Spring in our garden

Yesterday was such a beautiful sunny day I had to spend it outside in the sunshine, no point staying inside on a day like that! So bluetooth headphones, sun glasses, hat and sunscreen were donned and I headed out to capture what spring has done to our garden. Yes my head was rather over encumbered.. These shots are the only ones worth including, the sun was so bright that it washed out most of the pictures. I shall take some pictures of the more interesting plants in the evening light.

 

 Beautiful Aquilegias - this is a two year old plants, taken as a seedling from last years rental house's jungle like garden. They seem to grow like weeds around here in Dunedin. This one is rather subtle, but still beautiful, was amazing trumpet shapes they have!

Borage - Always loved borage, in the house I grew up we always had some in the garden and the bees love it :) Great for planting next to vegetables that need pollination. These plants have been going all year and have taken over the garden bed, smothering all weeds - excellent! I had to cut some back just to give sun to the seedling growing in front of them.

Happy mister gnome guarding the bok choy....

Rhododendrons - They are everywhere in October! Orange, pink, purple, red, yellow, pink, salmon, white and cream, every colour imaginable really. Some have a very nice scent, but they don't last long as cut flowers, they just flop. Wonder how those crazy trees in St Clair are doing? They were like a blanket of magenta... 

Flower bed, marigolds of multiple colours, the russet ones are my favourite. I get my seeds from Kings seeds - excellent quality and price. My brother got me a 50 dollar voucher for my birthday last year, I easily got all the seeds I could want, and I still have plenty left. Heartily recommended!

Haven't done a project list for a while so here goes:

Completed projects this week and last two weeks (I've been busy!)

• Brothers birthday gift - bass strap
• Oscar's birthday presents - Funky fisherman pants and high vis bag cover
• Chevron lace cardigan
• Indian print coat
• Blue ikat skirt
• Red river gloves - unraveled the half fingers to make fingerless mitts instead, much more comfortable.

In progress this week:

• Lava flow cowl
• Purple cashmere shetland lace scarf
• Xmas presents (have to remain secret unfortunately, members of my family read this blog!)
• Kittyville hat to replace old one
• Planting out pumpkins, basil and cosmos.
• Learning how to use the knitting machine
• Learning new songs on accordion