Growing An Angel In Your Garden

Hello there!

Well we've reached the chilly bit of our winter now. You know, when there's frosts & snow (well a day of it) & all the leaves have finally fallen off the trees and even I wear a hat & a scarf & a jacket to garden. I think that the Chinese have a good point about keeping your "wind points" covered. Scarves are a very good idea to protect your neck from rogue winds.

But it's also the time when we all start to go on about how we can't wait for the spring bulbs..but hold on, half the bulbs are flowering very nicely already.

My friend Ruth grows wonderful narcissus...many of them of the jonquil variety. Here are just a few, in all their lovely glory.

I thought I must show you our snow (since it's quite an event), up on Te Mata Peak just last week.

Wind chill factor kicked in making the temperature -6 degrees C about this point; brother's know these things!

One recent morning I happened to be in the kitchen looking out the window when I heard a great commotion & immediately thought that Whistle had finally captured Elijah, our visiting racing pigeon friend. Here he is, just yesterday...

He's still wandering around the neighbourhood visiting where-ever he pleases. We often spot him meandering along the footpath. But, no it wasn't Elijah at all. It was a Kereru, a native wood pigeon. I shouted quietly for Rob to come quickly, as this wonderful bird had landed in our olive tree right outside the kitchen window. The Kereru then dropped down on to a buxus bush below & promptly squashed it!

We've never seen a one in town or in our garden in all the 26 years we've been here, until now.

A little nibble of an old wrinkled fig,

a quick drink from the bird bath. Lucky he didn't tip it right over!

And then a wee rest up in the frangipani tree before departing.

 I am so grateful that I live in a place where I can be a Garden Fairy the whole year through. I love sharing my plants & seeds & cuttings & sometimes a little knowledge with others through Trade Me. Sweet violets are one of the most sort after of my listings. I love the little stories & memories that people tell me about violets; usually from their childhood & their favourite aunty or grandmother. The fragrance evokes the memory of connection in a heartbeat.

I received an email enquiry form a customer (oooh, I have customers!) a while back asking me for a little assistance as she had searched the internet for tips on growing the seeds that she had bought from me, but hadn't been able to find a thing. She'd been searching for a plant called "An angel in the garden". So funny & utterly delightful! On my seed packets I write the name of the seed & then where it says origin I write "An angel in the garden".
It's quite amazing when you keep your eyes open, what you find in the garden that does actually flower through the winter.

We both love cyclamen.

Every week I bring home bunches of rainbow chard from Gay & Robert, the organic growers at the Farmers' Market.

It doesn't grow like this in the summer! Such stunning colours full of goodness.

Finding a good movie to watch is such a treat. We loved "What We Did On Our Holiday" so very much. "We're all ridiculous, really", says Billie Connelly, as the grandfather. I agree!

In late autumn I harvested ginkgo leaves just as they were turning to yellow. Only trouble was...I popped in to a funny little park down the road where I knew there was a good big tree & as I jumped up & pulled down a branch to gather the leaves there was a loud crack & a large branch broke right off & nearly conked me on the head. Oh dear, what to do. I couldn't very well just leave it there, so I grabbed it back to my car & stuffed it in the back seat & drove it home to deal with it there. It took me weeks to get rid of all the leaves that fell off in the process & dispersed all through my car. However..I now have an almost mature ginkgo tincture that I plan on taking to see if it might improve my menopausal brain function. Now wouldn't that be something to look forward to!

I friend posted this wonderful turmeric milk recipe on Facebook a day or two ago. It is so delicious & really nourishing & warming. I popped the recipe in the kitchen blog just here.

As an angel in the garden I have even taken up the role of cupid...what fun. I had a random enquiry for assistance from one romeo looking for purple peonies for his sweetheart. It turned out that I could help with purple flowers (as they had to be live) & manage a delivery too. All just down the road from one of my gardens. There were some theatrics & a little drama but all ended in pure delight. It's worth remembering that a gathering of live plants can be much more economical than a picked bouquet. This little lot only cost $20 all up. The hyacinth was just about to come out & had 8 beautiful stems/buds. Good old Rob spotted it at Bunnings when he went to buy building bits.

"So...let's make this garden this year more lovely than it's ever been." Yes please!
As to the experimental present free with every order. Perhaps it'll be a packet of An angel in the garden seeds? Wouldn't that be lovely!

I am so glad that you popped in for a visit. Thank you!! Wishing you all a week with happy bits of learning something new...it's so much fun!
Much love Catherine x0x0x0x

Sweet As, Sweet Betsy & all the Little Fairy Hats

Hello there, how lovely to see you!

After a long & strange three months things are beginning to settle here, just a little.

We have resolved layers of irritation & oddity concerning the factory over the wall, but I have still been left with my "annoying noise", albeit in a more subdued form. At least it doesn't terrify me anymore nor keep me awake night after night...it's just well....annoying!!

It seems astonishing that we are hurtling towards Christmas at such speed.

While it's still November I am focussed on the power & the beauty of our full-on spring time. So much to master & appreciate in the gardens; so much asparagus to be eaten!

I really wish that some things wouldn't run away as they do. I would love to have foxgloves in my garden all year round & lily of the valley & lilac.

So many fairy hats on one foxglove stem!

 And they come in the prettiest of colours.
Isn't this the sweetest little cottage (I spied it in Havelock North last week) It has a perfect little cottage garden growing all around it.

 I can never make up my mind which foxgloves I love the most....so I just plant as many as I possibly can.

The secret, I find, is to discover the exact spot that a particular plant really wants to grow.

 Sometimes it's quite surprising who is happy where. That's why I call mine a fairly accidental garden. Through the years...a campanula accidentally just loved to grow right here.

 Now these are very fancy fairy wear.

This larkspur just accidentally sowed itself in the midst of the herbs in the big half wine barrel under the washing line. There's none to be seen actually growing in the garden.

 This daisy is growing in a tiny pot but has also rooted in to the ground & just loves this particular spot. It has been here for years now & flowers & flowers.

This flowering cherry tree is called "Perfection"...

and is indeed a perfect spring canopy for Lucy.

The scent of some of these old roses is just divine.

 They don't last long once picked but it's certainly worth the trouble.

 I have just discovered that the little pink flower at the very front is called Sweet Betsy. Isn't that such a sweet name. It's also called false valerian or centranthus. No wonder it needed a nick name too!

 I have no idea where I came across this pale pink version but I adore it. I think it is probably the most useful annual that I have in my garden. It gently self sows, is easily removed if it turns up in the wrong spot, isn't too bossy or fussy & flowers for months & months...oh & the colour is so sweet. Lovely for tussie mussies.

Down at the bottom of our garden is a block wall. Most necessary to block out you know who! We live on the flat & because of the wall the drainage isn't that great, so...

  we ended up creating a kind of river bed. A place for the water to run off & soak away in it's own time with out drowning everyone down there...the bottom of the garden, the worms & all that.

We went & collected another boot load of stones last week, shuffled everything around & gave them a wash down.

A wee while ago I found this doll's house sitting in the window of the St Vinny's op shop. When you see things in their window that you like you have to rush in & put your name down in a little book & then you can come back & buy it in a week or two if you're first on the list. Usually I'm too late...but not this time!

 It even came with quite a bit of furniture.

 I found the little cats at the Napier market a week or so ago.

 There's all kinds of funny little bits & pieces in it now.

 It was so much fun when Nina & Luca got to come & play one day in the holidays. They were very good & decided on three rooms each.

 I've been meaning to tell you about this wee book that I ordered from The Book Depository a few months ago. Maureen (the author) says that she started telling little stories to her daughter to help her to have peaceful sleep. She says" I started with very simple ideas, like giving her an imaginary companion so that she would feel protected & never alone. I told Eleanor that from the time we are born we each have a protector who watches over us & who loves us. I gave this guardian angel really golden wings to wrap around Eleanor so that she would always feel secure.
At such a young age children need the reassurance of always being cared for, as the night & the dark can be very scary...."
There are 22 various scenarios/visualisations that can be read to children to help relax them at bedtime, strengthen their imagination, develop concentration, awaken creativity & learn to quiet themselves.
The story The Fairies begins like this "In your garden the sky is deep indigo blue with huge ballooning white clouds floating by & a yellow ball for the sun, it is lovely & peaceful. You can see before you a pathway that is winding in & out of the trees. I want you to walk down that path until you come to a small clearing-if you look very, very carefully you can see the fairies. they have been waiting very patiently for you...."
Christmas at Bethlehem is also very sweet. The books are only $14 which I thought very reasonable.
I kept this one. And then I sent for another....for you know who.

When I was little we used to listen to the wireless & there was a little programme for children called Listen With Mother. It was hosted by Kate Harcourt. She's quite an identity here in New Zealand. Funny thing...here she is, years later in this clever little movie. I thought you might enjoy it too.

Lovely to catch up with you.
 Thanks so much for visiting me here at An Angel in the Garden.
Sweet dreams.
Much love Catherine x0x0x

Sunshine and Moonbeams

Hello dear friends, how are you all?

Thank you so much for all your encouraging & caring messages last week. I am sorry that I haven't corresponded with you as I wanted to. It seems that I manage to go along just fine for a bit at a time, then quite suddenly find myself plunging below the emotional surface of life's waters once again; good intentions drown in the swirl. All that I can do is hold steady & do the basics as best that I can until I finally surface. I plan on finding stability one day &... peace. 

I came across this quote by William Martin during the week & I loved it.

"Help your children find the wonder & the marvel of an ordinary life..."

The art of enlivening the ordinary.

 How precious!

I quite often find myself reflecting upon the observation that when a child grows up immersed in the robust & expansive language of love & kindness & the wonder of the ordinary, that they then easily assimilate the rhythms of such a happy, self-accepting life; deeply & indelibly enfolding these things in to their own souls. The values & feelings are never lost, nor do they slip far from reach throughout a lifetime. Conversely, if we grow up without such healthy imprints or with patterns of negativity & destruction, we are equally permanently affected (some more than others) & only later do we perhaps find that we have the choice to reprogram the heart response & function; to learn the language & expressions of love & kindness that were never shown or given to us sufficiently in those early foundational years. It is in those years that we come to understand that others believe us to have value...or that we are, in fact, disposable & value-less.

To seek the wonder & the marvel of an ordinary life well lived can bring healing & richness as we learn the infinite pleasure to be found in the simple touch of a hand, the hug of a friend, the soft, furry devotion of a pet or the scent of the first violets. When value & purpose have been negated we either fade or flounder & fail to fully live or, it becomes a life's mission to restore worth by grace & determination & struggle....& raw belief that we do indeed have the right to a place in this world of ours.   

I have been studying the fascinating subject of the Chinese Five Element Theory these passed few months & have settled on the notion that I am very much a Water personality balanced almost equally with Fire. This knowledge has helped me immensely to understand myself so much better & my reactions to the unhelpful people & events that have so strongly shaped my life. I read somewhere this week that Water is the most vulnerable of the personalities to narcissistic abuse. So now I understand why I have struggled so hugely & my brothers not so much (or barely at all).

Likewise, for some of you this is way too much information, but for others, I know that you so need to hear that you are not alone in your own challenging & oftentimes scary journey.

We marvelled at the insides of this dragon fruit when we sliced it open with a big long knife one recent sunny morning. The startling scarlet colour, studded with black seeds; unexpected, the taste really quite plain.

The fresh lychees were found in the same spot in the supermarket. A precious winter treat.

Elephantine wrinkled skins, yet delicate, smooth & fragrant inside.

The dragon fruit although unremarkable in flavour had a strange effect in the mix. We found that after an hour or two that all the fruit juice at the bottom of the bowl had become a well set, ruby red jelly.

I had been wondering what to do with this chippy old, crazed jug when I suddenly had an idea...

I got Rob to drill a hole in the bottom & planted a sweet little pansy.

Thank goodness for the bright citrus colours of winter fruits.

And for the inexpensive "potted colour" that we can buy at the garden centre. They're pretty good value really as they last for at least 6-8 weeks. Way longer than cut flowers.

I love the sunshine shouty-ness of those early spring blooms. Whenever I see daffodils & forget-me-nots in my garden I declare it must be spring.

These little tete-a-tete are peering through the fence to see the passers-by. They're a little shy.

This boy is in his natural element...at the beach with his dad making a "card" for his mum's birthday.
A sweet gift from a tender-hearted & kind son; written in maori.

It was Anna's birthday on the 10th, our eldest daughter. It was also the time of the perigee or super moon. Apparently we won't see another quite like it until 2034. Rob & I decided to head down to the stop bank near the river & watch the full moon rise. It's easy to recognise the influence & power of the sun, not so much the moon. Funny thing though...Rob was on night shift over this time & it was on that evening that three of the elderly residents decided to depart this world (unprecedented apparently).  

It was fascinating to watch as the sun left, sinking behind the ranges in one direction....

& we waited just a little while, phone in hand to check the direction we should be looking,

when suddenly in the nearly opposite direction the moon arose. Surprise!

Almost...moon on a wire.

The next evening Kaitiaki & Anna came for dinner & as they left they looked up & saw a rainbow around the moon. Extraordinary indeed! The phenomena is known as a moonbow :)

On the really chilly or wet days I have been busy packing up my Trade Me sales & sifting through the  piles of things that inevitably need to be parred down & reassessed in any home. Guess what I was assessing when I found this inspirational picture?

Yes British Country Living, of course.

What a lovely idea. 
A cake stand nature table:

And then came a little sun. Wonderful!

As for the moon...he can be just a little too impertinent for some.

Sleep well my little dears.

May you find even a little wonder in the ordinary this week.
Much love & friendship to you all.
Catherine x0x0x