About our SPRING COLOUR WORKSHOPS .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

I'm a little nervous.  Now I've put the call out for our SPRING COLOUR WORKSHOPS, October 13th or 27th, I'm wondering if  
a) we'll have enough roses and flowers blooming at the time of the workshops; and 
b) will those who visit us for the first time be disappointed with my 'less than magnificent' country rose garden?

You see, our country rose garden is still quite new.  In fact, I've been doing this (working in the garden) more or less full time now for only two years.  Before that I was still lecturing and commuting interstate.  But jobs are difficult to sustain when you're flying weekly and running a full-time university course of 1000 students, as well as teaching into that course. While I just love teaching, there was no time to breathe, and definitely no time to smell the roses.

So here we are!  Trying to make this love of mine (teaching about sustainable natural environments & growing heirloom roses) into a full-time business!   My other love is using natural materials from the garden and creating beautiful bouquets, posies and wreaths - and of course, teaching others how to do the same! 

In fact, I love free-flowing, just-picked-from-the-garden arrangements using fresh home-grown flowers.  In other words, flowers that you don't see in the supermarket.  I prefer to grow heirloom roses and flowers that smell wonderful, are seasonal and can be grown without an array of toxic sprays to keep them performing.  

That's why through trial and error I've discovered that heirloom Tea roses perform well in our warm climate and flower for most of the year.   Some will have a rest during the cooler winter months, while others rest throughout the hot summer weather.  And instead of using pesticides and other nasty sprays, we under-plant our heirloom roses with old-fashioned flowers and herbs.  The birds and bees love it!

Tea roses come in a range of colours, from soft subtle pastels to more vibrant colours, often changing colour according to the season.  The variation in colour makes for gorgeous bouquets of different shades of ombre in the one arrangements.  

And the fragrance is lovely, varying from a subtle sweet tea (yes, just like dried tea leaves with a teaspoon of sugar!), fruity fragrance with a hint of citrus through to a strong old-rose fragrance!

So do think about joining us for our SPRING COLOUR WORKSHOPS!  We'd love to show you around our developing gardens, help you pick your own roses and flowers and serve you some refreshments. Oh, and you'll get to take home a gorgeous bouquet that you've hand-picked and created yourself (with our help), all finished off with a hand-dyed ribbon!  (We'll show you how to do that too!)

Our SPRING COLOUR WORKSHOPS October 13th or 27th, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland near Eumundi start at 9.30am and finish 12.30.  All materials and refreshments are included.  Contact us via FACEBOOK for details!  

Spring Colour Workshops .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

We are so excited about our Spring Colour Workshops.  Spring is the time in the rose garden where  there's a bounty of blooms to choose from.  At Edgeworth Lley - Heirloom Roses, we grow a range of heirloom roses and flowers that you won't find at a florist.  Perfect for creating stunning and unique bouquets for Spring. 

At our Spring Colour Workshops we will do a guided walk around the gardens and choose from the many roses and flowers on offer.  The colour combinations for bouquets and posies are endless (not to mention the fragrance combinations)!!! Then we will show you how to use your choices to create a stunning Spring bouquet.  You will also learn about dyeing your own ribbon using herbs from the garden!

As we guide you around the gardens, you might start with the bright red climbing rose, 'Altissimo'.  It's large red blooms are stunning as the central focus in a bouquet or posy. 

And of course, there are the daffodils.  The yellow of a daffodil will add warmth and joy to any arrangement.  

A special treat is the  Australian bred rose, 'Lorraine Lee', with it's gorgeous coral tones.  And the perfume is delicious too.

Because we don't use toxic sprays, we under-plant our heirloom roses with lots of herbs.  One of my favourites is the self-seeding borage.  The tiny blue star-like flowers are gorgeous and add a little bit of sparkle to a pretty posy.

We also use the herbs in our gardens to dye ribbon and fabrics to tone with our bouquets and posies.  At our Spring Colour Workshops we will show you how to dye your own ribbon with herbs from our gardens.   

Among the species roses is Rosa Laevigata.  It flowers only once a year, but it's large single blooms are astonishingly beautiful in the garden, and gorgeous in any arrangement.  

A favourite old-fashioned Tea rose for cutting is the luscious 'Mrs B R Cant'. She can have hundreds of double, pink blooms at one time.  We know Spring has arrived when she is covered with buds and blooms at various stages of opening.  

Sweet peas are another seasonal treat in the gardens.  We grow the fragrant old-fashioned type that go so well in our Spring posies.

Another favourite rose for bouquets is the climbing Blue Moon, one of our nostalgia roses.  The fragrance is delicious and the colour fits so well with so many other roses from the gardens;  a perfect foil for bright colours in a bouquet.

So gathering a range of roses and flowers from the garden is just one part of the joy of creating a gorgeous Spring bouquet. Once you have gathered your selection of flowers, we will guide you in how to -

Condition your flowers so they last longer in the vase.

Use your selections to create a stunning Spring bouquet that will smell as gorgeous as it looks. 

Show you how to dye your ribbon to tone with your bouquet using  natural dyes from the garden.  

Our Spring Colour Workshops are planned for October -  Thursday, 13th, and Thursday 27th from 9.30am - 12.30pm.  Refreshments and all materials included.  

Booking and details through our Facebook page: 

Edgeworth Lley-Heirloom Roses. 

We'd love to see you! 

Gardens Build Brains .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Did you know that walking in nature is good for our brains?

Sometimes the garden gives us little insights that we're not expecting.  We might be walking through a garden or park mindlessly, as I was on my usual early morning tour this morning.  Each morning our 3 dogs and I take our early morning walk through the rose gardens.  They sniff new trails and I snap photos of new blooms!

Often there are little surprises waiting for us to discover.  Such as this gorgeous late winter bud just starting to unfold on one of the heirloom roses.

But as I walked into the less tidy areas of the garden, my eye was caught by something a little odd.  Instead of wrapping it's tendrils around the strong arch provided for it, the jasmine had wound it's tendrils through the weeds .. 

  

  .. weeds that were earmarked for the chop later in the week!  Had I not noticed, the strong new growth of the jasmine would have been cut short with the weeds!  

And the thought came to me; 

"whatever we wrap our minds around

shapes our lives! " 

Sometimes, it's too easy to see only the starkness of the world around us, and dwell on the pain and sadness spewed out across the media channels!  

And we forget to 'on purpose' re-focus our minds on the lovely, simple little surprises in our daily lives.

Little treasures that are often in the foreground right under our noses.   A baby's gurgle, or a child's laughter!  A smile, or 'thank you' when we buy  that first morning coffee.  Or birdsong in the morning; a single rose or flower blooming among bare winter twigs.  

Or the transient sight  of mist rising up from chilled ground to mingle with warm wintery sunshine.  Little vignettes that are seen and then forgotten.  These are the visual reminders we need to notice and file away in our minds as reserves for when the worries and fears of this world try to take over!

So while my walks may seem like a random meandering through the gardens each morning, there is a purpose.   Noticing the 'lovely' and the 'surprising' has less to do with garden planning and maintenance than you might think.  

So, forgive me if I'm sounding preachy!  But every time I take a walk through the garden, noticing lovely new blooms or hearing the sound of birdsong, my mind is building strong neural pathways based on healthy thoughts.  That is, as I wrap my mind around these simple pleasures, neurons are building healthy pathways in my brain.  

And it's not hard work as I do this.  Natural environments have a way of allowing our minds to relax and 'just be' in the moment.  A kind of 'mindfulness' that takes no effort at all!

So taking a walk in nature every morning, or throughout the day,

 is actually a form of 'brain building'

that grows strong, healthy brains!   

The Hidden Gems of Winter .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Seasons are important in the garden.  Some are seasons of vigour and growth, while others provide rest and reserve energy for the coming seasons.  Which is why winter is such an important season in the garden, because there are hidden gems that are not yet apparent.

Although it looks as though there is nothing much happening in the garden, the starkness of bare branches is just an indication that things are exactly as they should be.

Winter in our garden is a time to plan;  a time to expand the gardens to include even more heirloom roses. 

That means taking up more areas of what was previously a field to extend the gardens further.

Winter also means we are awaiting the arrival of bare-rooted roses that we ordered in Autumn.  More varieties of Tea roses.  More rambling and climbing roses to cover newly planned arches and fences.

And while we wait for these to arrive, we're going about putting into place garden extensions that were previously planned on paper.  And building more arches for the ramblers and extending garden beds for the new Tea roses.

Our next task will be to plant out these roses when they arrive by post in late winter. That means some simple administrative tasks; like keeping a list of the roses we've ordered; checking off that list against the actual roses that arrive;  and, of course, planting the roses according to plans drawn up earlier.
















And so after all the work of winter is done (and we haven't even mentioned pruning!) it is fun to anticipate what the next season will bring.  And discover more beauty as the roses begin to bloom for the first time!

And to then create more lovely things from the heirloom roses ..

Inspiring workshops ..

Infusing pure olive oils with our fragrant rose petals ..

that go into our botanical soaps and skin balms ..

And pretty flower crowns for little (and not so little) crowns ..

And more gorgeous, fragrant posies and bouquets from the treasure trove of heirloom roses in our gardens at Edgeworth Lley.  

Truly a labour of love that brings great joy ..

Botanical Soaps and Skin Balms .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

We love our heirloom roses.  Not only are they fragrant and beautiful, rose petals from our heirloom roses also have beneficial properties that we are starting to harness in our botanical soaps and skin balms.

Our soaps and skin balms are hand-made with simple, unadulterated ingredients  ..  like olive oil and natural beeswax.  And our packaging is kept as simple as possible too.

To harness the benefits of our heirloom roses, we solar-infuse the oils we use in our products with pesticide-free rose petals grown in our gardens and field.  

Historically, rose petals have been renowned for their naturally soothing and healing  properties.  Over the centuries roses have been used in many therapeutic, cleansing and healing treatments.  In fact, rose petals were strewn on medieval floors to cleanse and purify the air!  

Now we know that roses have  anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, making roses very useful as a skin-care agent. So we use our pesticide free rose petals for their gently moisturising and healing benefits in our skin balms and soaps.  

We also love that roses are good for the mind too. Rose fragrance has  more recently been shown to have anti-depressant and memory improvement benefits.  We intuitively know this by bringing a bunch of roses close to our face to sniff and breathe in their fragrance.  And how disappointed we are when there is no fragrance in some of the modern roses on offer! 

Of course, if we knew that most florist bought roses were dipped in pesticides and other chemicals, we might think twice about sniffing them!  Our heirloom roses are free of pesticides because we allow beneficial insects like this tiny spider to do the work naturally for us.  

So our soaps and balms don't have nasty unintended additives like pesticides.  Which makes our roses good for the body as well as the mind.

We also like to think our roses are good for the soul, too!

So as we wait for winter to do it's work of allowing our roses to rest ..

we're looking forward to when our roses start blooming again, so we can harness even more of their goodness for our botanical soaps and balms!