“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.”

During rainy wintery conditions garden books and especially garden artworks and paintings are a restorative pastime.. When we can’t be out enjoying nature, artworks and garden paintings can offer inspiration. Gardening is a creative process where nature, art and gardens converge. Artists often express the beauty of nature and capture the aesthetic charm from surroundings in…

“Gardens are a form of autobiography.”   

Spring is unfolding with daffodils, buds, blossoms and warmer days. Garden centres are bursting with colour, and the frenzy of growth is just around the corner. After a recent trip to Bell River Nursery, several trees are now waiting to be planted: a Teddy Bear Magnolia, Bay Tree standard, Silver Birch Trees, and several large…

“A gardener learns to play the hand he’s dealt” 

Once again, I’ve been saved from garden watering by obliging clouds and another deluge of rain over the last three days. It was predicted and arrived on schedule almost to the hour, beginning as quiet stillness in the air that made me think of the phrase, the calm before the storm. Followed by soft Irish…

“In the garden as in writing, punctuation is needed to clarify structure and meanings. A garden without punctuation is like prose without full stops or music without a beat.”

Spring is in the air and there are signs that the garden is coming together. Over the time I’ve been gardening, the climbing roses have been the trickiest to get right. I initially envisaged an abundance of rose blooms cascading around the front door and verandah posts of the old Australian farmhouse (1910 ) where…

“Nothing is more the child of art than a garden.” 

Many great painters from the past were also avid gardeners who chose to paint their surroundings and families enjoying the garden. Why not? The garden is so full of colour through the months of spring, summer and autumn, with beautiful spaces to view and capture in paint. At this time of year, when let’s face…

The Perfumed Garden

Today is about the perfume and scent of roses…. It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves. Robert Louis Stevenson Did you know that rose perfume is at its most intense very early in the morning and the scent will gradually become less…