Spring is here!

This is definitely my favourite time of the year!  Spring...coming out of the cold of winter and just before it gets really hot.  We don't get much of a spring really.  It is cold, then for a couple of weeks we see-saw between cold and hot, then it just goes hot.  It really feels like spring lasts about two weeks.  Maybe that's why I value it so much, as it's so short.  One of the things I loved about living in the tropics of Cairns in Far North Queensland for six years was winter.  Winter there is like spring elsewhere.  Just perfect and a little bit longer! 

Anyway, never having had a garden before, I've been having a ball digging holes and planting and plotting away as to what I'll put where, hoping it will all turn out right. 

I still have a long way to go for my lovely cottage garden, however, I've made a good start.  It doesn't look like it, but I know as things grow it will start to fall into place.  My jasmines are starting to grow and are even wafting a tiny fragrance, I have put in some beautiful new Azaleas which are now in season and all the roses I've been putting in are bushing and budding up and I actually had my first rose of the season last week from my new roses.  It was absolutely beautiful...I kept running out all the time to look at it and I couldn't bring myself to pick it!  It is one called Dioressence.  It's a beautiful colour somewhere between pink and mauve and looks frilly.  Can't wait till they all bloom.  I'm just hoping I get lots of blooms and not one here and one there, how disappointing that would be!

 

   

About three years ago I bought a couple of standard Azaleas which are about six foot tall and are the love and bane of my life.  They look so beautiful in bloom, but I've tried to kill them so many times, I don't know why they are still here!  But they've been blooming like crazy.  Absolutely gorgeous!  I haven't planted them yet (they are still in pots) as it seems they like the morning sun and unfortunately that is at the back of the house.  There's no garden there so I'm not wasting them out there!  So in pots they still are, but going strong...

Here is a picture of my potato vines and jasmines mixed together, which even at this small stage are putting out a beautiful fragrance.  Can't wait till they start growing up and around the arches of our house.

I managed to find a bunch of little punnet daisies and they are the cutest things I've ever seen.  They are only about two to three inches across at the moment, but they are blooming anyway...so cute, the flowers are bigger than the actual plant!  The lovely headmaster gift daisies are going strong and are filling out the front of the stairs. 

This is so much fun!  I used to think decorating was the most fun I've ever had, you instantly see such a change, and gardening takes longer, but gee it feels good to see it starting to bloom and take shape.  I'm starting to think that in the long run it may be more satisfying.  I don't consider myself a decorator or a gardener, just someone who has to have beautiful things around me at all times, and if it isn't pretty, it has to be made pretty, but gardening I must say, whilst hard work, is one of the most surprisingly satisfying things I've ever done.  You never know, maybe in a few years I may actually put gardening down as one of my passions, and I may actually become one!

As of next week I'm on holidays for two weeks.  I have so many plans ~ paint the kitchen cupboards (HAVE to do that if nothing else), paint and clean up my work room which has become so cluttered I can barely get inside the door, start to do something about my veranda, do up a little lowboy cupboard in my workroom....gee I feel tired thinking about it.  One of the fun things I want to do is go through my hundreds of magazines and put together some inspiration for our new dream house (see my previous post a couple back).  It may be a year or two away before we build our new/old home, but it sure will be fun planning it.  And one thing I've learnt over the years is not to leave things till the last minute.  It won't hurt to dream and plan for it, as once it comes up, a lot of decisions will need to be made very quickly.  I don't want my dream home to be full of knee-jerk decisions which I'll regret later.  It doesn't hurt to find all the inspiration and put it in one place and when the time comes, we'll know exactly what we want to do! 

Phew, I wouldn't be surprised if next week I start thinking about all those things and get tired and do NOTHING!  Tehehe!!  

  

Comments

[Carla]

HI Vicki,
I love reading your Blog and seeing the wonderful photos you take. I am house-sitting in Queensland at the moment (I live in NZ) and am enjoying the great weather and am enjoying going to some of the great Garden Centres here to see what's on offer. I love gardening and I can see you are getting the bug too.

Cheers
Carla

[Katrina]

Hi Vickie, so sorry I haven't emailed you back! I haven't forgotten you. Did you make any decisions?

Your garden looks gorgeous. I have never lived in a house long enough to see a garden in it's full glory because we are usually building a new house or renovating!!!

[Maryann Delicata]

Hi Vicki, your garden looks beautiful! Personally I just love spring and gardening as it decorates the house from the outside and I put alot of quirky things spread around it too, like an old sewing machine, old typewriter and heaps of statues and birdbaths! I just love the effect. I have those daisies too and you will find that they will self seed a litte so you can get freebies or sometimes when the branches get long enough and hang on the ground they also self root so you can cut the branch off and replant. Alot of my flowers self seed from year to year so I rarely have to buy new ones. Like cosmos, daisies, pansies and calendular. Sounds like a wise decision to get everything picked for your new house in advance and it sounds so exciting too! We nearly got a kit home, but opted for a fixerupper in the end. Not sure if that was a wise move as its never ending and still waiting on my extension!! Anyways, love your blog, keep well, Maryann.

[Barbara]

Its beautiful! Thank you for sharing!