I was just looking back on all the pretty pictures I've taken over spring, summer & autumn that just passed & it made me really smile.
I have been staring out at a dormant balcony for a month or two now & how quickly I've forgotten how pretty everything once was & not so long ago! So I thought I'd just post a couple of photos from the seasons gone by to lift my winter spirits, & hopefully yours.
A bit over a month until spring! YIPPEE!
Thanks for reading,
Bel
Winter. I do not like you. You are cold & boring & cold. I realise you are necessary in the grand scheme of things but you are cold & boring.
So, this time of year does not inspire me to garden. Yesterday morning there was sun, it was freezing, but the sun was shinning, so me & little helper watered the pot plants. It's not the first time I've watered them all winter by the way, It's just the first time I felt like taking pretty pictures.
Everything is either dormant or recently pruned.
Sango Kaku is just a bunch or red twigs. It's quite beautiful really.
My tulip or daffodil bulbs have sprouted! I actually can't remember what is where but I like a flower surprise.
When I planted them
Can't wait to see them!
A little ray of sunshine, on a cloudy day.
I pruned my fuchsia's back quite a bit, so here's some new growth.
Bel
As I mentioned in a previous post, I found bags of decorative stone on special for $2 each at bunnings a few weeks ago & basically bought them all over the weeks. I really like the pretty stones.
We all went to check out the new Masters in Preston the other day & it was pretty impressive. The best part was finding a 5kg bag of white stones for $5! Much cheaper than bunnings & they didn't have white. I really wanted white stones for my inaba shidare Japanese maple but had to settle for grey. Well, now I had a cheap bag of pretty white stones, I got to have white after all.
The title of this post is "Stone Crazy" so here are all the other stones & coloured sands I picked up.
I put some bright red sand in my fuschia & on top of my daffodil bulbs. I quite like how striking it is.
On my other balcony I put river stones in my standard Rosemary's pot & White stones around my thyme.
Before
After
Finally put the rest of my white stones over my tulip bulbs & some bright pink sand in my fuschia basket & my little fuschia in the small terracotta pot plus some green stones in with my standard fuschia.
See, stone crazy!
Really disliking winter. Come one Spring!!!!
Stay warm readers,
Bel
Today was bulb planting day. A freezing day, the first day of winter in fact, but the sun was shinning.
I'd been chilling my flower bulbs in the fridge for the last 4 weeks & they were now ready to plant.
I had various helpers with me today. While getting everything together & organised I had baby girl. Little boy helper helped briefly & then told me he didn't want to help anymore & wanted to watch Pingu. Then baby girl went for her nap & Siamese cat stayed with me for the rest of the time. A bit of time with everyone.
I had 8 tulip bulbs, 3 daffodil bulbs & 3 little pots.
Baby girl tried to eat the daffodil packet for a second there!
Baby girl gone, enter Siamese cat. I found him sleeping in my climbing rose pot.
I couldn't decide which flower to put in what pot. Decided on 3 tulips in the long terracotta pot, the 5 remaining tulips in the round terracotta pot & the 3 daffodils in the glazed pot.
Siamese helper basically sleeping. Not a very good helper.
This is my first time planting bulbs. From my research I've learned that you can grow them in pots, you can bunch them together somewhat, you have got to get them in before the winter & they benefit from a good 4-6 weeks of chilling in your fridge. Once the spring comes they just need the rise in temperature & sun & out the flowers come.
I planted them a couple of bulbs deep & covered them with good quality potting mix.
And here they are, all sleeping inside their pots just waiting for the magic of spring. Just typing about spring makes me feel warm & happy & I can just smell the tomato leaves & roses. My favourite season.
Put the glazed pot with the daffodils here between my rose & coffee plant.
And the tulips I put on my other balcony. One next to my oregano & owl. It's supposed to scare off possums. Yeah, right!
Put the Rest of the tulips in between my parsley & standard fuschia.
And then watered them all in.
Done.
Can't wait for spring. So many wonderful things to look forward to this year. Tulips & daffodils. New maple leaves on my 3 Japanese maples. New flowers on my fuchsia plants. Yellow, antique pink & apricot roses (they will not be eaten by possums this spring, even if I have to cover them with a blanket every night! I will have roses this spring!!) & another season of tomatoes. If I'm lucky I might get some peaches from my dwarf tree this summer & maybe even some coffee beans from my coffee plant.
But now is the time of quiet & cold. Hurry up & pass winter.
Stay warm gardeners,
Bel
