I always think ma nature does it best - naturally combines purple, yellow and white. I just went out today and took some more photos, we've got tons of queen anne's lace, joe-pye weed, and the goldenrod is just starting. I'm fortunate, I don't have to do anything to have this beautiful show every summer and fall. Thanks Annie,You should see Teddy now - after years of being loved so much he has a bad "neck condition", no stuffing left there and his head lolls around like it snapped. Ah well, still loved, still cuddles up with him for sleep every night and he accompanies us on all vacations, can't sleep without him. Maybe later I'll put some new meadow photos in.

Be very cautious, flannel flowers (Actinotus) are difficult at the best of times; they require acidic soil with a little added humus and that's about all. I tried them once and failed, tried them when I lived in the northern beaches region of Sydney where I saw them growing wild along a main road and thought to give them a try. They were growing happily on crappy, sandy, rocky (sand-stone) soil and flowering happily every year. DON'T feed them fast or slow fertilisers, if anything just sprinkle fertiliser suitable for Aussie natives - ok if that's slow release - and not too much of it over the surface and perhaps lightly rake in. B.

Why take the risk? Macbirch, I understand exactly what you're saying. Planting natives does sometimes/often seem like a risk because we just don't have the collective knowledge about natives as we do exotics. About 2 years ago, I wanted to plant a hedge along the boundary between my native garden and my neighbour's property. I really liked the idea of using waratahs, but at that stage I'd never tried to grow one, and, since you don't see them around that much, thought they must be difficult. I decided not to take the risk and planted callistemons instead, at least they where natives. Anyway, I've since had great success growing 2 waratahs (even moved one), so I've decided to take out the callistemons, which aren't getting enough sun anyway, and replace them with waratahs. My point is that if I'd had the confidence in the first place, and got some decent advice from my local nursery, I wouldn't be now, 2 years down the track, going to all the work and expense of replacing the callistemons with what is afterall, a plant indigenous to the Blue Mountains! You'd think there'd be a waratah nursery here wouldn't you? No, I have to drive 40 minutes just to get to a native nusery, and that looks like it could close down any time soon. Waz, young people like you are the key. I hope you never grow exotics, never learn about them or decide you like them. Oh, and I hope you and Artie continue to be outspoken about people like me who grow roses. If I build another house and start a garden from scratch, things will be different.

I too am curious to discover what Olivia ended up with! Jen, if you're getting your flowers from a florist you may have to depend on a florist who will "source what she can" at the time, unless you're planning to do something spontaneous from your own garden or that of a helpful friend or relative. As Olivia points out, flowering times for Australian plants can't always be predicted by a calendar, as the plants themselves devise their own time-tables each year according to when it has rained. So depending on a florist may end up being the most stress-free option. In January there would be plenty of Grevilleas available. Some have excellent vase lives - up to 9 days - and despite what Olivia's florist said, I imagine there are some which would be good in bouquets, BUT I do wonder whether the problem might be a tendency to drip nectar. The same might go for those spectacular grafted gums, with their large flowers of red, orange, or various shades of pink, which would be in flower in January. They'd look good, and I suppose they'd stop their copious nectar-production after they have been picked??? (They are big enough flowers for someone to wipe each flower out with a tissue, if you wanted to make a bouquet with home-picked flowers.) Baeckia virgata, with its tiny white flowers very appropriate for bouquet fill would be available through a florist, I imagine. I think that scrambling lily, Geitonoplesium cymosum would look superb in a wedding bouquet. It has shiny little light-green leaves and white flowers, on long,fine gracefully tumbling stems. It lasts about 5 days in a vase, but I don't know whether florists ever carry it, or use it for bouquets. Callistemons are probably available in January, and Meleleucas. Leptospermums flower around that time. Baurea rubioides (pink flowers) is also a good filler, flowering about that time. Crowea ditto. Flannel flowers have finished up here (Toowoomba) by then, but maybe down south they are later? Paper daisies of various sorts make good dried flowers, if you wanted to go that way. Dried flowers are certainly fuss-free! I've seen some very pretty bouquets made of the various kinds - white, pink, yellow, orange and bronze. Good luck with it all. trish