Blessings on us all

A bit cloudy they said, after a gloomy old weekend. Not looking forward to a day of shopping and cleaning.
Then a totally unexpected 7 ml of steady warm rain and now glorious sunshine.
The garden is totally luscious, my cupboards are full and the house is clean.

Perfick!

Springing surprises

Half & half

The winter blues took hold in a big way this year, exacerbated by a very painful frozen shoulder and being home alone for eight weeks in the isolation of a country town in a cool climate. Four months and many days since the last blog or web site contribution, my writing frozen too.

I have always been a creature of the day, ready to sleep when the sun goes down, awake at first light. In winter I hibernate: knit, read, cook and write. I can talk on the phone for hours in winter, in summer I often choose not to answer it. With the lengthening days I find time to fit in time in the garden, walks, picnics and social activities and still have time to go work and keep the house running. By the of January I am often totally worn out, the long hot days  of the new year lending themselves to afternoon naps and sunset dips in the ocean.

Spring this year has bought weather changeable and extreme, alternating between warm/sunny and wet/wintry days and the garden is thriving on it. Splendid shows of poppies, jasmine and honeysuckle are vying for attention with some of the best flowering of bottle brush we have ever seen here. A massive show of "Graham Thomas" was quickly turned into a huge pile of yellow petals after wind and heavy rain. The third crop of weeds are shooting out of the ground and the fruit trees are showing a second flush of blossom - the first has already set fruit. 



This amazing rose appeared, half pink and half yellow. The second bud on the stem opened  exactly the same. 

All this activity has been impossible to ignore and has drawn me out of my cave and into the garden. 

I'm back!

Bees, bluebells and blossom



freesias



geranium

The first warm days of spring have bought out the blossom on the fruit trees, the bluebells and Dutch  iris. The jasmine and honeysuckle sent out pungent puffs of perfume as the sun tops the trees. The bees busy everywhere. The roses are suddenly thick with new red leaves and tiny green figs are visible as the first leaves unfurl on the fig tree. Walking at the beach this morning we found a patch of fairy orchids only metres from the ocean, their faces all turned to the east.



bluebells



This  quickening of life calls me into the garden.

So until the next rainy day, here’s  some photos.

Enjoy,

Fairy orchids

nirala



protea





  

spikenard



fig





And I will make thee beds of roses...

‘…my mouth fills at the memory of the perfume, like cream and marshmallow and burnt sugar and the heady mingling of cognac and fresh ground cocoa beans. It is the scent of a woman’s hair, just where the nape joins the skull’s tender hollow, the scent of ripe apricots in the sun…’

‘Chocolat’ by Joanne Harris

The garden at the moment is heady with such intense fragrance I can only close my eyes, breathe it in deeply and hope to place it in some part of memory where I can recall at will that ethereal, heady swooning sensation.
The fences are laden with pink jasmine and honeysuckle, Mr. Lincoln is sighing his rich redness into the air and the lemon tree is laden with absurd amounts of tart blossoms. The sweet almondy purple flowers of the cherry pie have wound their way into the lemon verbena like some rich dessert recipe. Custardy elderflowers and the fresh scent of lavender remind me of afternoon tea with elderly relatives, the musky scent of the poppies of forbidden pleasures.
Spring is a busy time, there is manure and hay to spread, summer vegetables to plant, bulbs to be dug. The window sill holds a growing collection of jars and bottles, oils and essences of petals and flowers and the dryer is full of lavender, roses and calendula, all in an attempt to capture the elusive nature of fragrance.
Unless you can grow acres of fragrant flowers, you won’t be able to create your own essential oils. It needs thousands of flowers to pass through the distillation process to produce a very small amount of oil. There is another process that can be done at home. It is a variation on the enfleurage method of extraction. There are a few different variations of this, each using oil or fat. I have found a good cheat’s method that will give you a nicely scented oil infusion.

Fill a jar with scented petals of your choice, a mixture of flowers can be lovely. Cover with grape seed or jojoba oil and add 2 teaspoons of vodka.Place on a sunny window sill or in a warm spot. Each day, strain the oil and replace the flowers with fresh ones. Check after ten days. If you would like a stronger scent, continue replacing the flowers each day. Finally, strain the oil through a piece of muslin into a dark glass bottle and store in a cool place out of the sun or refrigerate. Use in perfume blends, cosmetics or massage oil.

‘And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies…’
Christopher Marlowe