Garden pics

 

'Whisky' - first bloom 

 

This large deciduous azalea is probably one of the Ilam Hybrids, bred here in Christchurch from a variety of varieties, by a man named Edgar Stead, around the 1930's. Ilam was his homestead on the outskirts (then) of Christchurch.

 

 

I mixed these tulips together this year and it's worked quite well.

 

Close-up of azalea.

 

Pink rhodo (don't know what the name is).

 

Lilac 'Kathleen Havemeyer'. I love the smell of lilac, old-fashioned, suggestive of Victorian bath-salts.

This bush needs to be rescued from an aggressive coprosma that has smothered it; I only found the flowers by accident, so brought them inside to appreciate them properly.