belated recount of plant wandering

This poor blog, it's become a starved greyish kitten with matted fur mewing into the darkness. I have been a little busy. Having some excellent adventures, such as a visit to the Plant Collector's Fair {I adore being around old people who know a lot about plants, where they share information and wonderful tales and their eyes are twinkling. Yep, I love old people who love plants}. I ended up bring home a Brassia Rising Star orchid, a zygopetalum orchid {most amazing scent ever!}, a beautiful beautiful rose called Lavender Pinocchio {insanely pretty, a gorgeous lilac hued deep beigey milky coffee kind of wonder}, a new begonia {tuberous variety, my first} which has a beautiful fully creamy bloom {most of my other begonias were chosen for their interesting leaves}, a couple of bearded iris {green and gifted variety-I took a photo of the photo of the bloom, cannot wait to meet it in person}, [recounting my haul, I am a little embarrassed at my indulgence...not really], I found three tiny little vines that had the greatest seed heads ah! My first clematis, I thought they didn't grow in Sydney and finally at the last moment, we sighted some gorgeous and extremely precious double violets. They are white and named Comte De Brazza. The first one bloomed this very morning. It smells so beautiful, so strong for such a tiny flower. My friend make some violet granita with these petals {I tried it, the smell made my taste buds sing} and also gelato {talented friend}. I plan to attempt some tinctures and potions myself.

                                                                   ---plant joy---

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clematis. silvery perfection

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bearded iris, I will meet you soon! You with your wonderful chocolatey stripes and lilac tones

rose hips

in about one year, my Brassia may look like this

orchid, you are an octopus

3 of 4

Four very excellent things happened this week. For no particular reason at all I will start with Excellent Thing III: Begonia Wanderings.

I bought two relatively scraggly but lovable begonias at the flower markets one morning in January for $1.50 each. The guy didn't know what variety they were. The flowers are white and sometimes come out as singles, sometimes doubles. They look a little like helleborus at times.

mystery begonia

I started trying to find out what variety they were online, this lead me to discover the wonder and genetic diversity of these plants. They cross breed very easily so there are hundreds of varieties. They have such wonderful weird translucence. Often their leaves are more intriguing that their blooms. My internet begonia caper lead me to The NSW Begonia Society {yep.}. They meet monthly and in March hold their Annual Begonia Exhibition and Plant Sales. I went along to Annangrove, a gorgeously green area about a 50 minute drive from Sydney. The exhibition was held at Ross Bolwell's begonia nursery, the president of the society.

I was smitten the instant I arrived. When I arrived through the rain, I was the youngest person there by about 50 years {I could not have been more thrilled}. Everyone was so kind and charming and enthused about their plants. One man there called Alan was particularly sweet and said he saw me going back and forth and smiling at the plants so he invited me to become a member of their lovely coterie. Yes, I do believe I will join.

The breadth of begonia's diversity astounds me. I will stop writing now and post photos. I bought ten different plants. I'll photograph them in situ soon.

What a splendid way to spend a Saturday morning. 

Begonias are easily grown from cuttings, so if anyone fancies some do let me know I'd be more than happy to share them.

I thought I had summer blues, turns out I don't

I have had a weird suspended-in-time sort of feeling of late. I wasn't particularly enjoying it. I think it's because I have lots of little projects I wanted to get my teeth into but for whatever reason they were put on hold.

I did make a series of flower crowns [which may or may not be my favourite thing to make {they definitely are my favourite}] for a shoot.

I heard an interview this afternoon on fbi radio with a brassy blues band called Tuba Skinny from New Orleans. They played a few live tracks. So great. They nail that perfect laid back sauntering jazzy ragtime sound that I adore. Especially good to listen to whilst it's raining outside and you find yourself baking or arranging flowers or both.

Most of these blooms came from my garden. I am kinda proud.

this reminds me of easter for some reason

on roses and courage

It took me a really long time to decide to grow roses in the garden. I'm not entirely sure why but the thought of roses being dependant on me was slightly terrifying. I have long adored David Austin roses and, after reading through Susan Southam's gorgeous gorgeous book 'Velvet Pears' I felt convinced I could attend to them closely and have pretty fragrant roses all through the garden. Davis Hanna's Guide to Growing Roses {http://www.hanna.id.au/roses/}was a very helpful resource, detailing various types of roses and which areas in Australia different strains enjoy growing. I had a few special spots in the garden that I wanted to have a more roseate glow, mostly areas where I wanted climbing roses. We have a newish wooden trellis which has crab apple trees growing in front of it. They have lovely deep green foliage and the fruit begins a fresh bright green, later turning to a deep russet. At the moment they are in the midst of their colour transformation, mostly being green with a pretty warm blush. The trellis is up against a warm cream wall and there is also an ivy covered gate which leads to the neighbours' yard and a stephanotis vine arching over a deep green arbour. 

I am hoping the trellis will lose some of it's yellow hue-I know it will turn that nice silvery grey soon but I am a little impatient. 

I chose to plant Blushing Pierre de Rosard which is an exquisite fragrant hardy variety which will fill out the area nicely. I think the soft warmth of the bloom will be particularly nice against the deep red of the crab apples. The grower told me that the blooms will take on more of a pink blush throughout winter, returning to the rich cream in the warmer months-flowers are extraordinary!

Pierre de Rosard. I adore you. ever. so. 

We have had an old wooden half wine barrel in the garden, collecting rain and leaves for the past 6 years so I drilled holes in it, filled it with rose potting mix and a little mulch and chose the very pretty William Morris rose. The grower said it is quite rampant and forms a nice full shrub without too much work. The fragrance if this flower completely undoes me. The colour is a little stronger than something I'd usually choose but I do like it. They buds are a deeper pink which take on a lovely apricot and then open to a paler pink-mine are darker than the photo below, with a bit more apricot in them.

William Morris. Pretty creature.

We have two large wooden columns in the garden which I am hoping to cover in roses. The variety I chose was 'Jude the Obscure'. I have had them as cut flowers before and they cause my collar bones to ache when I look at them. The petal and bud form looks more oval and less blowsy than the other varieties. They become quite pale once they open and I thought they'd be pretty against the nicely aged wood of the columns. 

Jude the Obscure. Precious darling. 

Oh I adore them all! I planted them all yesterday with my mum. We dug nice big holes in our clay rich soil, put rose mix into the hole, spread out the roots and covered them up with soil and mulch. I have two more plants which need a home. The are 'Madam Alfred Carrier.' We thought we'd find room in the a garden bed but it looks like they'll have to find a home in a trough or pot-they are great climbers and we hope they will cover the wooden shed eventually. I have seen such wondrous photographs of them wildly consuming shed and arbors and homes. 

Madame Alfred Carrier

It was really heart warming to read Susan's book. Her garden is so special and she learnt so much by experimenting. I felt like I would do something wrong with roses or have a sad failure but if I do, I do and I'll just try something different next time. I was also fretting about making the wrong decision colour wise and then realised how silly that was because although some combinations are definitely incredible together, all plants and flowers are gorgeous so I'm sure it will all work out somehow.