The House of Flowers

On Thursday our home owners come home, hopefully to a dog who hasn't forgotten them.  We've been busy tidying and polishing so that everything will be schmick in the house and garden upon their return.  

We've been here a shade over 4 months, and the garden has given us an ever changing display of flowers.

First, there was the magnolia, dripping with blossoms such that passers-by stopped randomly to take photos.

By the time the last magnolia petal dropped the Wisteria was out in full bloom, buzzing with bees and laying a purple carpet over the driveway. 

In the back yard camellias went into the carpet laying business as well. I raked up buckets of blossoms after every windy day.

Then came the roses, and what a show they put on! Passers-by stopped to take photos again, and the sneaky ones came back with secateurs and helped themselves to a bloom or two which was definitely bad form. I learned how to identify and destroy aphids.

In the back yard rainbow lorikeets feasted on the native blossoms,

and more roses bloomed.

Outside in the street jacarandas put on a display worthy of Queensland, while everywhere I turned another flower popped out in the garden.

The grapevine sprouted leaves and tentacles in a robust bid to conquer the back yard. A fine crop of baby grapes appeared and I  discovered, while weeding, a smorgasbord of strawberries only partially devoured by snails.

Amidst all the flowers we managed to lock ourselves out, having rendered the emergency key useless by snibbing the security door from inside. Dramas were had, only resolved by calling a locksmith to let us in. The locksmith, as he should, demanded proof that we did indeed have the right to enter the house we were asking him to break into. Proof was difficult, but achieved. The dog, inside all the while, raised a storm of barking. "No one would be crazy enough to break into a house with a dog like that inside," said the locksmith. "Unless you knew him."  I didn't give away the dog's secrets (bark worse than bite), happily paid the quite reasonable fee for rescue by locksmith, and went to feed my loudly complaining furry friend.

I'll miss the flowers when we go.

And the dog, of course.