Did you know lavender has been valued as a plant for centuries? Lavender is visually beautiful, smells wonderful and attracts bees to the garden. As spring approaches in the Southern Hemisphere the scent fills the air. The delicate clusters of blooms can be blue, white, violet or lilac and the foliage can be lime green through to grey green.
Lavender is the common name of Lavandula, a genus of flowering plants in the mint family. The name derives from the Latin “lavare” to wash, as the Romans scented their clothes and baths with the flower. The plant has been cultivated for ornamental use in the garden, as a culinary herb and as an essential oil.
The calming properties of lavender means it is thought to be the most used essential oil in the world. It is also claimed to alleviate stress and anxiety and is often recommended to treat insomnia. Try a drop on a tissue near your pillow and see if it works.
The lavender fields of Provence bloom in the Northern Hemisphere summer, June to August, and have inspired authors, painters and tourists for centuries.
Lavender tea. I didn’t buy it as I’m going to try making my own. Being non-toxic, lavender is perfect for cooking, sprays and potpourri. Lavender bags in drawers create a sweet scent and bags on clothes hangers will make clothes smell lovely.
Caring for lavender bushes is easy. They like full sun, deep and infrequent watering and light pruning when necessary. French lavender, Lavandula dentara is less aromatic than English lavender, Lavandula angustfolia, which can withstand colder temperatures.
Lavender can be grown from cuttings, layering and seeds. As they often self-seed, try looking under an established plant for seedlings.
Today is Buy a Book Day, so very easy and pleasurable to celebrate, especially when you can browse online, order and have books delivered quickly and safely from my favourite, Book Depository. (see side bar for more information)
From the library “The Choke” by Sophie Laguna, is a story about relationships in rural Australian told by an abandoned toddler, Justine, being raised by her grandfather, an old man tormented by memories of his time on the Burma Railway. This harrowing story is well written but the underlying sexual violence, the obvious neglect of the child and the alcohol fueled violence within the family result in a very disturbing book.
Ignorant, neglected and with undiagnosed dyslexia, when Justine becomes pregnant at 13, she’s sent off to another town to have the baby. The grandfather believes he has made arrangements for the baby to be adopted, but Justine has other plans, and supported by an aunt she rarely sees, she keeps him.
I know this was supposed to be a happy ending but all I could imagine was a 14 year old with no experience of mothering, poorly educated, no income and living with her childless aunt and partner with no idea about raising a happy, healthy child. All a bit sad, really.
The author, Alexandra Joel, wrote this biography “Rosetta: A Scandalous True Story” about her great grandmother who deserted her child, Joel’s grandmother, as a five year old having already divorced the father. The great grandmother then ran away with her Australian Chinese beau, first to Sydney from Melbourne and then to the UK, where the pair practiced “Japanese” medicine, hypnosis and gave massages. Their clients and friends included aristocrats and royalty and their business flourished.
When WW1 broke out they returned to Sydney and continued to increase their wealth. Rosetta never attempted to contact her child and left her fortune to her third husband, a man forty years younger than herself.
A brilliant story about escaping a stifling environment and re-inventing yourself, but also another example of how being abandoned can impact on children. It was a fabulous snapshot of Australia from the beginning of the century until more recent times.
My favourite book this week is “Picardy” by Marian Somes. This memoir charts the family’s first garden of native Australian plants, through to a mixture of Australian and European plantings and finally, greatly influenced by trips to France, a large, fully blown, very French garden in Victoria’s Gippsland region. ( You can click on the bookcover or title to view and buy the book)
The Somes’s have build a rammed earth home intended to look like a French farmhouse, a dovecote and a barn which look lovely but it’s the garden they have created on their 26 acres which steals the scene. They have a cutting garden, annuals and perennials, a vineyard and olive grove, a trufferie and orchard, vegetable gardens and general planting to create a visual feast.
Somes is an accomplished cook and some recipes are included, but the most stunning part of this book is the gorgeous photos. A lovely read which left me itching for more land!
WATCHING
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society film was as good as the book and lovely. The lead, Juliet (Lily James), apparently previously worked with four of the other actors on Downton Abbey. It’s a moving film about post-war friendships, love and books. A successful London based author travels to Guernsey after corresponding with a member of the book club. A beautifully told but sad story with a happy ending and an amazing travelogue for Guernsey!
Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Peggy Plowright, Dame Eileen Atkins and Dame Judi Dench gather occasionally to reminisce. All stars of the English stage and films, the ladies talk is interspersed with flashbacks of them in various roles. Full of wit and wisdom, these iconic women share their memories of when they were bright young things through to their roles now days. The filming seems to take place in one afternoon and was very entertaining, although a little stiff at times.
Tomorrow is Shark Awareness Day
Researchers claim that about 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year. Thought to have evolved over 420 million years ago, sharks are older than dinosaurs. Their population is increasing every year.
I live in Australia, where in 2017, more than 66 shark attacks were recorded, with 20 being fatal. The State and Federal governments struggle to find an equitable solution to this problem so that humans can safely share the oceans with the sharks.
Do you love mushrooms? I’m the only one in my family who eats mushrooms and decided to try a boxed “Mushroom Farm”. Followed the instructions and misted the box everyday and waited.
Fifteen days later the first mushroom appeared!
Closely followed by some more.
Weighed the two crops I got and found I’d grown 156 g of mushrooms. What a flop! I could buy 1.5kg of mushrooms from the grocery shop for the $15.00 I paid for the mushroom farm. There was no second crop so the whole lot went into the garden as soil improver.
GARDEN REPAIRS
This gap between two lots of paving was cracked and some of the old pebbles were becoming loose. I dug out the old pebbles and concrete. The channel shows our grey, hopeless beach sand which needs the constant addition of nutrients
Mixed a bucket of quick set concrete using a recycled bucket from the local deli; it used to hold olives. Mixed it with a stick and poured it into the channel.
Smoothed it out and collected the pebbles I had cleaned and could re-use and included some new ones, too, partially burying the pebbles in the concrete.
The job is nearly finished. I hadn’t cleaned the pebbles with a wet rag when I took this photo. Two days later it has set well and is now clean.
SCRUMPTIOUS SHORTBREAD
I have a friend who often talked about the scrumptious shortbread her mother’s cousin, Nancy, used to bring when she was visiting. Nancy is a close friend of my mother’s and I was delighted to be given her recipe and couldn’t wait to try it. I’m glad I did as it is very, very good.
Cream 7 oz of butter with 3 oz of caster sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence. I discovered my electronic scales can be used in metric and imperial settings which was very helpful. Add 9 oz of plain flour sifted with 2 oz of rice flour. Mix and roll into a ball. I pressed it into a glass tray, rolling the top flat with a small rolling pin.
Cut finger shapes into the dough and prick with a fork then put it in the fridge for an hour.
Bake at 140 C fan forced for 45 minutes then leave it to cool. I ran a knife along the existing cutlines and that made it easy to get the fingers out when the shortbread was cool. This is good shortbread, tasty with a light texture.
Today is PINK DAY. Pink didn’t describe a colour until the 17th century. Before that, pink meant to create a perforated or punched pattern (think pinking shears) Pink, the colour, was previously known as rosy or pale red and remains the colour of romance. I hope you are in the pink of good health.
To celebrate I’ve bought some black and pink, not black and red, journals which are awaiting covers and marbled lining papers.
We enjoyed day trips while we were at Bunker Bay. Aravina Estate was recommended to me by a friend because she thought I’d like the garden.
I loved the garden! Set amongst bush land, vines, a lake and attractive buildings, the garden is gorgeous, even at the end of summer.
Also a small collection of cars and motoring memorabilia. To get to the cars and surfing exhibition, we passed through their shop, featuring gorgeous homewares, beautifully presented in a lovely space.
A very nostalgic wander around the Surfing Museum. This region is recognized world wide for its surf and beach lifestyle and is close to where I grew up. My husband found a picture of a surfer girl he said he knew in 1963!
Coffee out on the veranda. Tempting lunch menu but too soon after breakfast, so settled for coffee and the view of the lake and gardens. The wine we tasted was very good, too, and the staff were very helpful.
Finally, wandered back to the car park through the lush green garden. So glad we went there and will return.
MEELUP
Meelup Beach is a small, peaceful and protected bay and very popular for swimming, even early in the morning.
A group of artists sketching at the beach.
EASTER TREATS
Louis doesn’t eat chocolate but was very keen on eating his Easter Bunny.
This pretty wrapper for a block of chocolate is a gift from the very talented Mimi, from her blog A Tray of Bliss. This is one of four wrappers she has offered as downloads.
In a year when St Valentine’s Day ( I’m thinking chocolate ) and Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent ( a time to give a treats) fell on the same day, so too Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day share the same date this year.
April Fool’s Day is commemorated by playing tricks on people, who are then the April Fools! There’s many conflicting theories about the origin of April Fools Day, but most agree the pranks should end at noon. The most widely accepted theory is it began in the 1500s when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, but some people forgot or didn’t know, so they celebrated the New Year at the beginning of April.
I was intrigued by a recipe for bread cooked in a slow cooker, so gathered the ingredients and began making it. It was a warm day and the yeast mix began foaming quickly.
When the yeast mixture was frothy I added the flour and began kneading it.
Put the shaped loaf in the slow cooker which I had lined with baking paper then scattered chopped rosemary on top.
Two hours later and a delicious, aromatic loaf was cooked and ready to eat. The original recipe suggested putting the loaf under the grill for a minute or two to make the top more crusty but we couldn’t wait. Search online for a similar recipe if you are interested. I actually prefer oven baked loaves.
Fresh, warm bread and butter. Wonderful.
Officially, autumn has begun in the southern hemisphere, although the temperatures here are still hot, but slowly dropping. The most obvious change is it gets darker a little earlier. We don’t have day light saving in Western Australia so it is light until quite late in summer.
Our reaction to autumn is to make curry! This chicken curry was also made in the slow cooker.
Some chicken dipped in seasoned flour and lots of spices.
And six hours later, a feisty and delicious curry.
We served it on pasta as there was a good amount of sauce. Enough left for the next day, too, and the flavour had matured beautifully.
To mark autumn I made a new pen and glasses elastic holder in red for my diary. As many of you know, I’ve written in my diary every night for many, many years and described how I covered them, printed the marbled front and back lining paper and also the elastic holder here.
The garden is bursting with blooms and very pretty.
Went to the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at the University of Western Australia and really enjoyed their current exhibitions, especially the FLORA pictures from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art. This small collection reflects on the uses of flowers throughout history in decoration, in medicine, in love and death and as part of the ecosystem.
One of my favourites was this Margaret Preston’s “Jug of Flowers” print shown above. I really liked Nora Heysen’s painting “Gladioli”, too. Also at LWAG are Zadok Ben-David: Human Nature and In The Shadows.
( Image used by permission LWAGA.)
This is eucalyptus youngiana, a eucalyptus endemic to Western Australia. To celebrate the first anniversary of my blog I have a printable for you! It is a botanical painting of eucalyptus youngiana which I did some years ago. I wanted to give you a gift which is unique to Western Australia so I searched through so many of my botanical paintings until I found this one. I hope you like it. Please feel free to download and print it for personal use.
To print, click on the image and a printable page will appear, but please be patient as it loads slowly.
Today is Carers Appreciation Day in recognition of the enormous contribution made by paid and unpaid carers. So, if you know a carer, say “thanks” or send a “thankyou” card or email.
I’ve printed some giftwrap to decorate the table next week. We don’t really do anything special on St Valentine’s Day but like to do special things together during the year.
This paper is so easy to make. You need a cardboard tube, red acrylic paint, a folded sheet of paper towel, a saucer and a sheet of paper to print on. I used litho paper but most paper would be suitable.
Pour some paint into a saucer after you’ve squeezed/deformed your cardboard roll into a heart shape. ( It’s very easy!)
Dip it into the paint. If it seems too thick just dab it on the paper towel once, then print onto the paper. I printed in a pattern but randomly placing the hearts looks good, too.
MAKING cucumber agua fresca ( Spanish for “cool water”) a light, cool, non-alcoholic drink popular in Mexico and America. I had some in a cafe during the week and loved it so looked up the recipe.
Infuse one medium thinly sliced cucumber, a sliced lemon (lots of recipes use lime), 12 mint leaves and one litre of filtered water overnight in a jug in the fridge, stir the next day and enjoy. Different recipes add sugar and some blend all the ingredients to make a thicker, stronger drink.
I felt “as cool as a cucumber” on a hot and humid day!
COOKING ginger cake. This recipe made a very big cake.
The dry ingredients were mixed into the cooled, wet ingredients then cooked. Smelled good cooking!
A very big cake. ( recipe Womans’ Weekly Cookbook)
Topped with ginger icing, then some red grapes scattered with chopped, crystallized ginger. I prefer the ginger flavoured icing more than the lemon one in the recipe.
GROWING baby spinach which we eat all year round and also coriander to use as micro greens on salads. The coriander will bolt and go to seed in this hot weather if left to grow, but immature leaves scattered on salads taste very good.
This is my 86 year old computer competent mother scrolling through my blog. She has been staying for a few days.
Today is Toothache Day which is really about educating people to avoid toothaches and promote good dental routines. The focus is on good dental hygiene and suggests you have a yearly checkup as well as the usual daily care to prevent toothaches.
Easy to do, great looking and a lovely gift, its time to start growing an ivy topiary wreath if you want to give it as a Mothers’ Day gift or just as a pretty addition to your courtyard or garden. They are attractive and need little care except watering and twisting the growth around the wire frame. Well established wreaths need clipping back about twice a year.
You need:
* four or five ivy cuttings
* vase or jar with water
* potting mix
* pot
* clothes hanger
Select the size ivy depending on the wreath you want to make. This is a small leaf variety. I have two made with bigger ivy leaves which are much bigger wreaths.
Put four or five cuttings in water until small, thread like roots appear. I leave the vase out of sunlight in the kitchen until the roots appear.
Plant out the ivy and leave it for about six weeks to get established. I only use a fish emulsion on the new plant, but water regularly and keep it in dappled shade.
Now shape a coat hanger and bend the hook to a right angle to secure in the pot. I’ve made the circular frame from wire before but now just use coat hangers. I’ve also secured the base in a cut out circle of polystyrene in the past but now just embed the hanger in the soil.
Transfer the ivy to its final pot or embed the hanger in the existing pot. Gently twist the ivy around the frame. You’ll need to keep doing this every month. Soon you’ll have a pretty Ivy Topiary Wreath.
Today is Australia Day, the day Austalians reflect on what it means to be Australian, to celebrate contemporary Australia and to acknowledge our history. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and people from nearly every country in the would have created a dynamic society in an amazingly beautiful country. Today many Australians will enjoy a barbecue with friends and family and then, tonight, the wonderful fireworks all around the country.
Several sorts of chillis growing in the garden. Above are Numex Twilight Rainbow. They are so pretty but quite feisty!
Gathering cayenne peppers to make chilli jam.
Our son split the peppers and scraped out the seeds, then put the chillis into the food processor.
Processed to a pulp.
Then cooked with apple cider vinegar, sugar, water and pectin, following Nigella’s Chilli Jam recipe.
Pouring the jam into sterilised jars. Strong chilli aroma!
The finished chilli jam. Very pretty, very strong.
Our son adds the jam to “pep up” lots of dishes.
Picked spinach which I chopped and steamed for dinner, adding it to baby beans and diced bacon. Stirred in a jar of pasta sauce and poured it over tortellini.
Picked some baby beetroot, then oven roasted them for salad.
The roasted beetroot with roasted kumara (sweet potato), cos lettuce, thin slices of Camembert, sage from my Mother’s garden and traditional oil and vinegar dressing. A delicious salad and worth getting stained fingers preparing the beetroot.
Not edible, but also from the garden, the pink and red Pierre de Ronsard roses are in full bloom.
January is BRAIN TEASER month, so enjoy a cryptic crossword, play a game of cards, complete the quick crossword in the paper or settle to an online strategy game. I find keeping the rats off the tomatoes sufficiently brain teasing. Let me know what is successful, please.
Open Gardens allow entrance to some of the finest private gardens and occurs only once or twice a year. The entrance fee is usually directed to the owner’s preferred charity. Each is a wonderful opportunity to see gardens that are often behind houses you’d never get to visit. Generally the owners have spent months getting their garden ready for inspection. Often they are in the garden when it is open to the public and can identify plants and ideal growing conditions and talk about the evolution of their garden. The city garden above was calm and green and peaceful. Beautiful.
The rest of the gardens featured were on the Ferguson Valley Open Garden Trail through Boyanup, Lowden and the Ferguson Valley. We were blessed with lovely weather, good pub food and interesting gardens.
The gardens are in rural areas and were various sizes but all bigger than a suburban block in the city. Several fronted lakes or river beds . They were all great to visit.
The gardens varied in age, with one evolving over the past ten years and others being much older and added onto at various times.
The older gardens grew mostly European plants, some were a blend of both European and native Australian plants, like this bottle brush flower.
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Roses grow so well in this region. Not photographed but all the gardens had vegetable gardens, mostly in raised beds. There is very good soil in this locale and the gardens are green and lush.
Some of these gardens were on a grand scale, some were gardens which had just grown to fill the available space. Scent and colour everywhere. Most of the gardens had plants for sale, many had Devonshire teas. (Coffee and tea, scones with jam and cream) All enjoy gorgeous vistas across rural countryside.
There’s a mix of native West Australian plants and traditional imported garden plants.
Beautiful banksia, related to proteas.
It was really interesting to see what other people had planted, especially in shaded or windy areas and to see how they made the most of available water supplies.
Today is Sesame Street Day, established in 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the program. Sesame Street was devised to promote literacy in the USA and has been declared amazingly successful.
I have box (buxus) hedges and they “sucker”. I pull up these stray suckers and if they have a root attached I plant them out. These are generally successful.
Another method is to take a cutting from an existing plant. The best time to grow semi-hardwood cuttings, like box, is late spring to summer, although I have had success in autumn, too.
Take a cutting about 10cm/4 inches long and strip off all but a few leaves at the top. Keep the cutting moist in damp paper towel or newspaper if you’re not planting them straight away.
Push several stems into a pot of well drained potting mix and label them. Some gardeners recommend dipping the stem into rooting/hormone powder. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t and have good outcomes either way.
Cover the pot with a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off and the lid off to allow air circulation. This creates a mini-glasshouse. I only do this in autumn. Don’t let the pot dry out.
In about 10 weeks your plants should have grown roots and can be carefully transplanted. The plants in the pot above are three months old and have been very slightly trimmed and shaped.
TO TOPIARISE
To create ball topiaries, strip the leaves from the stem leaving the growth at the top. Begin shaping this using scissors or secateurs. Occasionally leaves will develop on the stem as they grow. Just pull them off.
These topiary trees are about two years old and I keep them dense and round.
This dome is about three years old and started with four stems.
This topiary tree is nearly four years old. Box grows well in full sunlight or semi shade. Don’t let them dry out.
Another dome started with five stems. Begin shaping as soon as there is sufficient growth. If you want to make a square/cube topiary it is easiest to plant four stems, one in each corner of the pot as this will thicken up faster than one with fewer stems.
I use a slow release fertiliser. The container will tell you how often you need to apply it for best growth.
Saturday 26th August is Dog Day and honours the special bond between man and canine. Take time to appreciate the love and value dogs bring to our lives and do your bit for abused and homeless dogs where ever you are in the world. Look at www.nationaldogday.com for more information and ways to celebrate.
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