DISCOVERING A LOVE FOR THE GARDEN....

Lately I have been discovering a love for the Garden...
It all started with us changing our eating habits, and wanting to eat more fresh...
We are loving using fresh herbs with our meals, and they were starting to cost too much so we started a little herb garden outside our kitchen window....

The Mint and Spearmint have grown wild... Love picking it fresh and putting it in my salads. 

Fresh Mint

 We loved having this garden, and we had some sweet basil in a pot, but where using it way quicker than it could grow, so we decided we needed to plant some more...

Sweet Basil and Thai Basil

 We are also trying some Thai Basil,  haven't used it too much yet, but it has a real different smell and taste, so I looking forward to using it in some Thai cooking...

Basil

Thai Basil. Dill, Rosemary, Oregano, Watercress and strawberries...

 They all seem to be doing well.  

Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Coriander, and Sweet Basil

 Unfortunately. in this next pot our corriander doesn't seem to be doing so well, and we have lost it.  We wonder if the other herbs we have planted it with are not compatible... We will try and grow it again in a different pot with different herbs. 

The Arthritis Herb..

 Seeing as I have arthritis quite badly,  I thought I would buy this herb.  As yet I am not sure how I go about using it, I still need to do some research on that one,  but it does seem to be thriving at the moment.   I am quite happy to hear from others who have this herb and use it. 

We have different varieties of strawberries, fennel, and Coriander in this pot. 

 We have replanted some more coriander in this pot in the hope that it takes off.  It still isn't looking the best.   This is our third attempt at trying to grow it too. 
I really am loving going outside and snipping off fresh herbs and bringing them into my kitchen to use in our meals. 

My chives are flowering....

 Because we have been spending some time out with the herbs, we have started buying a few other plants to plant in our gardens as well, and we have been tidying up our gardens and yards.  We have some plans to do up and outdoor area this year... Still needs a bit of planning to take place yet...

We also want to resurrect our old vegie garden.  In the past Steve has always dug it up himself. but I am thinking of getting a quote on hiring a rotary hoe for the weekend to dig it up, (saves us time) and means we will get it planted a lot quicker.  We have vegetables we would like to grow, but I would also like to put some sweet peas and lavendar into our gardent his year.

Loving the green of our back yard at the moment...

Where our vegie patch will be.  

 We bought some new plants to plant in our gardens around the house.  More flowering kinds of plants, to give our yard some colour.

Some shade plants,  love this flower....

 and then we bought these flowers to plant along the path to our front door....

I can't even tell you what sort of plant this us, but it is vibrant in colour...

Up close and personal...

Next we planted a pink one next to it....

Lots of new buds....

Up close and personal....

Finally we planted a white flowering shrub...

The white one - it has lots of buds on it...

We also bought some variegated coloured mondo grass to plant in our front garden as a backdrop to the green mondo grass that is already there....  It should prove a nice contrast once it gets established...

Variegated coloured mondo grass

Whilst we were away in 2010 I lost my favourite matchstick plant.  The flower was beautiful vibrant pink and purple.  A friend of mine had heaps in her garden, and gave me a bucket of them at Christmas time.  We have finally got them planted.  Can't wait for them to flower.....

My favourite matchstick plant...

We have enjoyed getting out into the garden in the cool of the evening...
Yesterday I actually took my camera out to photograph some of the many flowering plants in our garden at the moment...  Our red frangapenni tree is finally flowers and it is covered in lovely pinky red flowers at the moment.

Our beautiful frangipenni

 Other plants that are doing well in the garden at the moment are these....

Love the different colours of these leaves...

Flowering paw paw trees.

Flowering plant from my girlfriend when my mum passed away. 

 This plant has been doing really well, so we separated it,  and have planted out a couple outside in the garden.  Not sure what this plant is but I really love it,  I tried to buy my mother in law one, but couldn't find it again, so might have to give her one that we have separated. 

Beautiful red roses blooming in our garden. 

This doesn't smell as lovely though as the Mr. Lincoln rose....

The Paw Paw tree is about to flower....

Love these flowers in our front garden - Just love the contrast

Up Close and personal

These are the palest yellow flower... very fragile but so pretty,

Our swamp bloodwood is flowering at the moment.  We have some beautiful native flowers in Australia...

We have amazing native flowers in our country...

Up close and personal

Breaking out of it's bud.... just perfect...

Even the nuts after this bush has flowers are lovely, and can be used in lots of different ways. 

Gum nuts

Our Azelias are flowering early this year.  Maybe they will flower twice....

Up Close and Personal

Steve loves being out in the garden...
He finds it very relaxing..
Something soothing about watering plants...
Something soothing when playing with water full stop..

Watering the new plants we planted

Look of happiness on his face...

We definately need to spend more time out here...

Loving how green everything is here at the moment...

Green back yard for a change and not the baren brown yard it was a couple of months ago...

Feeling very blessed and happy..

Feeling particularly blessed to have this roof over our head.

I am enjoying our time out in the garden together... I am looking forward to the retirement years when we will have more time to spend time together creating lovely spaces together...