It’s been a weird old winter. Not only have we been months in lockdown, experienced four days of power outage, witnessed severe storms that felled hundreds of large trees in the forest and last Wednesday morning a 5.8 earthquake!
Thankfully, there was no damage but we had such a fright. My heart goes out to all people and animals who have experienced mother nature’s anger. Maybe she’s trying to tell us all something. Stay well and be safe.
Here in southern Australia, the days are getting shorter and colder. May is a great month for autumn colour but also for completing some key garden jobs before it gets too cold.
One such job is cleaning out the glasshouse. Which means taking every pot out! Luckily we have this handy deck just outside.
A bucket with soapy water and I’m ready to wash down the benches and the walls. It’s worth it.
Next, I hose down the concrete to get rid of all the bugs 🐜 in the corners.
I have to race against the dimming light and cold to bring these plants back in.
Job done ✅ Now I can sit and dream of more plants! Stay in your garden and breath – be safe and positive.
Ok, so I’ve made that up… however, I have started a new project which requires heavy weeding and the rearranging of a rock border.
There are old pavers to be removed and rocks replaced. It’s always rewarding to see the weeds gone and a new project evolving.
The light is dappled and I can work at my own pace under the shade of the lilac tree.
Further around the garden I can see figs ripening with the hostas looking on.
After a day’s lifting, weeding and rolling rocks into place, I’m quite pleased with the result. Cats also inspected the new garden bed!
What are your favourite plants for afternoon dappled light??
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November is the time when all the magnificent Open Gardens are on display. I visited one such garden this morning in its splendour. Set on eleven acres and around one hundred and forty years old, Dreamthorpe, is a woodland wonderland with unique garden architecture and, my favourite, the wistful, wisteria walk!
Of course, my interest is stone walls, as I described in my last blog on the Edna Walling cottage garden. As I entered the property, a magnificent stone wall welcomed me beside manicured green paths.
A unique garden also displays unique garden architecture. This garden was no exception: terracotta urns, classical statues, wildlife habitat and some modern pieces.
This one is reminiscent of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and good times. This garden revels in its own beauty!
Fancy a new home for your bird life?
Yes, I did promise some modern garden pieces – which do you prefer?
However, it was the design layout and the plants themselves which stole the show. Here are but a mere snapshot of their breathtaking beauty….
A wall of pink rhododendrons.
a hedged narrow path – leading where?
To a lake, of course!
My favourite was this spectacular lavender wisteria walk – magical, secluded and other worldly!
This property is more notably recognised by its row of gothic ancient cedars which, on a cold, foggy night, are eerie sentinels watching over the garden.
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Dreamthorpeis a must see in autumn and in spring. Open gardens give us inspiration and preserve the magnificence of nature in all its variety and possibilities – an odyssey any garden lover would like to undertake.
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No, not the popular female singer but the crimson colours of the camelias! On this unusually sunny morning and the walkways strewn with pink petals, it never ceases to amaze me how these trees push forth their abundance.
In our decade here on the Mount, we have experienced drought conditions, heat waves, strong, hot northern winds and torrential rains. As a consequence, we have lost our fair share of important trees – a weeping cherry, the year we went to Italy; an established magnolia, the year of the drought and along with it, a magnificent pale pink rhododendron, odorata. With these significant losses we have tried to keep our mainstay trees alive during summer. Perhaps our lovely neighbours’ example of abundant watering makes sense! Our rewards are many.
If you look carefully you can make out our rooster’s tail feathers in the background!
My gratitude really must go to the previous own of this property. She was a remarkable woman. Raising her four children alone and working as a nurse by night, she had a grand vision of the colours in a garden. Painstakingly planting camelias, rhododendrons, azaleas, lilacs and magnolias she created an English garden beneath a canopy of gum trees. In this season, however, it is the camelia which takes pride of place.
Some of them only briefly make their appearance.
Others linger to create carpets of petals.
At least one of our weeping cherries survived!
With this vision of abundance we marvel at nature itself: its glory, its veritable magnificence which reaffirms our own existence.
Are you “pinked” out yet?
The English poets knew their landscapes. William Wordsworth wrote of paths and country meanderings. John Milton wrote about “those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world”. For me these are all found in a garden.
One last flourish before I go (pardon the pun) – happy gardening, contemplating and appreciating!
crabandfish garden 
