Tag Archives: All things garden

Do flowers remind you of people

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Are there flowers in your life that are reminders of others
 People you have known during your life or have heard stories about

My mother grew Sweet Peas
No matter where we lived she would always find a place to grow them
My sister (who lived close to her) told me she was still growing them the summer she had her first stroke
BUT
Try as I may and have often done so I cannot get them to grow
No idea why, but they shrivel up and die
Autumn sowing or Spring planting doesn’t matter which
They just do not thrive

My Dad had a favourite that he grew in most of our gardens.
His gardening was usually confined to veggies but there was one small plant he always had growing somewhere in the garden
Said it reminded him of his Mum – our Granny
Over the years both my sisters have grown it as well.
It’s a real sentimental favourite with us.

That bank that runs alongside our front drive is a difficult spot and I’ve lost count of the number of plants been tried there
 The Golfer cleared more dead and dying out a few years ago and I stuck some Erigeron – Seaside Daisy – around about here and there.
Cuttings of Arctosis and Trailing Lantana (not a weed here in Victoria) thrived there as well as a ground cover Geranium (Cranesbill)

2009

Tucked away in one little corner where none of those others seemed to grow
is where I put a small pot of Dad’s favourite

The smallest flowering plant in my garden and one of the most loved
Snow in Summer – Cerastium tomentosum.
Over the next few summers it took over over that corner

I loved it – that little plant with soft grey foliage and tiny white flowers


Then my back took control of my life.
As well as me that little front garden really suffered
Because I couldn’t get down to keep things in order (trim/ cut back/weed) it really got out of hand so for the time being the slope has been returned to grass

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’m just finishing off my first early morning cup of tea and thinking that as ‘the back’ is behaving itself quite well at the moment maybe I’ll have a go at redoing that slope.
Once Victoria has had its usual bucket load of Winter rains there’s no telling what might come about in Spring
It’s possible I’ll learn the secrets to growing Sweet Peas
But somehow I think that where that’s concerned, working this (discovered in the garage in a box of ‘might do one day’ things) cross stitch kit will be a better bet

Pop over to Denyse’s blog to see the latest edition of Life this week
Linking to #MondayMusings  hosted by Corrine at Everyday Gyaan

So what am I going to do….

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It was a beautiful sunny day last Friday so B and I had coffee outside a local cafe and ‘caught up’ with things we hadn’t spoken about on the phone. It always amazes me that we can talk on the phone quite frequently and still find things to discuss in person 😊

‘So what am I going to do’ I asked her.
‘It’s been a b*gger of a week’ I said!
Just one of those weeks when it seemed as though the whole world was out to get me……one tiny piece at a time.

The internet has been playing up – it’s been so slow it’s obviously playing somewhere but definitely not in our house. The ISP says they don’t know what the problem is, maybe changing to the NBN might help except The Golfer is still holding out on that one.

The ironing board wouldn’t stay up so I had to resort to doing a few necessary bits Mother in Law style on the kitchen bench.
The Golfers mother always ironed on the table – using a thick blanket, the sheets she’d laundered that week with a very large piece of towelling on the top. Back then she ironed everything – including my F in Laws white cotton Y fronts!


We couldn’t remember the last time we’d had so much summer rain – the promised La Niña has been making itself known with flooding in states north of Victoria….the rivers are certainly running up there. In Melbourne we’ve had lots of wet days – some very humid – along with some rather nice ones (hot even) but not enough to say it’s the way summer usually is. The BOM is suggesting it’s reached its peak but it’s still going to be wet for the rest of the season over here in the east of Australia. With nearly 6 weeks of summer gone I suppose all we can hope for is a lovely sunny dry Autumn come March.

And that’s the reason for the white fly I discovered on one of the Fuchsias ☹️
As I’m not a pesticide user it means treating with diluted dishwashing liquid.
Which meant another trip to the big green barn for a new spray bottle.

And then there was the embarrassment (annoyance more like) of discovering after sewing two ‘side seams’ I’d actually sewn a sleeve to the back of a little cardigan…..something I don’t ever remember doing before. I did wonder why there were more rows of green above the last white stripe but thought …..maybe I’d miscounted the rows and knit a couple more than needed. Rustle around in the bag for the next piece and out popped the front and not the expected sleeve. Grrr!

‘Come on B help me out here’ was my plea.
‘My usual relaxation isn’t working……the lie down, tense and release each part of the body, quieten the mind and then breathe one. The one from old yoga days. I need something else.’

I’ll have to admit I have never practiced meditation but B has suggested something called ‘loving kindness meditation’. She ‘thinks’ a lot of my irritability/stress is to do with my sister’s illness and basically by quietly sending/reinforcing loving thoughts to her and myself things should in time get better.

And now here…as I’m enjoying an early cup of tea…..is where I have a question for you.
Have any of you had experience with this practice?
is it as simple a process as she suggested or is it difficult to accomplish?
I can see lots of reading and y/tube watching coming up as I consider it but look, any recommendations from you are welcome. Help me out readers please

Joining Corinne for this weeks  Monday Musings – sharing thoughts with others. 
Joining Denyse for the latest edition of Life this Week.
Joining Esme at her Senior Salon

It’s happening slowly…..

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The warm Spring weather has been playing hard to get so the garden has been coming to life really really slowly. It was so cold and miserable over Winter I’m only just (very slowly) warming up myself so at the moment it’s‘ chaos reigns’ out there I’m managing to do a bit of weeding and general tidying around and about but …strangely I’m noticing things that are emerging from places I didn’t think they were planted. I certainly don’t remember planting those Iris in that spot.

That little piece of white flowered snow in summer (Cerastium) next to the bluey mauve Brachyschome wasn’t there last year but I’m pleased to see it. It reminds me of my Dad, he used it a lot in odd spots. Set and forget he’d say!

The lavender under the washing line has been good this year – shame it’s nearly time to cut it back….The Golfer cut the grass the other day so it looks green and tidy from this angle …it certainly won’t look so green come later in the summer when it gets hot and dry. It’s hard to plan a time to cut when we’ve had rainy days because he likes it to dry out a bit but like in all things nature doesn’t play fair!

And of course there is the early flush of Spring roses to admire. The little ‘blue bed near the line’ as I jokingly call it has been mulched so it’s right to go but there’s still a lot of work to be done on the bed at the bottom of the garden. A Bad Back limits me at times and it didn’t play fair last year so even though it doesn’t look too bad from a distance it’s when I realised what I thought were some long leaves of Iris was actually invasive couch grass that has grown tall I knew I’d be trying for half hour time spots. Rain has stopped play at the moment 😢

The little blue bed near the line 😊

And a few from the bottom bed – names unknown.
(everything opens with a tap or a click)

Today I’m joining in the fun of Sunday Selections hosted by Elephants Child.
Nature Notes can be found at Rambling Woods.
Denyse Whelan Blogs is the home of Life this Week

Z is for….Sunday Selections

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It’s amazing what you find when you’re thinking about something else. I’d had the letter Z on my mind (yes, that book challenge) when these jumped out at me as I was going through some 2009 photo folders from an old (as in defunct) blog.

Z is for Zygocactus
also known as Schlumbergara
aka Christmas Cactus

They are hardy pot plants that seem to grow wherever you want them to
Break a piece off – pot it up in some dirt
and very soon you’ll have a new plant.

These plants were all started from cuttings
taken from friends or neighbours plants

I had them growing in containers that hung over the railing of the deck.
happy to be there most of the year.
though I did put them in the shade if the sun became too hot.


There were several plants in each of the long boxes 
and if nature got the timing right

and they all bloomed together.
 it looked like a ribbon of pink all the way along.

You know at first glance these plants appear to be a jumble of gnarly old stems
each with a flower at the end
But if you look carefully
you will see that the most delicate of blooms are growing there.

Up in the Northern Hemisphere they are often called Christmas Cactus 
‘cose thats about the time when they seem to flower. Not so down here in Melbourne these photos were taken in October
right at the end of our Winter – beginning of Spring

These are beautiful plants often regarded as common and hum drum looking
What do you think?


Joining in with Elephant’s Child and others for Sunday Selections

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlumbergera

Zygocactus