autumn

The gorgeous colours of red.  

All shades of red, orange and burnt umbery ochre and yellow.

The warm palette of the colour wheel heralding the change of season.  Are the falling leaves warning that winter is not far off?

The beautiful light at this time of year

The tangy chill in the late afternoon air.  

Brisk walks

The scent of wood smoke wafting the promise of comfort and a cosy fireside to ward off the chill

Just those words - Comfort.  And Cosy.

Mouth watering recipes that call for hearty casseroles to warm the tummies

A glass of good red to contemplate the firelight

Fingers twitching to dig in the dirt and plant for the promise of spring

Fingers also twitching to play with all things yarnish – bring out the knitting!

The lure of camping and campfire reveries, preferably with guitars

And some sort of … adventure …just around the corner?

Autumn.

A tantalising taste of things to come.

A sense of promise.

Of possibilities.

a little rose

Ta da!

This is a sweet little rambling rose with a mouthful of a name...

'Veilchenblau'

a real little firecracker

This little beauty is a pink honeysuckle that clamors over an arbor in company with a lovely soft pink rose. 

The honeysuckle is called 'Firecracker'.

Many of the treasures in the garden have been purchased by mail order from a nursery in the Blue Mountains, called "Honeysuckle Cottage".

What fun it is to pore over those catalogues with delicious, detailed descriptions of all sorts of perennials and old fashioned roses. 

REAL roses with fragrance and character.

I will introduce you to some of the roses as we go.

 I call them my ladies and gentlemen because they have such fine sounding titles, like Duchess de Brabant; Sir Henry; Charles de Mills and Mrs Reynolds Hole to name a couple.

plum crazy

Planting an orchard is all very well.

It is lovely to be able to pick and eat fresh fruit, straight from the tree - sunripened and juicy, the way fruit is meant to taste.

The reality is here in Queensland, that unless you spray religiously (yes, we've tried the organic methods), the fruit fly get to them.

So, I must "deal" with the fruit.I have to admit that I don't love preserving fruit. It is very time consuming.

But the plums seem to fare better than the peaches and nectarines.

Big ruby red blood plums. 

They are yummy simmered in vanilla syrup with a hint of cardamom...but also quite lovely eaten fresh from the tree - if you're careful.

Before the birds got to the crop this year, I picked an offerering to take to a friend. So she could "deal" with them :)

They do look luscious and what a lovely gift to give a city girl.

day two

This is a snail creeper. It rambles up and over a lattice arch.

Ants love these sweet flowers.

garden treasures

Our garden has all sorts of little treasures tucked in nooks and crannies.

It's 14 years since we bought this lovely piece of land.

A dream come true. 

It's like God had my wishlist of everything I would have liked "one day, when I live in the country".

Good soil. 

A view

Mature trees

Abundant water

ETC

We moved here from a small town block dominated by huge camphor laurel and Chinese celtis trees.

What a sense of glee to have a blank canvas to create a garden from scratch without such competition. Daunting yes, but full of possibilities with its rich, deep earth.

The first thing I planted was an Akebia quinata - or chocolate vine.

Hubby has since christened it The Triffid.

It's prolific.

I love finding unusual plants. I wouldn't say I am a plant collector, but it's fun finding different perennials.

This month, I would like to do a little summery tour of our garden.

In order to cultivate new habits of being consistent - the word to work on for 2013 - let's see what we can show you with a photo to post each day throughout January. A good start to the year with hopes to get to this little blog more often.
I confess, these are photos from last year, but you get the picture.
The hydrangeas are gorgeous again. We have all the colours - deep ruby, pink, blue and white!
There is also an oakleaf hydrangea which flowers in early December with pinnacles of white florets. I'd like to try (again) with a climbing hydrangea. There's always something to look ahead to in the years to come. A garden is never finished.

a sweet little something

Something is better than nothing. And rather than apologise for not writing for aaaaaages, I'll just say hi and it's good to be back. You know the saying "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all"? Let's just say Eyeore-itis paid a visit, but has finally taken a back seat. I have prayed that the scales would fall from my eyes and let me really notice the beauty of the little things again. It's been grey for too long. Isn't it awful when there really are so many blessings right under our nose and we just can't see them for looking?

I have felt a bit sad that I have been so "blah" about everything I normally delight in and that I haven't even wanted to BE in the garden, let alone be gardening in the garden.
It is mature enough to cope with a little neglect. In fact, I think it looks rather settled when it's a bit shabby around the edges. So I am hereby just going to relax. There's always another year to tidy it up. Nothing drastic will happen because I didn't move the overshadowed roses this winter or plant more annuals. There is always another season. Believe it or not - winter will come again next year!

I've just remembered I do have a reason to feel quite virtuous.  THIS year I managed to stake the tomatoes! Every summer I vow I'll pin them up to stop the poor things sprawling all over the ground. I did it. Believe it or not - each plant is self sown. They are the most hardy!


The garden has been a source of comfort. Just to wander outside and see the beautiful deep red hollyhocks that also cleverly popped up all my themselves. They have grown much better this year than when I actually planted them. They are covered in blooms and taller than me. Glorious!

The jacaranda tree is happily jacarandaring - dropping its purple blossoms all over the lawn beautifully and effortlessly.

To gather a handful of fresh ripe raspberries to sprinkle on vanilla yoghurt for breakfast is so sweet.

I'll tell you all about "tickleberries" next time. 

It's the little things that kindle delight.