Frustrated Gardener

So what do you do when on a sunny Sunday morning, you have been given the morning off from participating in a Sydney Spring Cycle event (with the 3 boys out of the house) because you are sick? 

Arran, Charlie and Aiden off to Spring Cycle! Cuteness

The sensible person would curl up on the lounge, drink cups of tea and watch rubbish TV. Or perhaps a slightly less sensible, but social person would join a couple of girlfriends who invited you to go visit the Matt Blatt showroom at nearby Leichart and drink coffee. Or perhaps, if you had a small sadistic streak, you would put together around 30 pieces of Ikea furniture for an upcoming party at the house. Or if you were feeling domestic you might fold the mound of washing that is taking over your bedroom.

I didn't do any of these things. 

Even feeling pretty low with the onset of a sinus infection (that I finally succumbed to after the rest of the household has been sick for the past month or so), the thought of half a day to get some stuff done was too attractive. I went into a small frenzy.

Saturday was Charlie's first birthday party and I bought these amazing potted hydrangeas from Michael at Glebe General Store. 

They were so nice I got inspired and wondered how they would look in the ground. Well established hydrangea plants are dotted all around Glebe. I have written about them before, so I figured the climate must be ok for them here. I have a little strip of ground in the backyard which when we bought the house contained the start of a camellia hedge. Unfortunately they were a bit straggly and at different levels of growth. Not being much of a gardener and not liking camellia's that much meant my passion for saving them was on the low side. They got pulled out. I have had a bare patch there for a while now, cultivating weeds. I had planned to plant bamboo there to act as a screen, but we have been talking about having the whole back yard redone so I haven't done anything about that. 

Pretty inspiring, huh?

We have a little party coming up so I thought it would be nice to have some bright colour in the yard. I spent Saturday night thinking about planting hydrangeas in this spot and so given the opportunity off I went to Flower Power first thing on Sunday morning. 

How great do they look?

Ahhh...

I have decided I must be a frustrated gardener. When given the choice I wouldn't choose to get into the garden. I don't get a buzz out of having my fingers in the earth or get some kind of Zen feeling from connecting with nature while pulling weeds. I don't want a big back yard with lots of grass and would be just as happy living in an apartment with a nice balcony. Who needs a big yard when you live in Sydney's inner city? The Sydney City Council have done an awesome job of upgrading and creating the parks in the "villages" that make up the Sydney council area. We have an amazing park,  Dr H J Foley Rest Park right across the road from our house and I walk around the Glebe Foreshore at least a couple of times a week. Love.

Of course I am incredibly grateful to have a nice outdoor space to enjoy and entertain in. Any amount of space at your house in the inner west should be treasured, however most days I'd much rather be doing something to the inside of the house. I think what gets me out into our lovely outdoor space is the need to make it, and keep it looking beautiful. I don't particularly like the process of gardening but I like the finished result. If the plants don't die. And I have learned that the best way to prevent plants dying is not for me to pay more attention to them, but to buy plants that suit being neglected.

Wish my hydrangeas luck! 

Floral Fever

When I first moved to Sydney I got a job in Human Resources for a large global company. My direct manager was an Aussie expatriated to London. One year for my birthday she sent me flowers from Grandiflora in Potts Point. OMG! I had never seen flowers, or an arrangement, like it. Incredible sculptural and unusual flowers. When Arran and I got married I wanted flowers for our wedding from Grandiflora, but they were closed over the Christmas period, (we got married on the 28th December) and they recommended another amazing florist (who unfortunately I can't remember the name of). The flowers made the (very) hot and humid day. They helped create a beautiful space for the wedding and party. 

The following two photos were taken by Andrea Thompson of our wedding flowers. You can read a bit more about Andrea here or view her website here.

For my birthday this year Arran bought me a digital SLR Camera, a Canon 60D and a digital SLR course with Sydney Photographic Workshop, which I completed in October. The course was great and I highly recommend it. I practised some of my new skills on a road trip to Parkes. The next two shots I took in Orange at this lovely old park we stopped at on the way. You can see it was spring when we were there. All the flowers were in full bloom.

The other three shots were taken at home when I was doing some more practise.

 

 

So why all the shots of flowers? Mum bought me this amazing book for Christmas, by the florist Saskia Havekes from Grandiflora and it inspired this post. It details some of the large events she has styled flowers for. The book is called "Grandiflora Celebrations". I have just finished reading about each of the events and drooling over the glossy shots, in between looking after Aiden and Charlie and getting ready to go on holidays for a week. It strikes me that Saskia is much more than a florist. She is really an artist and architect who just happens to work with flowers as her preferred medium. Her writing is also "blog-like". It is like she is having a conversation with you about each event and some of the challenges. Very inspiring.