grammyinthegarden: January 12 2013 One year on

January 12^th 2013 and it is exactly one year since we moved into our new home. Looking back it was quite a year. Eight days after moving in my Dad passed away. In June Pop was taken to hospital by ambulance with gall bladder trouble. In July we went overseas for 6 weeks. In August Pop’s Mum passed away . At the end of November a knee op for me and when I was nearly recovered from that I was back into hospital with a kidney stone. At the same time we have been renovating the house inside and out, and entertaining friends and having great times with family and friends come for holidays. Never a dull moment.....just the way we like it.

The house is nearing completion although to look at it you probably wouldn’t believe me. The kitchen is to be made-over next week with a new oven and cook top, new benches and kitchen sink. The laundry will be done also. The bathroom will take a bit of time and we are still to organise the builder, but hopefully in the next few weeks it will be done. Our bedroom now just needs to be painted and the study also needs painting. The guest room will be next on the list and then once the hall way is finished then the floor coverings just need to be fitted and the furniture delivered. Anyway back out to the garden......

The vege garden has been one of my favorite areas. It is the first time I’ve had a real vege patch and I’ve loved it. In the garden at the moment are – climbing ‘purple king’ beans, butter beans, snowpeas, carrots, chillies, capsicums mixed and yellow, garlic chives, coriander, italian parsley, corn, lettuce, cucumbers and apple cucumbers, zucchini, a self sown potato, and 6 different types of tomatoes, as well as rosemary, thymes, basil and marjoram... oh and spring onions and picking lettuces....I think that is all.

The shade house has been a great success. The plants really thrive in there. During winter my begonias hid away from the cold there and now are enjoying sitting in the doorway looking decorative. The carnivorous plants are doing well and have even flowered. They must be doing there ‘thing’ because I haven’t seen one mozzie in the shade house. The orchids seem to enjoy the amount of light and the protection and I enjoy going in there fussing over them all.

I’m really pleased with the way the back garden has become what I dreamed it could be.....gone are the plants that self seed and make messes and in their place are more azaleas, camellias and rhodos. They are growing but it will take a few more years before they really reach a good height to give the garden some shade and also balance. The topiaries have grown and are now thriving in their little spot. The daphnes and boronias are doing well and make a wonderful fragrance that comes up into the living room when they are in bloom. All in all it has been a lovely year in the garden.....now for next year.........


This area has done really well - a small flowered fuchsia at the back of a 'burgundy Iceberg' rose

Burgundy Iceberg


The finished backyard deck - the swing is a great place to sit and have a coffee. It has to be tied permanently to the deck or else it is likely to go hang gliding around the bay. Ruby is my constant shadow inside and out.


This area was empty - I planted a 'Sweet Jane" camellia, an 'Amethyst' grevillea, azaleas and penstamins. The apricot tree has grown and has a good crop of ripening fruit