May Farm Flowers

I'm not entirely sure where times does. We moved up to the Blue Mountains four months ago. There's been a flurry of weddings since then I feel like I live partly in the mountains and partly at the flower markets, in a bucket of flowers. Not a bad situation at all.

A lovely friend {the lady behind henryhudsonblog.com.au a wonderful floral design blog} took me to  May Farm Flowers near Windsor. The grower there is a dashed lovely man called Chris. He grows ranunculus, roses {great old varieties and excellent new ones too-of particular note a couple of my favourites Hot Chocolate, Sentimental and Graham Thomas but also so so many more splendid roses}, poppies, lisianthus, kale, lavender, dahlias, buddleia, achillea, gardenia, veronica, smoke bush and some wattle and gum foliages. Really great stuff. Oh and rose hips and the most glorious exuberant scabiosa I've ever seen. Chris was really interesting to talk to. It's good to hear things from the growers point of view and also kind of scary. I guess it's the same with everyone growing/rearing things there's a lot of uncertainty.

Chris is at the EQ markets at Fox Studios on Wednesdays, fridays and sometimes Saturdays being kind, slinging flowers. What a world, eh?

He let us cut whatever we wanted. It was a life highlight.

Thanks Chris.

And warmest thanks to Amy for sharing the days photos with me-long live flowery adventures x

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---

Add caption

clematis. silvery perfection

Add caption

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

flowers in my veins

After the wondrous flowery adventure that was the weekend with Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua and Nicolette Camille {who works under her own very pretty name} I am feeling very focused on all things blooming. I cannot believe I was lucky enough to trip about to the markets with them, it was great to be there from the choosing of stock at the markets to the final arrangements. And all the splendid moments in between. Both girls are so talented and so lovely. They are really different but compliment each other perfectly and I think are tremendously good teachers.

Their passion and drive is truly infectious. They both feel so strongly about what they do and pour themselves into every arrangement. As we were packing up on the last day,  asked them where they thought they would wander over the next few days before flying home and Sarah said they might go to some more flower farms and buy gorgeous things for themselves and just make big arrangements. That really made me smile.

Sarah also told me all about her farm north of New York, dubbed 'World's End'. It sounds such a rewarding, difficult place to be and work. She and her partner {and adorable dog, Nea} have done such a lot and still have a huge amount of work ahead. I plan to visit in September/October and do some wedding work for Nicolette and Sarah. I have never traveled to America and would really like to be there for their Fall.

The Little Flower School style is so precious. I love how they create so many layers and moments in their arrangements. I have always loved that with flowers-having subtle little interactions between the blooms that take time for the viewer to find and appreciate. It's like getting lured in by a whisper.

This is the arrangement I made on our first day which was focused on center pieces, such an important part of a wedding. I was pretty happy with what I made. I adore the peach garden roses. The came from Tammy at the markets. They always have the most gorgeous, delicate, fragrant roses. I'd love to go to their farm one day. 

Little Flower School was such an incredible experience, I would recommend it to anyone considering falling headlong into deep flower obsession.

table center

other side-suprise daliah!

rose and fruit bearing adventures

I spent a little bit of time researching the roses I mentioned in my previous post and was momentarily attracted to the idea of purchasing bare root roses, which would make me feel like I'd been patient and that they were more mine alas alas, I couldn't wait until May 2013 which is when they are best planted. Instead we set off for Galston, North-West of Sydney. It's a very prettily settled rural area, we used to have horses there for a few years. The nursery we went to is called Green E Plants Rose Nursery. The owners were really knowledgeable and pleasantly peculiar which made it an even better experience. We bought 8 small potted specimens.

On the way home we spotted some side-of-the-road fruit, which is the very best kind of fruit. They were selling local nectarines, peaches and strawberries. Such warm bright colours and strong sweet fragrances, I couldn't resist buying far too many. We had extended family staying though so I justified my over-buying by pushing the precious fruit onto them in fresh, poached, barbecued and baked form.

When we were in Morocco in 2012, we came across locals cooking sardines in a Shwia {I'm not entirely certain how it is supposed to be spelt-I looked it up but can't seem to figure it out} over coals on the street. Basically, a Shwia is a hand held wire barbecue rack. We wandered around and bought two and have since cooked pilchards, prawns, sardines and peaches on them. They are really great to cook with because sometimes barbecues scare me a bit as I think I'll over cook everything. With this Shwia device, you can bring the delicious thing you are cooking as close to the coals/flames as you like and take it off very quickly-reassuring everyone involved that the thing won't get crisped.

silvery fish

I cooked the 'road-fruit with some thyme and rosemary on cooling coals for about an hour-checking them pretty oft. They were amazing, such a lovely rich flavour. We ate them with ricotta. The smell of them is incredibly enticing.

summery delights

 I also made an upside down peach cake which I was happy with. The peaches kept it quite moist so it was almost a pudding but the crumb was quite light somehow too. I'll post the recipe soon.

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.