Monday, 27 November 2017

Roses for Emily

The Wedding date had been confirmed for some time.
The venue was to be a charming old woolshed built from red gum slabs in 1854, not far from here, called Emu Bottom in Sunbury.
November had special significance. It was the anniversary of when Emily and Luke first met some years ago. It also happened to be the season of Spring. Roses and lavender. Two of Emily's favourite flowers.

So that was what Sigrid ( Emily's Mum ) and I played with.........making it up as we went along. Just like two kids in a candy shop.


And this is what transpired........
Each table setting was graced with a small sprig of English box and lavender stems tied with matching ribbon.

Adorning the guest tables were jars of perfumed garden roses ( from Frogpond Farm :-) circled with viburnum foliage and spikes of lavender. Each glass jar was then popped into a sleeve crafted from vintage music sheets ( made by Sigrid).



And the piece de resistance......
Hanging low above the bridal table, a metal candelabra was draped in sedum foliage and offset with tiny bunches of Wedding Day rose.


Bill watched Sigrid working on it in the shed and named it The Cabbage Circle. *sigh*
Sigrid is an exceptionally talented stylist ( of anything really ) and this was her work at its most elegant and beautiful.




It was always going to be beautiful, but beautiful transcended into magical.
The lanterns were stuffed with fairy lights and pale pink and cream coloured rose petals littered the bases inside all of them. 
We kept the rose petals fresh by placing them in ziplock plastic bags with absorbent paper, then storing them in the fridge.
No wonder they are all still floating in the clouds on a wedding high.
So elegant.

The week of unseasonal extreme heat, humidity and an influx of earwigs in every petal picked, are now not worth mentioning!!!!

We wish you and Luke all the love and happiness in the world Em. 
A beautiful wedding for a beautiful young lady.




Back to reality.....
Those nestling baby seedlings from a month ago are starting to go full steam ahead. Yesterday I finished planting the last 24 of them. Anywhere I could find a bare spot. And now it's time to start dead heading the roses to see if they can produce another flush of abundance in early January.
The hollyhocks are standing tall and proud even with their rusty leaves and earwig bitten foliage. They add such an old world charm to the garden and the strong, vertical element that I love. It was always going to be a mystery to see what colours appeared but it looks as though we've got most colours covered. Purely random. I probably discarded as many as I left.


The beds have been mulched now. All 10 cubic metres of the stuff ! 

The English box hedge has had a proper trim instead of a bit here and a bit there.
Mind you, we had no idea about levels or anything.....

The two pineapple lilies are going gang busters.

The two ginger lilies.....? 
Mmmm.....I think I may have planted one upside down but I'm hesitant to dig it up to see. I check each day for any sign of life but so far nothing.....

The girls have planted all sorts of summer vegies in the vegie patch.
I've been left in charge of keeping them alive.

Amy and Helen had their Hens Parties at the weekend.
Separately of course.....
This is a photo of Amy's Bees Gang. 


Olive is nearly six months old.

She gets called Little Daph by her Pop.
We adore her.

Farm shop flowers.....




Farewell to Cheryl...
My school friend Cheryl has recently crossed the Nullarbor to live in WA. We took Mum to Donald with us to say farewell to her. It was lovely to see her, Uncle Bob, Debbie, Marni and the boys.


On my bedside table this week....


And speaking of forces of nature.....

The stormy weather has gifted us with the most spectacular cloud formations and light. 
The weather this week seems to be a mixed bag. 
I'm sure there's going to be something in it for everyone!!
Have a great week everyone.















Monday, 30 October 2017

Nestling babies

I've been nestling baby plants into the ground for the last week.
All of these......

....plus another tubful into these beds.






I've had to give the beds names.

This bed is called  front of tank bed!


And back of house bed!

Then there's granny flat wall......( which must surely be the most unattractive bed of all).


For those that missed out, I've nestled them into pots for the time being and kept them here.

 
To keep track of what's been planted where, I needed to make a list. 


Mystery cosmos because the leaf label I'd made, blew off into space never to be seen again. It'll be a miracle if they survive in that bed anyway without any covers. 
The Ruby Garden billy buttons will be another miracle bloom if they get that far. It's not even proper soil in there. But I had to give them a try for Helen. The giant ants that live there could've taken them away by now.

I had promised myself not to talk about earwigs this week but seeing them spewing out of the top of another one of the post and rail fence posts like a chocolate fountain was a sight to behold! Then I attacked them for a second time with my squirty bottle of pyrethrum. Seriously, how the heck anything has survived out there is a miracle. 

I'll keep putting out beer traps until Bill's ancient homemade brew runs out.
They still seem to capture a few slugs and earwigs.

Of course that's NOT the end of the pestilence problem here. Now we've got the rabbits digging their way to China out in the front beds! 

Yes, probably you! Sauntering past the window at breakfast.

Most times they end up digging up a plant at the same time. I just shove them back in with my boot, give it a bit of a stomp, water it back in and hope for the best.

We let these guys have a drink, then moved them on before they found anything to wreck.



Farmshop jars.




Around the garden path.
The cherry tree lighthouse is in position. Bill is not taking any risks with marauding wildlife of the bird kind. He loves those cherries and plans to eat the lot.

Nope....there's a late modification. 



Scilla in flower. So pretty. Only three flowers this year. I've never had them before.





Pumpkin seeds from Helen's Dad in Lakes Entrance now growing here at Frogpond Farm.









Bill's sister, Joanne, was over the moon when her first grandchild arrived last week......and so were we!
Delilah. 
She is a little sweetheart. 
Congratulations Lachlan and Kaila. 



Halloween
Vampire Flynn ready for the disco.



Amy and Helen also Halloweening....

Claire and Sara ....

And Trav and Renee's littlies all dressed up for Halloween too.




No Halloween for this baby girl though....





And her Daddy at work. 37degrees. Blerrrrr......way too hot for me.


I shall keep coddiwompling with the Summer Wedding Garden. 
I'm definitely being purposeful and it seemed to work on paper.
A few of the plants are quite new to me. 
I just picked ones that grow in Summer.
And I must remind you, I don't do Summer......but this year it will be different!
I'm loving every single part of the process.

Have a great week everyone.
I wonder how many of you are coddiwompling...........¥*£*¥€£?