Saturday, April 25, 2009

Autumn and Anzac Day

Here are some photos of my autumn garden. Firstly, the Virginia Creeper, which I never really notice until it turns red.

Not sure what this yellow flower is, but it's a little perennial in my rock garden.
The pineapple sage is doing well this year.
This is a pretty little Zycocactus that lived on the deck. It's a lighter pink than the more usual cerise one.
And here are some Nerines.

Today is Anzac Day, the day when New Zealanders honour those who died in the wars. Most of the WW2 soldiers are dead now, though there are veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars too, but the Anzac day parades are well-attended. The horrors of war and the spirit of "Lest We Forget" live on amongst our young people. The red poppy is the symbol we use for Anzac Day, and sales of the poppies support returned servicemen and women.

7 comments:

loulee said...

Lovely Garden Pictures.

Maggi said...

Beautiful pictures. We also use the poppy as the symbol for Remembrance Day which over here is November 11th although the actual parades and services take place on the nearest Sunday. I think I would prefer to stick to the actual date regardless of when it falls.

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

How many NZ kids went to Vietnam? Was it as many as the Aussie boys (in proportion)? As Remembrance Day here is Nov 11th, I tend to remember them then.

Shirley Goodwin said...

I have had to look this up - NZ sent only a handful of troops to Vietnam (around 550) compared to Australia's 7650. Proportionally, Oz is 5 times larger than NZ by population.

Maybe we'd learnt by then.

Milly said...

Your garden is lovely. Your Anzac Day sounds wonderful, to remember those that fought and especially those who died in the fighting.

Julie said...

Beautiful garden photos Shirley and a fitting tribute to the war veterans. Whenever we honour them we owe them a huge debt. I am thankful that my brothers returned unscathed from their Service and pray that my nephew and other young men like him will stay safe in their Service.

Janet said...

We call the Zycocactus a christmas cactus...not sure why!

My Dad was a WWII vet...one of the youngest and he just passed in December.