of veges.

Azaleas

Cobram drive

The Azaleas in Hamilton are in full bloom. These were seen last week along Cobram drive just opposite the entrance to the gardens. I checked out those in the Chinese gardens and was pleasantly surprised.

They were also flowering. I have missed the start because I was visiting Wellington and have not been playing my flute there for a couple of weeks.

Crepe Myrtle

I saw this flower on my regular morning walk this week.

morning walk

I also saw these flowers. They appear suddenly out of a lawn.

Flowers in my garden

Alstroemeria

November is the time when all flowers in my garden are in bloom.

Names of common flowers

Esccallonia

Grevillea

I do not know the names of many common flowers. So I post the photos on Face Book. I got help from there! :)

Fuchsia

Ganzanias

Freesia

Flowers and food

There were two neighbours  - one family was Christian (Joshua and Mary), and the other Buddhist (Xian and Shu).  The couples were very good friends.  Mary and Shu passed on, leaving Joshua and Xian widowed.  The men missed their wives a lot, and were visiting the grave sites very regularly.  On each visit, Joshua would place Mary's favorite flowers by the headstone, and Xian would leave Shu's favorite dishes.  This went on for a long time, when one day Joshua and Xian had the following conversation:

 

J:  Xian, why do you leave food?

X:  Shu liked them.

 

J:  But she is gone, and the food would just go to waste.

X:  Oh no, she ate what I brought.

 

J:  You are kidding.

X:  I am not.

 

J:  OK, but tell me when exactly did she come and eat the food.

X:  She came at the same time Mary came to smell her flowers.

 

J:  Now you are talking crazy.

X:  I am not, and in fact Mary also ate the food.

 

J:  You know this, how?

X:  Shu told me, and she also told me that Mary did not like my cooking.

J:  What else did Shu tell you?

X:  Nothing much, except that she and Mary live in the same beautiful apartment in heaven.

 

Keep leaving flowers; but don't forget the food.

 

(contributed by Sam)

More flowers from my garden

Roses, Nov 2009

The roses in my garden this year, are especially large and plentiful.

Close ups

Here are a few photos taken using macro mode on my digital camera. Do you see the honey bee? There is also an ant some where.

Mu-tan

I found this Peony along Sandwich road. It is the only one that I have seen in Hamilton. The owner told me that he moved two plants here from Wanganui, one died.

flowers from my garden

I have many flowers in my garden in Hamilton. Here are some of them.

cherry blossoms

These cherry blossoms are from my garden last spring. The yellow flowers are Kawhia. The red flowers are Manuka (famous for honey).

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Bouquet of roses

This bouquet of 8 roses outside my bed room window was the result of many hours of hard work from Christine, my wife whose hobby is gardening. She has planted many flowers in our garden in Hamilton.