The capricious nature of Spring has certainly been shown lately. At times summery, then suddenly it is winter once more and not sure if a sunhat is needed or a warm coat. After a cloudless, warm and balmy day in the garden yesterday, as I write, it is now only 8 degrees with a strong…
Tag: Spring
“All I wanted was to plant poetry in broken places, and watch flowers grow.”
Spring is one of the most loved times of the year. After the long winter, everything is full of life and possibility. It’s a fresh start — a new season and a chance to get things right, create beauty, and enjoy the rewards. Gardening forces the impatient to wait.Today, in your garden: just sit, just…
“The gifts of nature are worth their weight in Gold”
Rosa Peace or The Peace Rose is out in flower with ten or more buds yet to open. My visitors, yesterday I’m sure, did not understand my excitement at finding the roses about to flower. Rosa Peace has large full blooms, in soft yellow, ivory flushed with crimson pink edging. The foliage is glossy, robust,…
“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”
In no time at all, masses of roses are now gracing the garden with their beguiling perfume and blooms galore: Carmagnole, Tangles, Princess Charlene de Monaco, Sally Holmes, Iceberg, Mme Alfred Carriere Clg, Belle Parfume, Graham Thomas, Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux, Ballerina, Australian Beauty, The Fairy, Olivia Rose Austin and Mother’s Love amongst others that…
The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.
Spring is moving along, and those first reluctant warm days are now established as the norm; the atmosphere is exhilarating. Every day is new since we have not lived in our region long and are unfamiliar with the unfolding of each season. Our town is called ‘The Colour City’, it is clear why. Colour is…
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”
At last the roses are waking up and opening in a blaze of colour. And the first roses to peep through the greenery are the Lady of Shallot roses; rich apricot petals opening from deep orange buds, glowing in the garden, especially in this perfect Spring weather. The chalice-shaped blooms were right on queue for…
“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.”
Living in a climate with distinct seasons, Spring is a dramatic change that delights every day as new buds and blooms catch the eye each morning. Spring is the reward for all the planning and hard work of Autumn and Winter. Spring is an old English word with Germanic origins related to the Dutch and…
“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party’!
Yes, it’s party time, and like the best celebrations, there is a quiet moment before a party is in full swing when everything is ready: the venue is decorated, music on, food prepared, and the drinks are chilled, but not everyone has arrived yet. Well, the garden is much the same at the moment. Spring…
‘Is the spring coming?,’ he said. ‘What is it like?’…’It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…’
Today is one of those amazing mornings after a day of rain when the sun glistens on every leaf, like hanging crystals. It reminded me of the quote above from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, so I’ve added it as the title. In my eagerness to plant today, I went out early only…
Just now my garden is like faith – the substance of things hoped for.
Today was a really satisfying and enjoyable day in the garden. The weather was perfect, and I got most of the bare-root roses planted. The list of tasks are being ticked off, the first round of trees are planted, and the remaining trees have been trimmed, leaving space for groundcovers and companion plants. Gardening is…
“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.”
We are on the home stretch of the first winter in our new climate. The minimum temperature on most days this week has been around -3 each morning. One cannot change the weather; it is what it is. Thankfully, frosty, cold mornings usually bring fine sunny days, the perfect conditions for gardening, although still…
“Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations. It is not much matter if things do not turn out well.”
Spring has flooded the garden with colour from hundreds of plants: salvias, geraniums, perennials, herbs and roses. The Lady of Shalott roses have been superb this spring, although, nature always has the upper hand. Looking closely around the garden, overall the first round of rose blooms did not open as well as expected. There are…
“I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves.”
Wherever we look the cheerfulness of Spring is present: birdsong, blue skies, sunshine, rosebuds, an abundance of rose blooms, blossoms and flowers, greenery, bees and insects, with only remnants of winter remaining felt as the chill in the early mornings. “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Some roses show…
“Queer things happen in the garden in Spring. Little faces forgotten appear, and plants thought to be dead suddenly wave a little green hand to confound you.”
It is no secret that I’m fond of quotations, and this one perfectly describes the spring start in the garden this year. Once dead twigs are now verdant lush growth and the perennials appear as a carpet of varied foliage with colour peeking out under the roses. It also feels like we have had every…
“My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant’s point of view.”
As I began to grow roses I gained initial advice from books on garden greats in history, the locals in the country town where I lived, and various rose nurseries and horticulturalists. I followed their advice and I noticed I had considerable knowledge of plant species and names even though I didn’t know I knew…
“It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.”
All through winter, keen gardeners wait for the onset of Spring and long for it even if the coziness of winter is enjoyable. The change of season always brings renewal and vitality to garden growth in the early days of Spring, and it is an exciting time. Eagerly watching for signs of new buds and…
“And the roses—the roses! —they came alive day by day, hour by hour.
There’s nothing quite like a freshly picked rose from the garden. Still stunning but not comparable are the perfect roses grown for the cut flower market that sit outside florists to entice customers. Almost appearing too good to be true, commercially grown roses often lack perfume, whereas garden roses are intoxicating visually and in their…
“Blossom by blossom the spring begins.”
The anticipation of the first day of spring has a sense of urgency, and although the warmth of sun-filled days is a comfort, there is still a frenzy of activity and long lists of tasks to be worked on in the garden. I tell myself daily that gardening is for joy, and there is plenty…
“Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.”
A tousled abundance of roses and perennials was my intent on creating a garden; sure enough, a profusion of roses and other florals now permeates the garden as spring nears the end of its reign. Copious roses hang from arching canes and interweave amongst the lavender, herbs and geraniums. Some stand upright with the sky…
“If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
Roses are the masterpiece of nature, adored the world over for their beauty and mesmerising fragrance. Today I have a selection of roses I photographed on one day early this week when I ducked outside to the damp garden to shoot a few snaps of the roses that were in bloom and had survived the…
“It takes a loyal gardener to tend roses.”
The garden is buzzing with life, and the roses are spectacular in every direction. The best news is that the roses have only just started to open, which means many more weeks and months of blooms are yet to come, Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be. One of the…
“The real voyage in discovery is not in new landscapes but in having new eyes”
New landscapes are emerging, and I’m seeing the garden for the first time with fresh eyes because, at last, when I walk in the garden, I feel as though with fragrance wafting in the air and an abundance of perfect roses it is a ‘proper garden’ now. The experience of watching the roses unfold is…
Out of the Blue
Blue is one of the most popular colours. The azure blue of the sky is reflected in our lakes, oceans and waterways and creates the haze in distant mountains but the pigment blue in the garden is extremely rare. So, even though Blue is all around us in the environment, Blue is elusive and there…
“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…
“Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.”
Spring is here, and what a delight it is each morning to witness the buds unfolding that herald the start to the season. Sometimes hidden under the spectacular, fresh, clean and new foliage, are welcome flashes of colour from new blooms. The leaves are stunning too, from glossy lime green to darkest maroon with bright…
“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…
“Spring: The music of open windows.”
Spring is here, and good times in the garden are coming. Don’t you just love the first days of early Spring when the windows can be flung open, and the breeze can blow through the house after all the rain and cold of winter? It enlivens the senses and makes you feel good, especially on…
“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 colour of spring is in the flowers; the colour of winter is in the imagination.”
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…
“A garden isn’t meant to be useful. It’s for joy.”
The garden landscape is taking shape and starting to look more like a “proper garden”. Whilst working on mulching and preparing for next season, it is a delight to see the new rose blooms opening, probably for the last time, I suspect, before winter. Although it’s not a mass floral display like the abundance of…
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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….
“Avoid being impatient. Remember time brings roses.”
It is official, the roses this year are a triumph, and I could not be happier with the results. The chilly slow start to Spring and natures reluctance to bring out the sun has seen blooms open at a regal and leisurely pace, but now the brakes are off, and full bloom is upon us….
“To everything there is a season”
The expression ‘ a watched pot is slow to boil’ has been around since Benjamin Franklin first wrote the text in 1785. The quote has come to mind lately as anticipation of Springs first flush grows each day. A few buds are appearing, and the arrival of first blooms, but Spring in the garden seems…
“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”
The energy of preparing for Spring has been going on all winter despite the rain. The garden has undergone a renovation of sorts that has been almost like starting a garden from scratch. Suddenly, the weather this week has changed from winter to summer overnight. The winter mode of heading outside after the frost to…
“When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited. ”
“In all the recipes for happiness I have ever seen, ‘something to look forward to’ has been given as an important ingredient. Something to look forward to! How rich the gardener, any gardener, is in this particular integrant! For always he [or she] looks forward to something, if it is only the appearance of the…
Then Spring Came
Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. Pablo Neruda Spring, the gorgeous season of the year, has arrived in the garden. The garden suddenly a happy place full of activity and new beginnings. The lavender buzzing with thousands of bees, blossoms like fairy dust here one day and blown away…