I don’t know about other people but I find springtime so reinvigorating. I enjoy the flowers in my garden blooming and especially when I have scattered seeds from the previous season. Sometimes I forget what seeds I planted or rather scattered. At the end of the flowering season I gather the seeds in marked envelopes and store them, but sometimes I scatter a few at the same time. If it’s poppies, blue cornflowers and nemesia then it’s a long wait. But the delight when they bloom makes up for the long wait. It’s terrific and invigorating for me, the soft colours mixed with bulbs and long strappy leaves of agapanthus.
Before the heat of summer hits, it’s nice to enjoy the spring flowers in delicate textures and the sweet fragrance wafting through the air. I always dream of having a secret garden where only I can go and enjoy the flowers, however reality dictates otherwise. It is an ongoing process to achieve a particular look that for a very brief period looks like a botanical fairy tale. Still it is mine to enjoy and appreciate an art form of my own personal signature that means something special to me, but it has a spiritual purpose too. Because humans are both part of nature and creators both in the physical world and in the spiritual or non physical world of imagination and creation. What we think, we create. As above and so is below, literally.
The Australian summer can be incredibly hot and that means using a lot of water, so to create a garden with colour and texture one has to think carefully about what to grow and save water as much as possible. Then backfilling and creating an effect to give the illusion of depth, like a meadow or a country garden in suburbia is what I am trying to perfect. Older Australian gardens are usually a generous size unlike modern gardens, older gardens are great for creating a country garden or even room gardens. Mine is an old 70’s size garden that had gone through many transformations, from a basic backyard when we moved in to several styles of a cottage or country garden. Allowing for children to grow up and play in, thankfully they were pretty good and didn’t trample anything. Years later I am still trying to create a garden that all that I have to do is turn on the hose and that’s it, I am close to achieving that goal.
But nature it doesn’t work like that in reality, weeds turn up and spoil the fun. Sticky weed in particular in the past few years has been rampant in Canberra. I had never seen it in Australia until then. It was something that I remember from childhood in Scotland, when we used to stick it on our friends for fun. But over the past five years or so I have seen it growing in my backyard in winter and spring. I haven’t been able to eradicate this nuisance in my garden. That on top of ever present dandelions grrr! Right in amongst my flowers and after three years with rain the dandelions have good roots. It kind of spoils the fantasy of a botanical fairy tale. But it doesn’t dampen my spirit of imagination, to enjoy the simple pleasures of the garden in springtime.
This month the weather has been reasonably warm to enhance the flowers of the season and I will have an abundance of bluebells this year to add to memories. I often think of the bluebell woods in my hometown in Scotland except the ones that I grow are Spanish bluebells. Scottish bluebells are a different species and I can’t get them in Australia but that doesn’t matter it’s the beauty of nature and how I can create a gentle serene atmosphere. Soft nodding flowers in various colours and rich foliage are the look combined with fragrance that can live on in memory as a delight for years to come. A thick carpet of scented violets spreading through my garden every year adds to the creation. The sweet fragrance on a warm day is heavenly and gentle. Enjoy your springtime everyone savour the moment and beauty of the season.
Warm and fuzzy hugs 🤗
Alex
