Pansies, Nemisia, Violets - My favorites

We are well and truly in the thick of winter now with 0 and 2 degree nights, even though the days have been quite sunny. Dry as a bone though. Pretty normal stuff for us here near the Blue Mountains - inland from Sydney. Always rains along the coast but we don't get a drop inland.

 

The garden is semi-asleep now and I`ve begun the laborious task of cutting things back to the ground so they can put new lush growth on for spring. All we need is Rain to get things going. The lawns suffer from early morning frost and lack of water and look yellow and sad. Dosn`t help that I weed- sprayed the lawn for bindii prickles and weeds, to add to the look of general `winterness`.

 

Soldier Boys - `Lachenalia` are a bright winter flowering bulb

 

 

These little fragrant violets always remind me of my Nans garden

 

 

All the trees have lost their leaves, the wisteria is asleep and the Roses are all bare stems and thorns that soon need their big annual prune. This is usually a massive task undertaken over the whole month of August. Shrub roses, pillar roses, climbing roses, groundcover roses - oh boy

 

 

Even so, there are plenty of flowers here and there to make a garden walkabout enjoyable still. My
orchids are flowering and the Camellia Japonica `Mine-no-yuki`. But the pansies - my absolute favourite garden flower, are all watching me with their little faces. I work in a plant nursery and bring home the prettiest ones I can find - along with heaps of other goodies. These are some of my favorites.

 

 

 It`s the time when lots of Daffodils emerge around deciduous trees and throughout the garden loads of pretty Nemesia and Linnaria self sow all over the place. I spend a great deal of time moving them about the garden late in the afternoons so they wont wilt. Being particular about the colours when they self sow, I pull out all the yuckie purple and yellow ones. It`s a hideous mix on the one flower so I yank em out when they first start to flower and only keep all the soft pastel colours. Yes, I`m that fussy with colours - they`ve gotta all blend just so.

 

These little guys don't look much, but they grow into the prettiest small plants full of tiny soft pastel flowers that last for months. And so it`s a bit of a dull time in the garden just now but I know that all my efforts will pay off when it warms up.

 

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you loved the pansies too. I enjoy hearing from you, so leave a comment if you like.

 

 

Yep, I bought a glasshouse

Only it isn't glass - it`s Perspex. I`m quite excited cause Ive always wanted one. I love the English conservatory style glasshouse, but this ones definitely not like that, although I plan to make it pretty, as well as functional. It`s going to be a hard working, and productive little space for seedlings and cuttings, and of course to protect tender plants in our cold winter. It`s already frosty in the mornings. We are still building the shelving for inside, but of course I cant wait, and have already put lots of plants in.

We`ve had loads of cold and windy Winter days and freezing nights, and I`ve closeted myself in already, even though it`s not even finished. Ooooh, it`s so warm and cosy in there! I just hope it wont be too baking hot in there in summer though. I`m hoping it will get plenty of shade in summer from the big Golden Elm tree nearby.

What a challenge it was, putting it all together. Soooo many componants and sizes of nuts, bolts and panels .Everything was numbered and put together with step by step precision. Mr Beatle was a great help and had endless patience whilst I read the 68 step manual and collected the bits and pieces needed for each step. We were lucky enough to have a suitable concrete pad to build it on and it`s been bolted down for added strength. It`s a solid little structure with two little air vent windows and a magnetised door. I already love it!

This is how we did it. Here we go....... step one, lay out all the parts. BLOODY HELL are there some parts!

 

A LOT of parts, with different size nuts and bolts and screws. Blimey.

 

 

It`s slow going - step by step

 

 

It`s starting to take shape now

 

 

 

Time for lunch. Good effort so far and not much arguing either.

 

 

By the end of the day it was nearly finished (and we`re still married) phew!

 

 

 

Now to build the benches. We had to purchase these bits separately as no shelves came in the kit. And yes, I`ve already started moving plants in and around.

 

 

When she`s up and running properly I`ll show you what`s growing on in there..... hopefully loads of seedlings and cuttings to sell at my Open Garden in Spring.

 

Thanks for stopping by. I enjoy your comments so please leave me some