A Mid-Summer Garden

A mid-summer garden in a sub-tropical climate such as ours is very much at the mercy of seasonal changes. All gardens have their challenges, ever-changing and shifting with the seasons, and AT MY ROSE GARDEN the impact of summer is readily evident.  The very nature of gardens though is that each season has challenges as well as spectacular offerings; like gorgeous sunsets and looming clouds heralding summer storms.  

Until the summer rains come, the garden is suffering from limited water, hot winds and high temperatures. And our grey, cracking clay soil becomes parched and splits to reveal deep crevices.  Our mantra is 'mulch and more mulch' but as a relatively young garden we are years away from a deep rich soil that retains moisture well.  Nevertheless we are seeing positive changes in the soil, with the garden beds showing signs of improvement in the soil structure.  

And this means that despite (or due to) the heat, flowering herbs and other lovely things are thriving; feverfew, tansy and cosmos to name a few!  

While some roses are flagging temporarily, other roses have taken no notice of the mid-summer heat wave. Take for example the Noisette rose, Milkmaid.  Bred to cope with Australian conditions by Alistair Clark in 1925, she has romped untidily to the top of a large archway, threatening to greet and overtake Lamarque (also a Noisette) creeping up the other side.  Unlike Lamarque, Milkmaid flowers only in Spring, so we are expecting a wonderful display of creamy white blooms this Spring.

Rosa Laevigata is equally exuberant, almost completely covering an entire arbour on her own.  Her thorns are strong and hooked, perfect for climbing but a little dangerous if you venture too near.  Even though she is a Spring flowering rose too, she will get a good trim before Autumn.  She is already so large that a quick haircut will make little difference to the Spring display!

And the Tea rose, Mrs B R Cant, continually offers up her strawberry pink, blowsy blooms no matter the weather.   She is a reliable bloomer, coping well with extreme weather conditions throughout summer, from hot and dry through to soggy and wet.  And I know that she always has several gorgeous, Tea scented flowers and exquisite fat buds just ready for picking.  In fact, I think she thrives on having her flowers picked so she can produce even more! 

Then there's the gorgeous, pale pink New Dawn, covering her arch in one season.  And Comtesse de la Barthe blooming away with her porcelain pink blooms.  The climbing form of Comtesse de la Barthe is competing with New Dawn as to who reaches the other side of their arch first!  



And who can dismiss the lovely creamy blooms of the early Hybrid Musk, Pax, perpetually blooming through all that summer can throw at it.

Half the fun of creating a garden is that it never stays static and each season has its own special features. And now is the time to enjoy and appreciate this season's delights.

'Tis the season .. to make memories at Christmas

I have always loved Christmas with its sights sounds and smells .. bright lights, colourful decorations and the fragrances that make up memories of Christmas times' past.  Growing up with the Australian bush at our back door, the smells of Christmas featured earthy yet spicy aromas of eucalyptus trees in the brilliant heat of an Australian summer. 

Our Christmas tree was a branch from a row of radiata pines planted by my grandmother.  The spicy smell of the resin from the pine is quintessentially Christmas for me.

But the joy of celebrating Christmas is that we can create new memories for ourselves and loved ones.  It doesn't need to be expensive.  What wealth there is in one rose filled with hundreds of petals.  And being surrounded by the fragrance of heirloom roses blooming in the heat of December is an opportunity to build new memories for our grandchildren.

New traditions;  An Australian native casuarina pine as our Christmas tree;  Long lunches groaning with fresh Australian seafood and salads;  Cold plum pudding with cool, creamy custard.  And after all the day's excitement, a relaxing evening walk in the garden with Pop trialling new 'child-sized' watering cans left under the Christmas tree.    

And new games to learn; like smelling and sniffing the roses .. before plucking the petals and tossing them in the air laughing and giggling.  This last trick taught by a mischievous uncle!  

And enjoying the riches of simple moments in simple surroundings creating life-long memories for another generation.  Even if families are separated by miles, laughter and fun can still be shared with the magic of today's technologies.

Oh, the joy of celebrating Christmas .. 

Merry Christmas !!

Drying Botanicals for Fragrance and Colour .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

After all the hard work of planting and growing heirloom roses, the joy of gathering up buckets brimming with roses, flowering herbs and assorted flowers and foliage is one of my all-time favourite  luxuries. 

Then there's the fun part of arranging posies and bouquets for special requests and occasions.  But after all the bouquets are wrapped and picked up or delivered, there are always left-overs.  

Being one of the last baby boomers, with parents who had grown up in the war years, wastefulness was never tolerated.  And childhood lessons are often hard to shake, so I have always felt uncomfortable throwing away left-over lovelies, like single roses, fragrant herbs and foliage.  

So I have decided to gather up spare roses and left-over bunches of herbs like feverfew and lemon thyme, and hang them to dry in my downstairs 'studio'.  

I'm gathering a little collection now and they're starting to look lovely .. little bunches and posies dangling in the breeze.

In fact, they're looking so lovely that I've started to pick and dry posies and bunches of roses and herbs on purpose .. just to hang and dry.

The fragrance is lovely .. softer and more muted than the strong scent of freshly cut roses and herbs .. but still very present.

So now whenever there's a bounty in the garden, or I need to dead-head roses, instead of throwing them out I gather up bunches and hang them upside down.

And they're just lovely hanging from the rafters!!!

So now I'm selling pretty little posies of dried botanicals that don't wither in the sun and heat and don't need to have their water changed daily ..

A perfect little gift for that difficult someone to buy for ..

Contact me via Facebook: Edgeworth Lley - Heirloom Roses if you'd like to place an order.

Rose-craft Workshops Preview for 2016 .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

In 2016 we are expanding our Rose-craft Workshops to include using roses in a range of simple skin-care products, healthy gluten-free cookery and children's rose-craft workshops.  

Our Workshops range from half-day (10am - 12.30am) and full day (10am - 3pm) and are held twice monthly from February to May, and then August to November.  Full day workshops are held on one Tuesday, with half-day workshops on one Saturday each month.  We are still working on dates for each Workshop but places are limited so book early.  In addition, we also design unique Rose-craft Workshops for small groups.  

Next year we are planning Children's Ring-A-Rosie Workshops during school holidays for children 8-12 years of age in 2016.  Parents are invited to stay and participate or relax in the garden with a cuppa.  Dates and topics soon.   

Check our Facebook page 'Edgeworth Lley- Heirloom Roses' for all Workshops dates to be released soon.

All our Workshops use the heirloom roses and herbs we grow at 'Edgeworth Lley'.  The roses we grow have varying fragrances, from sweet and strong through to fruity and spicy. In our Roses 'n Lotions Workshop for instance, we find a mix off these fragrances are lovely to use in simple and easy-to-make skin-care lotions.  

The oils released from rose petals are known for their benefits to skin, such as healing scars and regenerating skin tissue.  And the fragrance as it is released, helps to sooth and calm the mind.  

Through our workshops, we're hoping to teach that it is possible to make some of our own skin-care products using organic botanicals and every-day pantry basics most of us already have in stock.  If we can make our own skin-care products using natural ingredients we avoid using petro-chemicals and other nasties in many of our purchased skin lotions.  

In our Roses 'n Lotions Workshops we will look at using botanicals such as roses and herbs in every-day skin-care products.  (We don't all have to have large country gardens to use botanicals in our own skin care.  Just a few pots of herbs will provide enough botanicals for our own personal use.)  

And so here's a preview of our Roses 'n Lotions Workshops planned for 2016.  

One of the loveliest garden activities in the rose garden is gathering rose blooms and petals.   The roses will be gathered just after the dew has dried off the roses in the morning, before the petals have had time to release their fragrance to the heat of the day.

Then it is time to pluck the petals from the roses, after shaking off any beneficial insects so they can get back to work in the garden!  The rose petals are then gathered into small bowls, where they will be massaged by hand to release their fragrance.  This is a seriously heady experience as you breathe in the rose fragrances.  

The petals are then separated into glass jars and covered with olive oil, or apple cider vinegar, or filtered water and allowed to steep while we go off and have a cuppa in the garden.  After steeping, these will then be  converted into rose-fragranced body oils, sprays and soothing lotions for every-day use.  

Another of our Rose-craft Workshops, is learning the art of gathering and drying rose petals for use in the kitchen.  Our Roses in the Kitchen Workshop will show specific skills using roses in every-day cooking, such as in healthy gluten-free recipes.  

We will look at which roses are the most suitable to use for cooking.  We will also be doing fun things you might not expect to do in a rose garden; such as nibbling and sniffing some of the sweetest and most fragrant roses.  (For those of you familiar with our posts, you will know that our heirloom roses are never sprayed with pesticides or fungicides so are safe to use this way.)  

In the Roses-in-the-Kitchen workshop we'll look at drying whole roses and petals and how to use these too in beautiful recipes. We will make rose-based spice mixes as well as using fresh and dried roses in healthy gluten-free cooking ..  

.. and discover how not only the fragrance, but the colour of rose petals can be extracted to give natural colouring to healthy recipes.  

As well as our Roses 'n Lotions, and Roses-in-the-Kitchen Workshops, and children's Ring-A-Rosie Workshops, we will still have our Floral Rose-craft Workshops where you'll learn the floral art of roses in Tussie Mussies and Posies, in Rose Crowns and Rose Wreaths, as well as in fragrant artisan Rose Pot-Potpourris.  

We hope we meet some of you at our 2016 Workshops.  

Nature-Play for Grown-ups .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

The concept of 'nature play' for children is gaining momentum with recognition of its many cognitive and emotional benefits.  

But Nature-Play for grown-ups?  These days who has time to 'play'; what with work pressures, having time for  family  and then bills to pay, the concept of 'play' seems a little frivolous!  

Yet, if we don't take time-out to be still

and contemplate, preferably in a park or garden,

the business of 'every day' can become overwhelming.

So at 'Edgeworth Lley' we've devised a series of workshops that focus on 'Nature-Play' for adults.

We use therapeutic concepts that enable our minds to rest and allows time to slow down.  

Bringing the flowers in, so to speak, so that we can focus on the moment .. to enjoy some of the simple pleasures we have forgotten as adults.  

Watching petals fall from spent blooms,

stopping to smell the roses 

and discovering that different roses have a range of scents!

To learn nature-based activities, such as how to combine botanicals in skin care, in the kitchen and in flower-craft.

And to recognise that taking time-out in nature is an investment in our health and well-being.

We are planning our 2016 workshops for adults where new skills will be learned, and where

picking a few tiny sprigs of roses with herbs and perennials from the garden, or

making a tiny boutonniere can be one reminder to slow down a little, 

and to on purpose 'smell the roses'.