garden windfall

I've been starting a series of workshops in the studio to unpack what is happening in this space...privileging making is the focus and I'm experimenting with what this means in various ways in the garden and the workroom and hopefully making some more tangible links between the two.  So far I've been thinking about dressing the garden and the workroom and objects within the space...

 It has been a windfall of sorts with a bit of rejuvenation being injected into my work...but I also had a very suprising garden windfall on the weekend...I was weeding and tidying up the garden edging under the apple trees and what I thought was a bit of rubbish (maybe something pulled out of the bin by the doggles or blown into the garden), was a cripsy $20 note!  It might just have been washed and fallen out of a hung on the line garment pocket, but I like to think that like the said rubbish sometimes does, it blew into the garden in a happy accident :o)

Gem and Hugs also got blessed and dressed by the garden on the weekend...pretty pups!

belated birthday

I've been super busy getting sorted out for the start of teaching at uni which begins next week...it's always a jolt to the system at this time of year and it forces a massive re juggle of priorities...and it's been a slow week anyhow as it was my birthday on Monday which has started my week off in a lacksidaisical kind of way!

I was lucky enough on Monday morning to find that my teasing georgia and graham thomas roses were kind enough to give me some blooms for my birthday...ta t george and gra gra!

...and my mum in law came and gave me some beautiful sculptural flowers...

I had to work...*blah*...but I did manage to pop out to the posh op shop where I bought some pieces of retro poly knitwear (I can't resist!) and also this lovely deco vase which will be fantastic for my lax stemmed david austins when the next abundant flush comes...

My favourite pressie was from hubby P who after some serious hinting got me bananagrams (oh it's an anagram!)...I saw it at third drawer down ages ago and have hankered after it ever since...

This was the message I found the next day when I got home...which was particularly sweet since my message that morning had been "please unpack the dishwasher today" :o)

p.s. this is not the intended use of bananagrams, it's a fast paced word game that is side "splitting" and very a "peeling"

just roses

I've been inspired by librarygirl over at the kingdom of too much to share some of my lovely roses that have been blooming for the last couple of months...they have only been in the ground for about a year so it has been very encouraging to have had some lovely blooms already...these first pics were taken today...

Most of my DA's (David Austins...my absolute favourite, gorgeous frilly goodness roses!) are building up to their second flush...and this has been the main one for this Crown Princess Margareta rose which sent up a couple of massive canes after a few earlier blooms which are now topped with these beauties!

One of the smaller growing DA's, Tamora, is also one of my favourite...it has a myrrh fragrance that I love and peony flower shape,  it always has at least few flowers on it...

I picked these few today to put in my bud vase I keep on the kitchen window sill...Jayne Austin on the right...also has a beautiful myrrh fragrance and amazing parchment colour - is sprouting monster canes in my garden at the moment...ummm at this stage double the height of the predicted 1.1m and still going!...lucky that it's next to a garden arch...
The other two are a couple of small Evelyn's...an outstanding rose which has an amazing lemon scent in the morning and develops into a rich rosiness later in the day...below is one which I picked back in October, I kid you not, it is a full 11cm across!

Here's some pretty bunches also from October...a mixture of Evelyn's, Jayne Austin's and some Pat Austin's which you can see on the right below...

All of the yellowy/apricot ones are from the front garden...in the back garden I have some pinks and reds...

This bunch starred The Reeve, another stunning peony shaped bloom...

This lovely pink is an Alister Clark rose, Amy Johnson which has a lovely old rose fragrance and has been flowering it's head off since September...

I couldn't resist planting a few more this winter...I order them bare rooted through Mistydowns nursery (highly recommended!)...above is an old fashioned moss rose, William Lobb...it has a beautiful fragrance, amazing depth of colour and the mossy buds are divine... and below is Cornelia...small flowers with a honey scent, but it's already had lots of blooms and I imagine that it will be a mass of flowers in the future.  Both of these are on the side fence behind my apple trees.

As you can probably tell, I looove roses...I could go on all day...:o)

a rosy ponte

It's all about roses for me at the moment!  All of my 1 year old bushes are doing well and some are blooming their heads off.  More about that later...
Hubby P had Monday off...day before cup day here in Melbourne, so a lovely four day weekend or as David Astle discussed in this ep of letters & numbers, a ponte, which in Italian is an extra day taken around public holidays to extend the holiday :o)
We decided to have a rose expedition day.  On the agenda was the State rose garden at Werribee, the Alister Clark memorial garden at Bulla and the St Kilda Botanical garden which has another Alister Clark memorial garden.

The main section of the state rose garden is stunning when all of the roses are viewed on mass...

The pillar roses look amazing with the height that they add to the landscape...

My favourite section was the David Austin bud...it didn't dissapoint, and confirmed my choice of mainly Austins for our own garden....

I might consider adding this beauty, Darcey Bussell to our collection...

Was lovely to see a foliage friend amongst all of the blooms...

There were some other roses that I might think about growing...

Portland roses which were in the heritage border, which I has never seen before.  They are very unusual and look more like a mini camellia than a rose and form a lovely shrub...

And this beautiful climbing rose, Sally Holmes which was on one of the festoons in the main section.

I didn't take many pics at the Alister Clark garden at Bulla, but it was worth a visit.  Most of the roses were in between flushes but these Lady Huntingfield's at the side were lovely against the bluestone.

The rose garden at St Kilda unfortunately did disappoint, but I won't go into details!  I had never been to the gardens though and there were other things worth seeing, especially the community garden which is a wonderful set up as an educational center.  I especially liked the broad bean patch!

blossom and bloom

There's still blossom coming in the garden...

 I love apricot blossom...it looks so delicate and is the most subtle shade of pink dotted on the bare branches...

The  simone cherry on the right hand side of the cherry arch has quite a lot of blossom.  I might have to net them as the fruit develops...

One of the roses I planted last year has already been blooming for a couple of weeks...it is an Alister Clark (Australia's most famous rosarian) called Amy Johnson and has a beautiful perfume...I keep checking the buds of all the others - can't wait!