June Flowers

This month's pictures are a mixture of before and after: the snow, that is. The chrysanthemums, sweet peas and bishop's flower are now mostly mush, but the pansies, calendula and wintersweet are still going strong. There's even a rogue petunia mixed in with the carnations that just doesn't want to finish up. The fairy blush camellias are starting to open and hyacinths are popping up. It seems early for those, but I remember they did this last year and the flowers seemed to hang around for a while, as long as slugs don't eat them that is!

I'm picking big bunches of wintersweet and putting them throughout the house. Pansies make cute little posies and last a surprisingly long time. How is your garden blooming at this time of year?

Snow and sand

Ok, well as you can see it did happen! Snow hit on Wednesday and made a big cold mess. I managed to get away before it got too heavy and drove south where eventually it cleared, the sun came out and it was a nice (but cold) winters day.

My poor garden looks quite sad now. The dahlias are soggy black stems and many shrubs and bushes have been flattened. The peppers and chillis that had remained are piles of mush, but the cauliflowers have survived and I even picked the first one of the season today.

I spent a few days spending time with family in Timaru after visiting Dunedin for a funeral. A sad time but nice to catch up with people. Caroline Bay was almost empty on a sunny afternoon, which is my favourite way to find a beach... peaceful, serene, beautiful.

Today was cold and everywhere I went (supermarket, butcher's etc) people were talking about more snow. I'm not listening though... if I don't hear it it won't happen... I'll stick my fingers in my ears... lalalala.

Indoors

When it's gloomy and grey or night outside, I light the fire and put on some fairy lights and take my coffee inside. Sometimes I watch a movie but I always like to have crochet in my hand. The summertime blanket grows slowly but that's what I've come to expect. For a change of pace I make little covers for rocks - they are pretty and quick to finish.

I've been painting a china cabinet to hold my vases and other pretties. It's all done except the leadlight doors. I got some carved bone handles to gussy up the front. (I'll dedicate a post to it as soon as it's actually finished.)

My little feijoa tree outside produced about three edible fruits. Luckily my neighbour dropped off a big bag and I used them to bake a feijoa loaf. Yum... I love this oddly tropical tasting fruit.

The wintersweet is in full bloom and the scent of it is in almost every room in my house. It makes this time of year worthwhile. (Please no snow tomorrow... it's in the forecast but I have to drive to Timaru! Let's hope that snow cloud just up and disappears)

Outdoors

June is here and winter is creeping in. The weather is changeable, frosty nights followed by gradually warming sunny days. Gale force winds blow in followed by sudden bursts of rain and ending up with rainbows.

There are still flowers in the garden. The summer beauties are gone but the winter wonders have kicked in. Winter flowers are always so delicate looking, yet they are the strongest of them all. From fragrant papery wintersweet blossom to the silk-flower allure of the camellia, winter flowers lift my spirits when not much else does.

I work a bit in the garden, in the optimal hours between 12 and 4 pm. It's funny how this changes... in summer this is probably the worst time to be outside, but in winter it's that narrow window of opportunity and you have to grab it. My winter garden jobs include digging up some more flower bed (of course), laying some weed mat in various places and planting lavender seedlings along the back fence line. I've made a small start on one of these jobs. There doesn't seem to be any need to hurry.

I miss going for walks. I was in a good habit right before daylight savings for going for a walk in the evenings. Sometimes these days I go for a walk in the weekend, but often I'm too busy gardening, or else sitting around. I do a lot of that too. Really, you just have to roll with it. Winter is a time for hibernation and I guess that's what I'm going to do.