Pages

"She seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if she had surprised a butterfly in the Winter woods"
(edith wharton)


Wednesday 5 September 2007

around my garden

seems Spring is shy here in Woodford, not wanting to poke her head out just yet. We are back to cold temperatures.. out come the woollies for a little longer. a wander through my garden over the past few days. . .

the manchurian pear has finally decided that she is going to the Spring ball and the faeries have dressed her in a gorgeous spring green dress, that is decorated with tiny white blossoms scattered here and there. Spring green seems to be very popular at this time of year, many plants are wearing it to the ball.
Magnolia in full bloom, tempting the honey eaters away from the spring-time flings! My iris making it look a little like a Van Gogh painting...

Lady Lavender doing her best to out do any other plant in the garden, potatoes poking their heads up from the straw.

I use lucerne to mulch my garden and have just started to use hay bales on the paths between my vegie rows, so that when I need to walk on the path, it spreads the load of my weight, therefore, not compacting the soil down, allowing the soil to live and the worms to do their work. The hay looks wonderful, although I do worry about snakes taking refuge beneath the bales as the weather warms up. Tiger snakes have been known to do this in gardens nearby. Guess I will have to ask the faeries to help keep them away.

above is my medieval garden, as I call it.. time stands still for me here.

I love this part of my garden and as I am working in it, time stands still. I could be in the 16th century or even earlier. Wales or Cornwall? A different age, a different world. it really does stir something in my memory soul. I am sure I was a village wise woman, back then. I just know stuff.

“in my garden grew plenty of thyme
it would flourish by night and day
o’er the wall came a lad
and he took all I had
and he stole my thyme away”

the old word used for the knowledge of the secret properties of herbs is ‘wortcunning’ and this has always been a particular study for witches. Witches use the knowledge of both the medicinal and magickal properties of herbs in their crafts
the village witch was an herbalist, spell-caster, interpreter of dreams, healer, midwife and psychologist. In times where there were no or very few skilled doctors, she was the people’s only resource against injury and disease

I had fun watching Mr & Mrs Magpie going for the afternoon stroll, it is like he is the doting husband, showing her where the best worms are... looking after her as she is nearing the birth of their new family...

and if you enlarge the photo above, you will see my very first strawberry of the season. Joe made me the covering to keep birds and possums away

oh and the winner of the faery gift-a-away: I have a basic, easy way to pick a winner. I have some old bingo numbers and I put them into a hat, pull one out and that number corresponds with the order of comments. So this time it is commenter number 5 - JulieMarie ! The parcel will be given to my little faery bird friends and will be on its way early next week! I hate that only one can win but I like to have little gift-aways often, so there is always another chance!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been away for it seems like forever...I hope you are doing well. We have fall approaching. I will look forward to seeing pictures of your lovely garden.

Hugs,
Connie

Julie said...

Oh my goodness, I am very thrilled. I have never had a package from Australia before. I am not so depressed as when I put my name in for your drawing, but I'll take the faerie magick anyway!

XOXO,

Julie

Anonymous said...

Love hearing about and seeing your garden. Congrats to Julie Marie. Love Hugs and Blessings

Tinker said...

Your garden looks gorgeous, Robyn - that's a fantastic cover your husband made for your strawberries! Since, everything is dry and turning from a drought summer to fall, I enjoyed seeing spring in your lovely garden. XO

Peggy said...

I just love seeing your garden!

couragetocreatewriteandlove said...

Your Spring garden is lovely!

Julie Marie rocks!

Kim Campbell said...

I love the photos of your garden. I would like to see a picture of a magpie! And what is lucerne?

It will be nice to have your photos of all your pretty flowers etc, when winter hits us in the states!

Everydaythings said...

spring is busy here playing hide and seek withus, one day cold, and the next a beautiful sunny day - I dont think the garden minds though as its getting the nest of both seasons. YOur garden looks lovely - that net looks v sturdy.

Anonymous said...

This looks so very beautiful, I love the medival garden !!! The colours are beautiful and those first strawberries, yummy !!!!!
Have a great day Robyn !!

Anonymous said...

Hi Roby, no, you can still find me on my old space too, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm making a new site with countrygraphics too, which I love ; )
Have a great day !!!

A bird in the hand said...

I spent a lot of time in many gardens on my vacation! It reminded me of you. Jet lag is over, but now I'm grappling with a headache. Love to you xoxoxoxoxo

gma said...

Great Post!! Your descriptions of the manchurian Pear dressing up for the Spring Ball, the temptress Magnolia,Lady Lavendar showing off, and other pretties in your garden paint a beautiful picture.

Lila Rostenberg said...

loving the purples (lavenders?) in your garden!
Julie Marie wins!!! Yeah!

Gledwood said...

hey i put you in my links already... under wonderblogs... you'll find that plumpiemousie one there as well

i notice you're sensible enough to put anti-eye-pokers on your garden stalks!

Gledwood said...

you didn't get the title "and the journey continues" from music by any chance?

i used to have a tape by someone called robert leiner called visions of the past

judging by your posting i think you would like that also