As I walk through the garden now with winter well and truly here, I am surprised to still see beautiful rose blooms opening despite the cold mornings and nights. The tenacity of some of the roses is remarkable, refusing to give up and rest. When my eyes rove across the garden they don’t see what…
Tag: garden design
“A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.”
Ironically, the popularity of a dry naturalistic or wild garden is at its peak, just as we are experiencing unprecedented wet conditions from La Nina in Australia. The garden flourishes in this pre-winter stage with no frost and extra moisture. As I contemplate the garden feeling cosy, and warm inside, and view the countryside beyond,…
“Don’t think the garden loses it’s ectasy in Winter. Its quiet but the roots are down there riotous.”
With only a few days left before winter is officially here, we have tasted days to come. On cloudy days when the sun’s warmth is missed retreating indoors to winter comforts, the fireside, cosy rugs and delicious hot soups are welcome diversions. “There ought to be Gardens for all Months in the year, in which,…
“Who has learned to garden who did not at the same time learn to be patient?”
I spoke too soon last time, and now that drop of rain has continued for days. Not a deluge, thankfully, but enough drizzle, fog and dampness to prevent working outside. The timing of recent rains was perfect because I’d almost finished applying compost and mulch, so the extra water would well and truly have soaked…
“Wandering clouds— Short spells of rain, poetry!”
Is there any sound more lovely than the sound of rain on the roof after a dry spell? Although the coastal areas of Australia have had far too much rain further inland, it is still a welcome treat in most areas. Light rain showers to boost the newly planted crops and a holiday for gardeners…
“Autumn has always been my favourite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
Autumn has been gentle this year arriving ever so quietly, bringing days that are sheer perfection; hardly a breath of wind, bright blue skies, crisp morning air with days of such clarity it takes one’s breath away. April has been remarkable leaving me thinking how fortunate we are when nature offers days like these. The…
“I’m not a garden expert in any sense of the meaning, only someone who blunders about in the shrubbery.”
If we were playing the dinner party game where you chose people, past or present, that you would like to meet, then one of mine would be Mirabel Osler. From the moment I heard of Dame Mirabel, I was captivated. Her free-spirited approach to life, gardening, and travel hold many truths for me. In her…
“A rose, isn’t quite as beautiful as it once was, when after its thorn pricks you.”
All rose blooms are beautiful, and some are so stunning they can catch your breath and bring feelings of awe. In contrast, the prickles can be irritating and a menace. When you least expect it, you can get a severe reaction from the mildest contact with particular roses. After a nasty encounter with a rose…
“Seek to be the Purple Thread in the Long White Gown”
As I look around the garden this year, my eye is drawn to the mauves, lilacs, purples, lavender, and deep amethyst shades in the roses, underplantings and even weeds along the roadside. I notice the purple at home probably because the colours of roses, Love Potion, Twilight Zone, Dusky Moon, Vol De Nuit, Angel Face…
“A garden is not a place it’s a journey”
There is nothing like needing space to put plants in to make one get cracking on challenging tasks and with cooler mornings of late, I’ve made slight inroads into restoring the garden after summer. My strategy has been to tackle the garden accompanied by a range of plants ready to go in the ground. The…
Autumn is here, and I could not be happier for the garden loves Autumn…
Autumn in my region brings a reprieve from the heat and an expectant air of cooler days to come. It is a time full of promise as we fill the gaps with plants after summer pruning, execute our plans for next season’s Spring display and anticipate the beautiful new release roses we ordered for winter…
“A late summer garden has a tranquility found no other time of year.”
The weather is humid, and looking around the garden, it is undeniably late Summer. There are a few scorched leaves from the afternoon sun but not too many this year, thousands of spent rose blooms, a few signs of rose hips where I didn’t deadhead quickly enough, plus a variety of salvias dancing in the…
“If you go, go in Peace it makes the flowers sweeter along the path”
The Peace Rose has soft yellow flowers that fade to blush-pink at the tips. The blooms are large and double and have a light fragrance. The Peace rose repeat flowers and is disease resistant and very easy to grow to be hardy, vigorous and a brilliant performer. “The Peace Rose is the most Famous and…
Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than Emperors.
According to the calendar, the end of the season is approaching, although it still feels like Summer, and the roses will bloom for many more weeks to come. As long as I keep deadheading, some will bloom right on through until May. In fact, early Autumn is one of the best times in the year…
“Of all flowers, methinks rose is best”
As summer rolls on, the landscape is unseasonably lush. The lawn is rapidly making the garden beds home. On the one hand, the garden is superb, brilliant green, but also far too moist, humid, and overgrown, so in need of serious attention. It is the complete opposite of a few years back when drought was…
“Turn off the news and get into the garden!”
“We all have an idealised picture of the garden that we have carried around in our heads from the moment it became ours and which, I guess, is never the same as the growing reality. Over the years that the garden is coming into being that image carries you forward and inspires you, but when…
“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller”.
My love of travel and exploring the world is quite a contradiction to that of growing a rose garden. So how can I bring them together in my life and enjoy both to the fullest? I love my rose garden and want to see all the roses in full bloom and to enjoy the delights…
“Colours are the Smiles of Nature”
When I first began growing roses, I was like a child in the lolly shop, unable to decide which ones to choose from all the beautiful colours and styles. My choices were not always suitable, and I could not resist the enticing rose names so I often overplanted. Some didn’t survive, but most have flourished,…
“You must fail at gardening to master it.”
Nature wins this week in the garden. If ever there was a time one needed some inspiration to garden, this is it. Forget the heat and typical summer weather; the number of mosquitoes since our floods and storms are extreme and make being in the garden almost impossible. I usually head out in summer with…
Le Pigonnet -A garden where Cezanne wandered…
Le Pigonnet is a beautiful Hotel in Aix en Provence, France, tucked away from the town centre, albeit not far away. Le Pigonnet is from the French word Pigeonniere ( Pigeon House). As you enter along a magnificent tree-lined avenue to view the hotel, you would be surprised by the humble entrance. Le Pigonnet was…
“Gardening is easy. Stick it in the ground the right way up and most plants will grow perfectly well.”
I must admit the garden this season has been a humbling experience with unseasonal weather that gave me a false sense of what a garden can be; lush and green, an array of prolific blooms and loads of growth. It was stunning, some days, I even thought that the garden looked like a ‘proper garden’…
Carla Fineschi Rose Garden, Tuscany
It is time to re-post my story about the Carla Fineschi Rose garden in Arezzo Tuscany because it has been renamed “Gianfranco and Carla Fineschi Botanical Rose Garden Association” according to their website. “The ROSETO BOTANICO GIANFRANCO AND CARLA FINESCHI ASSOCIATION, commonly known as “Roseto Fineschi” since 2015, has replaced the “Roseto Botanico Carla Fineschi…
I’m in the garden…
I have always wanted to grow Alliums and this year I have finally been successful. Alliums are ornamental onions with unique ball-shaped mauve and purple heads that sit gracefully amongst the roses, and perennials making the garden more appealing and complete. The showy Allium Giganteum is the largest that I’m growing and has a beautiful…
“Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.”
I have few words left to describe 2021 so instead, I have a collection of my favourite shots of the roses in the garden this Spring and early Summer. The garden has had a fantastic year and the roses are wonderful due to the unseasonal weather. Like the rose and the thorn, life has two…
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…
“Flowers don’t tell, they show.”
I’m in awe every day in the garden at the exquisite nature of the roses and the surprising array of rose blooms that at times appear so delicate, soft and angelic and yet some are bold, exotic, and majestic whilst others create an eye-catching display that is charming and elegant. The rose never fails to…
“I look upon the pleasure we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life.”
The early stages of Spring in the garden this year were magnificent. The full flush of blooms I missed though, as I had to be away for several weeks. As expected, I was greeted by thousands of spent rose blooms ready to deadhead and thriving rampant weeds on my return to the garden last week….
The Garden at Billecart-Salmon
Arriving at BilleCart Salmon in the Champagne -Ardenne region of France, I was in awe of the beautiful à la Française Jardin or The French Garden that surrounded the Champagne House. We were early for our appointment to visit the famous vines of Le Clos Saint-Hilaire, the Chais and anticipated Champagne tasting so, we had…
I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I work in the garden.
Gardening is a means by which you can attain many valuable hours of solitude without being thought of as unsociable. John Erskine Isn’t that the truth? The allure of a quiet reverie and time in solitude to think one’s own thoughts uninterrupted is often out of reach. Well, the garden is just the place to…
The Joy of a Well Designed Garden
To design gardens that look and feel appealing and are a joy to visit think like an artist and use the basic design elements such as colour, line, texture, form and scale.By using the basic design elements and their combinations will provide the tools to create balance, unity, harmony, transition, repetition, accent and proportion for…
”The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”
The sun is out like a welcome visitor after heavy fog, cloudy days and rain. Reminiscent of living by the coast, the recurring rain and storms have been a part of almost every day that stands as a stark contrast to, not that long ago, when it never seemed to rain at all. Rain always…
“Potager or Jardin de Curé.
Why does the vegetable garden need to be a separate garden rather than part of the total garden landscape? With this at the forefront of my mind I’m planning a new garden in the style of a French kitchen garden known as Potager or Jardin de Curé. An old French-inspired graceful garden of herbs, flowers,…
Colour my World
What colour is in a picture, enthusiasm is in life Vincent Van Gogh Yes, I am addicted to roses, I admit it. My mother too, loved her garden in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, which was perfect for roses and she indulged as well. As a family we enjoyed her passion for roses…
“Life is itself a school, and nature always a fresh study.”
It’s pretty tough in the garden sometimes even though Spring’s colour and fragrance have replaced the cold and frosty days of winter. We have experienced extreme weather this Spring with long days of high winds, heat and dust storms that have created havoc. Many plants are struggling from wind damage and the ground, despite my…
Gardens to visit- Al ru farm
“Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas.” -Elizabeth Murray If you love Gardens then Al ru Farm at One Tree Hill in South Australia is a must visit. The property is owned by Ruth and Alan Irving since 1979. It is a working farm…
Jardin Remarquable in Epernay
We must cultivate our garden.” Voltaire – Candide ou l’Optimisme Walking around Epernay along L’Avenue de Champagne we came across the Town Hall that sits within the lush greenery of an enchanting French Garden. It is part of the Remarquable series of gardens that are scattered across the country. As we wandered through the garden…
Gardens by the Bay
Singapore is a destination well worth a visit just to see The Gardens By The Bay. The gardens showcase plants and flowers from across the world. Singaporeans are proud of their gardens which are a fantastic drawcard for tourism but also for education and aim to be a model for sustainable development and conservation. Their…
Jardin Majorelle, Gueliz Morocco
“For many years, the Jardin Majorelle has provided me with an endless source of inspiration, and I have often dreamt of its unique colours.” Yves Saint Laurent Sometimes when travelling out of the blue one can find hidden gems that you may not have been aware of at all but end up being the highlight…