new plants in flower

My new taro and camellia must be happy because they're blossoming!  I don't usually get to see my camellias blossom because the possums eat the buds, but maybe because these bushes are new they didn't get nibbled.  What a lovely blossom!  "Paradise blush" is an appropriate name indeed.

I've never had any of my other taros put out a flower before.  And to be honest they're not exactly a stunning flower, but it's interesting to look at.  I wonder if it blossomed because it was slightly stressed by moving; it did go from a pond to the dirt.  Sometimes plants won't flower unless they're stressed slightly.  But otherwise it looks like a healthy plant so I'm not worried about it carking it.

And finally, an old plant in flower.  I planted these marigolds back in January to add some colour and attract bees to the back veggie patch.  I thought they'd have died out by now but they just keep flowering and flowering!  I just love them.  Oh and if you look carefully in the top-right corner of this photo, you'll see little sprouts.  It turns out the marigolds are self-seeding; we'll see if they survive the winter but they may be spreading on their own.  I have a feeling it's because I try to pluck off the dead flowerheads to encourage them to keep flowering ... except I can't always be bothered to throw the flowerheads into the compost and so I just drop them on the barkdust.  Surprise!  Some of those flowerheads had seeds in them!