Tibouchina

This year the Tibouchina is blooming beautifully. Around the suburbs this brilliant splash of purple. The bushes are around 8 - 10 feet tall, and the purple blooms flourish with the sort of weather we have been having lately. It had been dry, and then the rains came, which somehow stimulated the prolific flowers.

Sadly the flowers do not last long, and do not do well in a vase, but when the spent blooms drop there seems to be many more coming along so the 'season' can be quite long and they often have two or more blooming seasons.

The photos above are of my plant which is beside the side fence.

This variety is most likely Tibouchina Alstonville.

Chrysanthemum Blooms

There are many Chrysanthemums blooming around the university at the moment. Great pots of them. Some are reaching their "use-by" date, and many are still in bud so there is more to come.

They are at the entrances to the college, all along the main driveway, around the library, canteens and little pots are along the walkways of the administration building too. Many yellows, and some a rust and yellow colour. They do look spectacular.

Occasionally I feel tempted to remove the dead heads - but I resist.

Orchid display

Sell photos on photrade By Elly




These are just some of the orchids on display in Hangzhou's Hyatt Hotel on the edge of the famed West Lake. Sadly we didn't get to stay there, but we did visit and we did enjoy expensive coffee and cake in the lounge bar there. Simple white bowls with many white orchids and brown sticks as a background. Simply stunning.



It is a pretty busy hotel, with many foreign tourists and business people using this hotel as their base here in China. It is so well placed, right on the edge of the West Lake, with rows of upmarket boutiques and shops in the vicinity.



I think it would be wonderful to wake up in the morning, and see right over the lake. It is a very romantic lake with many tourist spots, as well as hotels and restaurants around the edge of the famous lake.

Display of Chrystanthemums

Sell photos on photrade By Elly

Last week this pot of chrystanthemums appeared near the foreign teacher's accomodation - adjacent to the administration building. Many exotic floral displays end up near this building and we know when there is a big event approaching as the floral display will be much bigger or more exotic than usual.

We have no idea what the special event is this week - but there are Chinese banners all around so we think there is something big on the agenda. It is hard to tell how many plants are in this pot - at least six and maybe more. One of the risks with this sort of floral display is that they need quite a lot of water, and last week the plants were looking very much worse for wear, but we have had heavy rain for a few days so that would have refreshed them, but it is possible that the gardeners also added water to the pot.

Beautiful flower

I suspect that this is a weed - there were quite a few that seemed to be growing at random and not in flower beds. They have a strong stem and long scraggy leaves, but the flower head is almost like a purple/deep read cauliflower. Pretty. I have no idea what it is.

Shaoxing Hotel

The hotel is called New Century Grand Hotel, in Shaoxing and these spectacular arrangements were in the foyer of this hotel. When I went to take a photo of the flowers, one of the hotel staff appeared and insisted on using my camera to take a photo of Sue and I with the flowers.

This hotel is great for a buffet - all you can eat fabulous food at a reasonable price.

Crocus garden

I have never seen so many Crocus flowers. The college gardens are always a surprise because flowers/plants appear at different seasons, and for me are quite unexpected.

These flowers appeared along the perimeter of the volleyball field. Beautiful white delicate flowers in copious quantities.