Blackwood & the Garden of St Erth

The Garden of St Erth, Blackwood 

 

The small township of Blackwood

One of the nice things about moving to a new area is the opportunity to head out and explore new places, and last weekend we ventured out for the day to the Garden of St Erth at Blackwood.  Nestled in the Wombat State Forest, Blackwood is a very small little township with just a local pub and cute cafe / deli punctuating the quiet streets, the main reason to visit Blackwood however is the lovely garden of St Erth.

The gardens are situated up a winding and hilly road, but once arrived you're rewarded by a very pretty 1860's sandstone building and several garden spaces housing a mix of drought tolerant flowers and plants, alongside fruit trees and organic vegetables (including many heirloom varieties).  The home-grown produce is put to good use at the rather delicious St Erth cafe where it's imperative to partake in a cup of tea (Earl Grey of course) and whatever yummy home-made cake is on offer! 

There's a little nursery on-site for seeds and plants (including some of the heirloom varieties) and it's also home to The Diggers Club which promotes sustainable gardening practices.  It was a lovely lazy day and perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday.            

Spring lovelyness

Nature at her best and showing off her latest spring collection

 

The Jolly cat and Mr J also enjoying the spring sunshine

Ahhhh, Spring has finally arrived (although it seems to have disappeared again this weekend) and I've been loving the sunshine and all the changes to the garden it brings. 

We're really lucky that the house we've temporarily moved to has a beautiful established garden (along with two gardener's - woo hoo!) and it's been magical watching the changes to the garden in just a few short weeks of sunshine and warmer weather.

Rather like a fashion designer and a model, spring and nature have collaborated to create their latest 2012 garden collection..... Bare spiky tree branches have adorned spring cardigans of bright green leaves.  Plain, skinny and angular rose bushes have slipped on ball gowns of flourishing glossy new growth.  Small tightly wrapped buds have burst open into ballerina-style tutu's and garden beds have been accessorised with a mass of colourful foliage and decorative floral jewels.

I'm always in awe of nature at work, her ability to create such harmony of colour, the detail and intricacy she puts into each petal and leaf, and the seemingly perfect use of symmetry and repetition.  I'll happily pass on a Gucci, Prada or Versace in exchange for a spring design by nature any day.

Earth 911 - reused planters

Floppy disk planters - Brit + Co

Super-cute colander planter - The Micro Gardner 

Vintage typewriter planter - Besserina 

Dump truck planter - Michael Coghlan 

Sweet shoe planter - Kidchamp

Kitchenware planters - me!

I love quirky planters, especially if the planters aren't typical pots used for plants or gardening purposes.  Recycling website Earth 911 did a fab little round-up today of repurposed planter ideas, including my teapot, kettle and saucepan garden planters!

Earth 911 is a super comprehensive website focusing on recycling, reducing waste and reusing materials - with heaps of info, news, lifestyle ideas and DIY projects.  Check out this video on the website about how plastic bags get recycled - it's quite an eye-opener!

There are some great planter ideas in the round-up and I particularly love the colander and vintage typewriter planters.  Too cute!    

It feels like spring....

With the lovely sunshine and mild weather we've had recently I've been fooling myself that it's spring already!  My plants are also thinking spring has arrived, with lovely colourful flowers and new growth appearing. 

I treated myself to a new camera several weeks ago (although I wish I'd  got round to doing this before the end of the tax year!) so I decided to take some practise shots in the garden and capture the wonderful colours nature so perfectly creates.

A big thank you must go to Jess from Skip Town for her fab online camera tips - very handy!  You can see her recommendations for choosing the right camera here.  (The camera I bought was a Lumix DMC LX5)

Re-Nest

I was super thrilled to see two of my projects featured on the fabulous Re-Nest blog over the last couple of weeks!  Re-nest is part of the equally excellent Apartment Therapy site, but it focuses more on green design and all things eco and recycled.   There's some great ideas and projects featured, as well as interesting homes, gardens and product design. 

My garden planting in teapots and various kitchen paraphernalia was featured in the repurposed planters round-up, and more recently my Me Old China cut-out wall plates were also featured in their own segment!  (Although the only person who has commented so far doesn't seem to keen on the wall plates as you can't use them as plates anymore!)

I was actually out and about in the garden this weekend, making the most of the beautiful autumn sunshine and giving the garden a bit of a clean up.  With all the rain we had over summer my little garden went crazy, with everything growing madly..... sadly including the weeds.  Vines have now been pruned and cut back, leaves swept up, snails disposed and weeds pulled.  The marigolds planted in the teapots for summer had all died, so these have now been replaced with various succulents so they'll still look pretty over winter!  

You can see the posts here:  repurposed planters & wall plates.  A big thank-you to re-nest for including my little projects, I'm very chuffed indeed :)

Castlemaine Festival of Gardens - part 2

Here are some more photos from the Castlemaine Festival of Gardens that I visited a few weeks ago.  The images were taken at a property called 'Lixouri' which has a beautiful Mediterranean style garden.

I love these sheep and guard dog garden sculptures made from scavenged wood and metal - the sunglasses are a great touch!

Nature never ceases to amaze me with her abundance of shapes, textures and colours - and I love these poppies that look like they're dancing in pink ballerina tutu's! 

I love this wire kangaroo sculpture - very cute!  The gardens were very inspiring to visit and think I'll allow more time next year to visit a few more.