Three Colours - Blue, Red and White

When I first started creating my garden at Violet Hill I wanted to have a colour theme for the structural components.  The house is white, with red roof - a traditional New Zealand farm house colour scheme (which I think always look fantastic sitting within the green paddocks of rural NZ).   Oh those glorious rusty red coloured farm buildings are a real passion.

I have always been a bit of a francophile and I love blues in gardens - so a split complimentary colour theme formed that consisted of an ox blood red and smoky blue scheme - this wonderful house frontage in Christchurch is an inspiration for how effective this mix can be.  Brings back memories of my favourite french films by Krysztof Kieslowski - trios couleurs: bleu, blanc and rouge.  Blue, white and red being the colours of the french flag and the Kieslowski's films are based on the french republic political ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

These images from the blog of Nichole Robertson a photographer working in France are so evocative of the intensity that these two contrasting colours can provide - I just adore them - they seem to have a real vibrancy.

These colours are beautiful together and within the context of the garden and plants provide some real interest and a bit of unexpected fun.

In fact, I have used Resene 'burnt crimson' and 'lynch' as the key paint colors.  These colour themes have guided a number of the features in the garden - including a recently completed mosaic paving feature.

Gates

And more gates

Pots

Shepherds Hut

Archways

Now what I need to plan is a stunning red colour themed garden like the inspiring and beautiful garden at Ellerslie Flower show a few years ago by Sir Miles Warren.

Pebble Mosaic Path

One of my summer projects was to complete a pebble pathway down the centre of the potager.  This links to an earlier pebble feature I created in the front of the glasshouse.  I love the look of pebble mosaic and it is a very calming activity to place pebbles - i've linked in the pattern the old terracotta bricks that are a recurring material throughout the garden.  Our neighbour just gave us 1200 more - so there will be more brick paving to come and I like the concept that i'm recycling - well actually in truth it's probably more upcycling as I think the brick pathways are a bit classier than a chimney!.

Living Roof for Chook Shed

In early summer I took inspiration from a living roof (described to me by a Polish ecologist researching the building) that was put onto a large chicken farm in Switzerland (below).  This living roof was established to provide temperature and ventilation control for the hen unit and to integrate it within the rural landscape in which the farm is located. 

The green roof controls temperature and ventilation inside the building.  In summer the interior temperature is reduced by 7 degrees due to the cooling effect of evapotranspiration of the plants on the roof.  In winter the improved insulation helps to keep temperatures constant.

By all accounts the hens egg production has improved due to the quality of life and comfort of the hens being improved by the ventilation and temperature control. 

So I set about retro-fitting my small chook house with a living roof using NZ native plants.  It was an easy and quick job (no more than 1/2 day all up).  The drawing below shows how the retrofit was designed for the chook house.

The roof not only looks great, but anecdotally seems to have created a nicer environment inside the shed - hopefully happy and cool hens in summer will mean more eggs.  I wrote an article recently for Organic NZ magazine about living roofs profiling this project. 

Despite the long hot summer (and without any watering) the living roof has survived its first summer really well and the muehlenbeckia looks great hanging down over the edge.

A fellow living roof researcher has also designed a living roof for their chook shed - it's in the shade so has been able to utilise NZ native plants that prefer shady environments - also very nice shed which you look down on from the house so looks great with a greened aesthetic.

Rustic Art Installation

Finally decided on a location for a terracotta sculpture that I purchased over 10 years ago on a trip to Tasmania with my mum and brother.  It is an Australian marsupial - the sugar glider (Peaurus breviceps - a gliding possum that lives in trees in Australia).

I decided on a lichen covered totara fence post collected on a trip to Taranaki - from an old abandoned Tarata shearing shed (I have a real obsession with old rural materials - rust, silvered timber and wire).  So the sugar glider now has pride of place in a corner of the potager.

   

Summer Update

 It's now past mid-summer and i've been slack with my garden updates over christmas and new year.  But the garden has provided a number of surprises and satisfactions this summer.  I have been appreciating some of my herbs - taking time out to see the beauty of small things - like this azure blue borage flower.  

Then contrasted with the brightest display from my calendulas.  Which this year I used to make both a calendula cream and calendula soap with a tincture of the petals and dried petals.  The medicinal benefits of calendula are renown, particularly for skin complaints.   The flowers contain antiseptic, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties that promote healing.  Aside from the above mentioned medicinal uses i've been throwing them liberally into our salads.

I extended my herb garden early in summer into an area of unused space at the end of the raised beds.  Old wine barrels seem to fit the space well and i've put in an apothecary rose, horseradish, french tarragon (because you can never have too much tarragon - it's such a lovely herb) and sage.

I'm very excited about growing horseradish for the first time - I figure the wine barrel is deep enough for the roots and by all accounts it's quite invasive - so should prevent unwanted spreading!

I've never had much luck with sage - so hoping that the free-draining soil I used in the barrel assist.

The new rose at front of house (another Madame Alfred Carriere) has taken off and looks gorgeous - who says roses don't do well in the north - rubbish.

I re-discovered a lost treasure in my green wall - a small native orchid is holding on and flowering for the first time this year.  It's delicate orange flowers are so perfect.

And finally after years of coaxing - my hydrangeas are finally looking healthy and have flowered profusely with a dense underplanting of sweet violet.  A particularly poignant success as I have such nostalgic memories of hydrangea and I really wanted some in my garden.  But more about that another time.

Papery poppies

Planted 12 seedling poppies in spring and in early summer was rewarded with the most gloriously decadent display of blousey, papery flowers.  I've always lamented not being able to grow paeonies in our climate - but these divine poppies would give the best paeony a run for their money!

One of the delights of these plants is that at every era of their lifespan they provide a interesting and beautiful displays - leaves are a buttery green colour and then the opening buds are a delight in themselves, with a burst of colour seeping out between the split calyx.

Then the flowers themselves - a troupe of ballerinas in pink toned tutu's dancing through the garden.

and last, but by no means least - the gorgeous seed heads - who gradually dry out and open up little holes at their top to release (in their own mini pepper shaker) the tiny black seeds we all love on our daily loaves (i've collected millions this year and we will be having our very own poppy seed loaf!

I wasn't sure how long the flowers would last in a vase - but I put together a potager bouquet for my mother in law's 60th and the flowers lasted for quite a few days before dropping their petals.

What a lovely result the bouquet ended up being - who needs a florist when you have a vege patch - poppies, artichoke leaves and rocket flowers - fabulous...