Pink things

In the language of flowers, the pin cushion hakea symbolises nobility and longevity. It is one of our natives. It's in flower now and I adore it.

I have been cutting it by the branch load to put in my farmshop. 

I love how it looks in a big, tall vase.

Someone described it as having globes of crimson flowers studded with cream pins. I think that's a perfect description.

We planted a number of these small trees as tiny tubestock in September 2014. One of them was completely blown out of the ground after a couple of  recent windy days ( they can be quite shallow rooted apparently). When Farmer Bill threw it on the bonfire he noticed that some of the seed pods split open to reveal these black seeds.

He has since tried to get more seeds by heating the seed pods on top of our wood heater.

He's going to try to germinate them in spring and if successful, we will plant more of them. 

Proteas are also on my " I adore...." list.

This gorgeous one is called Protea Susara and I planted it in the Ruby Garden about six weeks ago. 

And then just by chance.........

A lady called in to ask if she could buy our farmshop. Her and her husband recently purchased a property near here and inherited a garden of proteas. She sells them to various local businesses and puts them outside their property in buckets. Farmer Bill offered to build her one and she was delighted. Bill then passed the whole process on to Sam! 

She called in on Friday with these........

They are so gorgeous. I hope ours will eventually look as strong and healthy as these.

This morning's harvest from our Pink Lady apple tree.

All the lilium beds have been dug up and the bulbs wrapped in newspaper before planting out up the back in their new bed shortly. They have multiplied like nobody's business. Originally each type started with three or five bulbs except for the top left variety which started with one ( it was $9, hence just one)! It is one of the wonders of nature that such ugly bulbs are transformed into beautiful flowers.

Farmshop pink.....

A tray of pansies and polyanthas for Mothers Day.

Thank you Sam, Amy and Helen.

The lemon tree has lots of lovely new growth.

Succulents need to be tucked away somewhere out of the arctic blasts of winter. Mmmm, may be we need a glasshouse! 

Jonquils are coming up in one of the pallet beds up the back.

This one is ready for the lilium bulbs.

And these beds in the vegie patch are already sprouting some bulb growth together with a few rogues that seem to have jumped the fences.

The seedlings at the front are stocks.

We have had the most awesome cloud formations lately. 

Saturday was moving day for Amy and Helen ( from Thornbury to Northcote). 

We went down to help them with the heavy bits but they were left with the awful jobs of packing and unpacking. Somehow, we also ended up with a trailer load of bits and pieces for storage in Bertie's shed ( how the heck did that happen)! 

Love these little babes.

Bill has been collecting pallets again. He loves a good pallet and if he's lucky, he often finds a door thrown on the pile as well and as we all know, a door can be turned into anything.

I bet he's thinking that I'm going to request another garden bed up the back.

Come to think of it, I probably will. 

I've been playing with some English paper piecing.

The pattern calls for eighteen of these blocks.

I've even gone through my stash and picked out the " circus" colours I wanted to use ( another two hours of playing).

But to be perfectly honest, l'll be lucky to finish this one.

It's just not for me. Too fiddly. It'll have to be a cushion.  

Have a great week everyone.