23 September 2008

Carnival of Flowers Part 3. The Gardens and Parks

The first lot of photos are from Queen's Park. Toowoomba Council only planted out three parks out of the many they have (not sure if it's nine or 15) due to the drought. But looking at the photos below...they did really well with the parks planted out for the Carnival.



Small snapdragons and unfortunately I can't remember what was in the middle...sorry.



A colourful and artistic display.



Pretty and pink.



Ice plants turning their hot coloured faces to the sun.



Ranunculae, thrift and pansies.



Marigolds and parsley.


Petunias


This lime green display is actually yellow snapdragons just starting to open, giving the unusual colour.



A wisteria arbour


With seats inside for just sitting and looking.


The next photos are from just two of the prize winning gardens.


Imagine the work and money that went into this...and it's only a part of the front garden.

Look at this euphorbia. The colour is actually dark blue...not sure what happened to the colour in this photo.

A magnificant magnolia flower.



Potted freesias.

If you haven't got room for your potted colour, put them in a tree.

I'm not sure what this bush is, but it's the most fabulous colour.

These next photos are of the Champion of Champions garden. The garden was terraced into four separate areas...all with a different theme. It was absolutely amazing. The trouble is there were so many people there when we arrived, it was hard to see it properly. Nevertheless I did get some photos and here they are...




Orchids and freesias

Here's a great use of mosiac.

A miniature maple planted in a pot amongst a dense ground cover.

Look at the blossoms on this tree...

Would you believe it...black pansies!




More beautiful blossoms.

Terracotta tiles and mondo grass...isn't it effective?

Unfortunately this is just a tiny tiny part of this beautiful garden...we'd be here for weeks if I'd had the time to take all the photos I wanted to. However, I picked out the more unusual ones. I hope you like them.

Well, after all that, we were exhausted. We piled back onto the coach and headed off to pick up the train at Helidon. Now here's something. Remember I told you it took us two hour or so to go up the range in the train? Well it took us 20 minutes down by coach. We were running late so we barrelled down that road passing everything in sight...it was quite thrilling. Unfortunately we were still 20 minutes late...oops!

We finally set off for home, then half-an-hour out of Helidon we came to a gradual halt in the middle of nowhere. One of the ladies sitting opposite us went to find out what was wrong and came back with the news that the rear carriage had blown an air hose, causing the breaks to come on. We didn't have to wait too long...they had it fixed in about 30 minutes and we set off again.

We could see lots of lightning playing around the hills but no rain, although we could see the black clouds. We eventually ran into rain and had it for the rest of the way home. After all that, we made up enough time so that by the time we reached Corinda where I was getting off we were only 15 minutes late. Not bad going for an old steam rattler!

On the news the next night they showed us video of the storm clouds and it was so close to becoming a tornado. Two funnels started to form but fortunately didn't complete and didn't touch the ground. The cloud formation was amazing though, like a huge spiral. Glad it wasn't a tornado, don't know if the old wooden carriages would have coped with that.

12 comments:

Carole Burant said...

Oh my Lord, that Wisteria Arbour is absolutely breathtaking! I'm just now catching up with your last few posts...I always feel so out of the loop when I've been away for a few days! lol Loved reading about your trip and your pictures are so beautiful...all of the flowers are gorgeous and I can well imagine how wonderful it was to walk amidst such beauty!! xoxo

Gattina said...

That must have been a wonderful day, except the rain at the end (for me it would be something VERY normal) The flowers are gorgeous and I suppose you also had fun in that old train, lol !

Jellyhead said...

All the photos are beautiful, but I agree with Pea - the arbour is my favourite.

I hadn't heard about the storm almost forming into a tornado .... yikes!!

Peter said...

Congratulations Robyn on a great series of posts and the wonderful photos, its to be hoped the water situation is better next year for the 60th Carnival of Flowers, it should be something special.

Hootin Anni said...

Oh my gosh, this is all so beautiful. Just absolutely breathtaking. I LOVE the wisteria arbor!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a sweet comment on my funny doo doo Wordless! LOL

Have a glorious day!

Jeanette said...

GDay Robyn.
Truly beautiful carnival of flowers,I just love the wisteria arbour..Gees im glad those storm clouds didnt turn into a tornado.


Thanks for your comment on Dust storm.. Ive been around and dusted but no sooner had I done so and its all back again doesnt look like of dusted for a year, and you can still smell and taste it in the air...even though today was quite sunny...Take care love Jan

Gledwood said...

those parks are pretty cool... + that arbour gives a new meaning to the phrase "wysteria lane"... (desperate housewives)...

Walker said...

Beautiful pictures.
The plants and flowers are breathtaking.
I wish I had that garden in my yard.
In a perfect world I could live six month in Canada and six months in the southern hemosphere and have only spring and summer all year round.
I need to win the lotto LOL

Merle said...

Dear Robyn ~~ A great series about the
Carnival of Flowers. The flowers were so beautiful and you did well getting so many great photos. Really nice to be able to see them, thanks Robyn.
Thanks for your comments and glad you liked the FROG story etc. Take care,
my friend, Love, Merle.

Merle said...

Dear Robyn ~~ A great series about the
Carnival of Flowers. The flowers were so beautiful and you did well getting so many great photos. Really nice to be able to see them, thanks Robyn.
Thanks for your comments and glad you liked the FROG story etc. Take care,
my friend, Love, Merle.

TorAa said...

As a Flower lover myself, I go crazy in the Spring. If near a ... don't mention it - it's Autumn here in Norway.
But your photos here nearly did force me to buy an Air Ticket Soutbound.

Be happy that the storm did not make too much harm.

btw. Sorry not to visiting not commenting your wonderful blog which I have seen from RennyBA, due to the 3x20 Event. My last post was published Friday.pls excuse

PS. Not to forget: Thanks for the greetings to Anna on RennyBA's blog.

Karen said...

Thankyou so much for sharing these beautiful flowers with all of us. I feel excited now about the garden project I've got happening. I'll send you some pics when it's finished.