October - Jacaranda Season

People who know me well know how much I LOVE jacarandas. So jacaranda season really lifts my heart (along with the star jasmine that intertwines it - also at its best in October). The star jasmine is so vigorous at our place that it has climbed a very tall palm tree.

At our city psychology we have a whole wall of jacaranda mural in the main waiting room, created from a photo of the University of Queensland’s famous exam time jacaranda display.

This month I also came across this amazing butterfly perched on a David Austin Rose (I think the rose is called Benjamin Britten). Initially I thought it was dead and had lost its powdery wing colour but further investigation revealed it was very much alive and was actually a glasswing transluscent butterfly. I’ve never seen one before (more pictures below) and you can see it clearly in this photo but when looking at it normally or in other photos it seems to disappear completely!

This month also saw lots of beautiful violets with their rich purple and barely there scent. Some lingering sweet peas and for the first time ever I grew a tuberose from a bulb (the white flower below) which smells heavenly but unfortunately the bulb which had been in the ground for nearly a year only resulted in one flower.

I have just planted some sunny yellow everlasting daisy seeds after receiving a gorgeous bunch of paper daisies which then went to seed.

Every October my husband and I do the yearly trip to the University of Queensland on our bikes (admittedly ebikes….) to see the Jacarandas in bloom and reminisce about my undergrad years doing psychology at UQ. I am pleased that there is a lolly shop still there!

This month I painted the entrance to our long 10km road at Cedar Creek with the landmark Jacaranda in full bloom.

The Road to Home - Oil on Canvas