There are two people who have inspired me to garden.
The first is this lady...her name was Pauline but everyone who knew her called her Ma! She won endless gardening competitions in Rockhampton with a traditional English style garden with many roses and flowers adorning the footpaths that tied in with her, white with lavender (NOT purple) trim house! She was unlike any other person I had ever met before. She had osteoporosis and suffered terrible back pain and she lived two doors down from me. I used to watch her drag the hose from one end of the garden to the other. It was her passion and it kept her strong and fit. We all adored her and her beloved best friend and husband, Da!
My mother-in-law is the second person and just happens to be Ma's daughter. She had an amazing rural garden that was spread across a hectare nestled between two hills. It was a beautiful garden too, some traditional and some with Australian natives. Before she retired she gave me these, just for some colour until my gardens got underway...
The plan for our my garden was to have plants that don't need trimming (is there such a thing?) AND definately no gardens outside the house yard (because where do you stop once you are out there?). I have both!
Our eldest son was a small baby when we moved here, so he was 1 before we got any trees in the ground. Fruit trees were another priority (they grow so well here).
We live in a very tropical environment on a hard, red ridge with clay soil at the back moving through to a more clay loam soil at the front of the house. This combined with long Summers', very high humidity and at times a lot of rainfall makes life a little interesting. When it rains the soil opens up, like a big red muddy sponge, but once the rain is gone and the sun shines for a few days, the clay sets hard like concrete so you have to get out there quick to be able to dig. I have applied a lot of gypsum to the soil as well, but more is needed.
Growing David Austin roses wasn't something I had planned but this one does thrive here in the western sun. They are just so beautiful!
At the end of last week I had a date with a man with a chainsaw....husband offered to do some serious prunning. This opened up the garden so much that I have spent the last week continuing to trim and remove plants and redesign some of my garden beds, along with setting up new watering systems.
This little guy offered to help....well that was for 5 minutes then he found this place.
While his Dad and brother are away he has actually stepped right up (learning to mow - that is a whole other post to blog).
As you can see, there was a bit to get rid of. Now that I am back in the schoolroom I really only get a couple of hours in the afternoon...there is still a bit to do.
Gardening is so cathartic, I love the fact that you can see where you have been and grow lovely things. I love plants with clean lines and foliage colour.
Ma's piece of advice to me before she passed away was to add colour, otherwise it will be "too boring".
I do love colour but anything with flowers requires a bit more work so in honour of her I plant some flowers in a manageable position. I also have this lavender standard rose (the name escapes me but there will be someone out there who knows it's name) planted in a new bed just for her!
We are expecting a visitor tomorrow, my husband's mum and dad are calling in on their way home from holidays. Thank goodness I have been gardening!
