A NEW INTEREST IN GARDENING....

I have always loved walking around our garden admiring the flowering plants...
I love flowers and I love colour but have never  been a good gardener or had much knowledge of gardening..
This is something I want to rectify...
Even more so since joining the Circle of Ladies friendship group and walking around Marg''s garden and seeing the joy it brings her...

I have another friend Marion who also has a stunning garden and I love the photos she posts of her beautiful space also...  Now that I have retired, I need to find some more hobbies that gets me outdoors.  Out in the fresh air and sunshine...

I have decided to work on one garden at a time... to get it sorted and planted and looked after and once it is established and I am managing it, then it will be time to tackle the next garden.  I also want to establish a shade garden with a table and chair so that I can sit out and enjoy it...
Maybe down the track even a bird bath....  It is good to have dreams...
But..... how to make them a reality will probably involve a bit of hard work...   it also will involve having a husband on the same page....

But he did humour me and planted some perennials in our front garden even though he did say to me that they grow and die...  I told him I want colour...

It was lovely to sit out in the garden with him yesterday whilst he planted my new plants for me....
It was entertaining to watch the mother magpie and her two babies enjoy hunting for worms in our garden also...

This magpie was super friendly, he didn't seem at all frighten by us and was working in the garden along side with us...  digging for worms in the fresh ground that Steve had just dug up..

 My box of new plants that I wanted Steve to plant for me...
Once the baby magpies saw their mother bird getting the birds, it wasn't long before she joined us...
They were not quite as friendly as the adult bird,  any movement by us at all towards them would see them take off.  but it wasn't long before they were back again...

One of the baby birds....

 I had picked up a couple of punnets of petunias to plant as a border in the garden.. Something that was quick growing and would flower profusely...

Preparing the ground...

 Steve reckons that I am an armchair gardener as once I had done my bit, I found a chair to sit in and then instruct him on where I thought I wanted the plants to be planted....

gardening from the comfort of my camping chair...

 Not only were the birds digging in the garden, they were in the wheelbarrow digging in all the mulch as well...

 Steve alternated my petunias so that I would have pink, white and red alternated....
He really is a honey to do this for me....

Once Steve had most of these planted I had a wander around our garden to photograph some of the beautiful gum trees that are flowering at the moment..

 The garden is starting to look good...  I am looking forward to seeing it develop over the next couple of months..

The petunias are all in and planted now...

I wanted some colour around our letter box but Steve assured me that there was quite a bit of concrete under the soil from the building of the fence, so he had to move the plants a little for me....  but I was keen to plant some viola's around the letterbox..

I have quite a few other potted plants but probably need a little advise as to where to plant these ones...

Just about the flower....

Our parsley is looking so good....

In goes the viola's...

all planted

new plants all in...

 I have my beautiful orange and purple daisy planted along with the lavender and voila's.
Then it was time to pack the mulch around the new plants....

 It is all looking good..
 Time for me to leave Steve to the rest... I'm going out for dinner soon, so I needed to go in and get ready...
Had to photograph a few of our other plants that are looking quite healthy at the moment...

Even have some lettuce growing with our strawberries...

Our crow's nest....

breautiful flowering crucifix orchid...

flowering orchid.... nearly missed it this year..

I need to plant some of these out in my garden....

 As I love flowers, I always love to have them in my home....
especially during the winter months when the heat doesn't affect them...

 "A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”

“Like wildflowers; You must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would.”

“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.”

“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.”

“A flower does not use words to announce its arrival to the world; it justs blooms.”

“A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose. All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too.”

“In joy and in sadness, flowers are our constant friends.”

“All the flowers of the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.”

“Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.”

“A flower is a smile from heaven.”