SoS 9/7/22

July 9, 2022

Where has this last week gone!

I don’t know about you, but mine’s been spent caring for my canine garden-companion who had surgery for bladder stones this week. Being a Jack Russell, keeping him quietly resting requires total concentration. I’m nothing if not a gaol-warden now and trust me, the prescribed opioids etc have not worked at keeping him sedentary. Sigh!

Grabbing pics has been literally on the run and they’re rather an odd bunch of images which I confess I’ve cheated with and added two that are on my wishlist of future purchases, should I ever win the lottery.

But to start at the beginning. This is my first ever potting up of what? Are they Aeoniums? I don’t know anything about them. They were given to me in this pot and I’m potting them on into terracotta. How do I look after them?

This is our Viburnum Plicatum F. Tomentosum ‘Mariesii which is having a short hiccup, flowering in the middle of winter but I dare say it’s as hopeful as I am that spring is coming.

My most favourite rose of all time, the vibrantly robust Madame Alfred Carriere. We pruned it this hard last year and it flourished so I’ve done the same this year. I want to move it as it shadows my veggie garden too much. Terrified of moving it but we have just under 8 weeks till spring so must do it any minute!

I love terracotta pots in a garden, especially when they age and become heavily covered in mosses and lichens. This pot is a year old and is beginning to oblige. It’s got a clematis planted in it which is a transplant. More on that if it lives to tell the story.

This is the first of my ring-in pics. An Arras greenhouse/summer house for sale this week at one of our most upmarket and favourite garden accoutrement shops – the Jardin Room at Oatlands, Tasmania. I love the summerhouse 11/10!!! At approximately $A8000+, I’m waiting to win the lottery or else will ask a welder my husband has much respect for, how much he would charge to make one similar.

And finally, I have this little pot on my wish list as well. There are so many metal and wire floral sculptures that Aimee Pradel creates that I love. I’m tempted by her auriculas but something about a pot of bright yellow-trumpeted daffs on the kitchen bench all year round, really appeals. I have an eye on her stunning wreaths as well. Crikey, I need to win the lottery!

That’s it from me for today. As usual, Jon The Propagator hosts Six on Saturday and please pop over to this link to have your weekly international horticultural tour.

Cheers!

SOS 2/7/22

July 2, 2022

Hurrah, I made it to SoS with pics of our main garden on the coast as opposed to the tiny little Matchbox in the city!

Life in Isolation…

May 18, 2020

As we move into the very early stages of freeing up of Lockdown, I’ve had pause to reflect on what this time has meant for me.

In typical Pollyanna fashion, I’m looking for the prism of light.

To be honest, it’s been all of that.

Once upon a time there was a matchbox…

July 28, 2019

Once upon a time…

… we downsized to a small house with a tiny garden. The garden, once established, had to give us (and the dog) joy. And an escape from the city outside the gates, because we’re not city folk.

It also had to promise to care for itself for large tracts of time.

So not a lot to ask really…

Want to read a newsletter?

May 29, 2019

This post is a longer one than normal. Rather like a newsletter, if you like.

So pull up a chair, make a cuppa and grab that piece of chocolate cake.

Let’s go!

Passage’s launch approaches fast.

SoS 30/3/19

March 30, 2019

This is my favourite part of the year in terms of garden work.

Autumn is energetic, with lots of cutting back, raking leaves, planting bulbs, feeding, watching for growth, and a really subtle feeling of faith and hope – the knowledge that the seasons keep spinning into perpetuity.

SoS-16/3/19…

March 16, 2019

Six odd ones…

Relentless…

January 29, 2019

Heat!

Hate it!

It’s relentless!

My body doesn’t process heat at all.

Unless I’m swimming in the ocean or in an air-conditioned house, I’m done like a dinner!

I used to lie under the trees with the dog but at 30+ Celsius every day, forget it.

So what does one do when one doesn’t want to be outside?

There’s always writing. Always. Annie sneaks in at odd hours when the muse tickles my fancy. I write at the beach, on the window seat, in the chair in the sunroom under the air-conditioning and in bed at night.

In addition, a writer’s office work is never done – I must update my tax information!

There’s also reading.

I bought English gardening magazines today because it’s too hot for me to play in my own garden and I can lust after frost-rimed and snow-trimmed gardens. I can feel the chill, revel in it!

Maybe not the Arctic Vortex that’s hitting America at the moment. That’s a step too far. But a cool change would be rather nice.

I noticed today that some of the poplars on the highway are a limp smoky amber. Way too early for autumn but there has been no rain since Oct-Nov and weeks of super-hot days, so it’s no wonder. Even our garden willows are shedding and some branches are turning a sickly yellow. The sky is tinged with the ever-present smoke, so everything looks like a prequel to Dante’s Inferno.

But back inside – there’s always embroidery.

A needle, some woollen or silk thread, some linen fabric.

Always something challenging and fascinating to stitch. New stitches, different designs. Spreading the wings a little.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 32 degrees. A swim is de rigeur. And then, when I’m moderately cooler, I’m going to sit and chat with Annie. Who knows where that will take us?

High Seas…

January 22, 2019

I hang out for trips away in our boat to Maria Island – summer or winter. I love a kind of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ type of life.

Gardening SOS! 19/1/19

January 19, 2019

As summer continues to bake our garden, it becomes more difficult to find anything to talk about. One can bemoan the cost of the water with which we irrigate the garden on a heavy daily basis. One can whinge about the dry thunderstorms and the humidity immediately after. Or whine about the longing for an autumnal-styled day so one can work happily in the garden.

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Category: Australia