Garden rambles

I have bought three packets of seeds in the last week, two from Mitre 10 and the third from a seed company off the internet. I had gone into the shop hoping to buy some stock plants to fill my pot and when none were available, I searched the seeds. There were no packets there either but two others caught my eye, the first being cornflower and the second cosmos. I ordered the stock from the internet. Cornflowers have always been one of my favourite flowers, and although I have never grown cosmos, I know they grow well up here as my friend had them in her garden before she moved to Australia. I did grow cornflowers the first year I was here and they produced a nice bed of colour. The stock was something I was unfamiliar with when I bought some flowers several years ago but soon became a favourite due to their divine smell. These continued to bloom for several years but seem to have died out now, hence the reason to grow some more.

I have mentioned before how much I love flowers for their colours and their smells. While the hibiscus provide a lovely display, it is also nice to have flowers in the garden too. I see the daffodils are sprouting now. I love their flowers and scents as well.

I am not sure how long the seeds will take to produce their flowers. It is perhaps a wee bit early to be planting, but generally, we are frost free so hopefully they won’t be affected if I do put them in soon. Yesterday Stephen created a new garden for me and improved an existing one by removing the agapanthus. These will both make perfect flower beds. Each morning we have been feeding the birds a mix of wild bird seed from the shop. Hopefully they won’t want my flower seeds as well and will leave them alone. I used to always plant vege seeds, but I don’t have the north facing porch as I used to so haven’t done so while up here. I did plant pansy seeds once but they were very slow to grow so haven’t done that again.

It was so nice yesterday being outdoors after so much rain. I love the energy of the plants and the warmth of the sun. They both seemed to come together so perfectly. Sitting indoors, it is so easy to forget just how pleasant it is outside.

Stephen found one of his old bush singlets yesterday. For those unfamiliar with these, they are long, black, short-sleeved woollen garments and are super warm. I used to wear them when I was farming and I have claimed this one. It is so warm, so even if a wind is blowing, one is still warm underneath. Yesterday I didn’t need my jacket while on the beach, the singlet was ample protection.

Today’s chores will include filling in some soil in the new garden and water-blasting the concrete where the agapanthus roots sat. I am also relishing having energy to do these things, sunshine to allow it and time that is my own to spend how I wish.