I really do think that bulbs are amazing. They sit there most of the year, appearing to do nothing, yet at the right time of year they burst out with fabulous flowers. This year, I decided to grow a hyacinth bulb in a vase, which is specially shaped to support a bulb so that its […]

I read an article in the local newspaper yesterday about a competition to name a new Australian wild carrot. Umm, wow! The native carrot was discovered near Armidale 20 years ago and has been stored at the National Herbarium of NSW all that time. Now the Chief Botanist has decided it needs a complete name. […]

I’m sitting here at my desk, gazing past my computer monitor at the view into my back garden. There’s a hot water bottle on my lap and occasionally I rest my hands on it so they can warm.  It’s cloudy outside, with very light showers starting. My weather app tells me it’s 9.3 degrees but […]

I know a lot about plants and gardening. I’ve been learning, as well as practising, since I was a child. It’s amazing what you can absorb from reading and observing. I’m not an expert, though, and there is plenty I don’t know. When we moved to a home with an established garden, I wasn’t certain […]

Time for planting, that is. Now that I live here, I can hardly have a garden without tulips, can I? After all, the famous Boral Tulip Festival (sadly cancelled this year like many other crowd-attracting events) draws thousands of visitors to admire the blooms in Corbett Gardens.  Bulbs are mysterious and clever. Already the flowers […]

How is everyone feeling today? I’ve run away from the daily news and have been cutting roses from my garden instead because it lessens my anxious feelings. Surround yourself with beauty and small pleasures, people, because sometimes that’s the best we can do. ❤️ We’ll get through this. Stay safe.

We moved to a village in the Southern Highlands of NSW last October and it’s been a big adjustment after growing up and living in Sydney all our lives. We don’t miss you at all, Sydney, because it’s so good here! Now that we have made changes to the new house (with more to come, […]

My love of gardening came from my father. As well as regularly visiting garden centres, we often popped into specialist plant shows to admire the prize-winning plants. It didn’t matter whether it was an African violet, bromeliad or orchid show; we always came home with a couple of new plants. I knew that Dad would always […]

Indoor plants have been attracting plenty of attention over the past year. If you believe recent articles, they are having a resurgence from the years of the 1970s and 1980s as if they have never been popular before.  In fact, house plants have been popular for many centuries and have been cultivated by generations of people […]