I am by nature a messy person. A collector of useful and beautiful things. But like all messy people I like a good tidy up and I like to know where everything is. So I create systems and order. I also really care about the way my things look. Not because I’m superficial or care what other people think. I'm not and I don’t. I care about the way things look because I’m a creative person who loves making things and I like things to look beautiful. My kind of beautiful. This was a week of tidying and creating. And it was the week I was given a wonderful gift.
This is how the back garden looked two weeks ago.
On Monday, 2 cubic metres of arborist mulch was dumped in the back garden. It took me a couple of days to lay cardboard on the grass and spread the mulch. Now all the paths are uniform and the grass is gone for good. Arborist mulch is one of the best kinds of mulch. It has a mixture of leaves and stems which enrich the soil as it decomposes.
Pile of mulch.
This is how the garden looked after I’d finished the mulching.
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a podcast in the greenhouse. The podcast is called ‘The Cut Flower Podcast’ and it’s hosted by Roz Chandler, a British flower farmer. She was interviewing Nadine Brown, who’s an Australian florist and teacher. Nadine champions authenticity in design, sustainability and community. Three things I care a lot about.
Nadine created a business called ‘The Ivy Institute’ where she runs classes and mentors people on all things related to flowers. The Greenhouse is at the heart of her business. It’s a year long membership, which is an Aladdin’s Cave of floral amazingness. I applied and won a scholarship to The Greenhouse.
My scholarship gives me access to The Greenhouse and all that it offers for a year! Thank you Nadine for making my year.
I started the week wearing shorts and t-shirt. I ended the week in gumboots, jumper and woolly hat. A huge southerly storm arrived on Wednesday evening. The worst wind in a decade. Quite a bit of rain too. Outside jobs were put on hold. So I got started on cutting and printing my linocut. I’ve got a bit more experimenting to do but I should have the final print by the end of next week.
Every season I make a design and print a new greeting card.
Some of the test lino prints.
I made a flower arrangement with magnolia leaves this week. My neighbour pruned her magnolia tree and gave me the prunings. I’ve never used Magnolia leaves before. I ran around the garden in the rain, grabbing flowers and leaves. Then I set to work. I used one of my vases from my vast collection and a flower frog (I’ve got a big collection of these too).
Here are 2 versions. The first was good but was missing something. It felt it bit heavy.
I added some white chrysanthemums and an orange gladioli in the second version. It looks better, but still needs something else.
My spring bulbs arrived in boxes along with the rain. I unpacked them and sorted them into piles, putting the few bags of tulips in the fridge. As much as I love tulips I’ve decided I will only grow a few this year. I want to focus on bulbs and corms that come back year after year. Luckily my latest love are daffodils. And they’re so reliable and every year there are more and more varieties to choose from.
And finally I’ve made it to the front garden. There’s such a lot of weeding and pruning and plant moving. What would I do without my project coordinator?
