A Plateful of Pink

I'm totally and utterly smitten with the Sedum 'autumn joy' I planted last year in my pink and yellow garden.  They are such wonderfully large clouds of gorgeous pink flower heads which then fade to autumnal rust and burgundy as the summer sun wanes.  As you can see from these photos, they are also an absolute feast of delight for insects, in particular the many bumblebees which frequent my garden.  They are the perfect landing pad for their heavy nectar laden bodies.  Count how many on just this one flower head...

I'm so impressed with the display that i'm re-thinking this whole garden bed, and will in autumn remove some of the existing planting and create a massed triptych of sedum, yellow flowered perennials and grasses.  I love the notion of a sea of pink sedum flowers floating amidst a sea of wavering grass dotted with yellow.

I first saw these sedums in New Zealand at the gorgeous Queenstown Airport planting (see photo below), designed by Blakely Wallace Associates Landscape Architects.  Nestled under the Remarkables the planting design at the airport is a wonderful example of how public plantings don't have to be boring or lacking in color and vibrancy.  The sedums, mixed in with native plants link beautifully to the rusty, sunlit slopes of the Remarkables and inspired me to try the sedums in my own garden.

Feathery Babies

We just picked up 40 new 5 day old Barnevelder chickens from Poultry Valley Lifestyle - they are such lovely bundles of cuteness and the dark camouflage coloring of the Barenevelders is just lovely.  One of the first out-buildings at Violet Hill Farm was the 'little red chook shed' and Barnevelders were the breed of hen I chose all those years ago.

There are four remaining of my first girls, and they still produce their lovely brown eggs every second day after 7 years!  Makes me wonder at the tragic waste from battery farming where after a year the hens are considered 'unproductive'.  After 7 years (and still counting) producing eggs my girls have earned a well deserved old age scratching around in the orchard and will NOT be going to the pot.  Anyway, they are wonderfully well-behaved examples for my new chickens.  Hoping that we won't have too many boys in the new cohort, but it's always a lottery.

Barnevelder hens originate from the Netherlands, and I drove through the village of Barnevelder just outside of Amsterdam when I attended a conference there last year.  They are a dual breed, which means they are good egg layers and also good meat birds (handy when you have a disproportionate number of males in the collective).  I have never had any health issues with any of my old girls, but then letting them free range in the orchard no doubt helps with their general health and well-being.  Barnevelders are so fabulous there is even a whole website dedicated to them! http://www.barnevelders.co.uk/chickens

I particularly love the large brown sometimes speckled eggs they produce, and after spending the day hunting for insects and pecking at grass in the orchard, the eggs have the most gorgeous orange yolks you could wish for.  I'm afraid that not even store bought free range cut the mustard at our house any more.  I highly recommend anyone having their own chickens, even in a small back yard - they are so easy to care for and are a delight to watch as they run towards you at feeding time with their feathery bums wobbling from side to side.

Purple Haze

I have one clematis in my garden currently, and it has proven itself to be the most fantastic ambassador for the genus that I am now plotting the location of at least 6 new varieties.  I had always been under the impression that clematis were particularly difficult to establish, but this large purple beauty is proving my assumptions wrong.  Mind you, I have obeyed the rules of leaving well alone and not disturbing the roots.  In fact, I don't cut back the dead branches either - I just leave it to do it's thing.  I'm thinking of trying some of the new varieties sprawling up into my boughs of my orchard fruit trees - a romantic vision of orchard gorgeousness!

It's funny how my garden journey keeps being triggered by memory - and searching through my folios the other day, I found a water-colour painting that I did in a botanical painting course at the English Gardening School based at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.  What dim and distant images must have been in play when I chose my purple giant - to bring back memories of that moment in time.

The bumblebees love the large plate-sized flowers and hang out on them for hours.  I'm going to spend many glorious hours deciding on my new range of clematis from Yaku nursery in Taranaki - a specialist clematis grower and supplier.  

Lily Late Arrivals

I planted a group of christmas lilies outside my kitchen window nearly 6 years ago and every year since then, without fail they have bloomed profusely just in time for christmas day.  This year, for the first time they were two weeks late!  However, they are easily forgiven, because as usual their display of fragrant white trumpets has been spectacular.  Even the little native solitary bees (look closely in the photo) have been enjoying their nectar.  I am planning to complete the front garden (currently a messy clay unfinished garden) this year and have plans for a mass planting of christmas lilies to frame a green rectangle of lawn. The intention is a purely white and silver garden with water feature, I have visions of Sissinghurst and Vita Sackville-West has been an inspiration for my garden as I visited there as a young landscape architect  and was inspired by the way she linked nature, gardening and poetry into one delightfully serene and comfortable landscape.  I like to think that the initial inspiration for her now famous white garden was derived from her love of nature and poetry, she loved walking at dusk and in darkness and was enchanted (as am I) by the luminescent quality that white flowers have at night.  Vita had a strong poetic vision of what the white garden would be, as she stated "I cannot help hoping that the great ghostly barn owl will sweep across a pale garden... in the twilight".  I may not have a ghostly white barn own to swoop over my moon (white) garden but the local Moreporks that call each night outside my window might oblige   - watch this space...

Vita's love of barn owls is reflected in this lovely poem...

Each dusk I saw, while those I loved the most

Chattered of present or of alient things.

The rhythmic owl returning like a ghost

Across the orchard cruising on wide wings.

She went, she came, she swooped, she sought the height

Where her young brood hid snoring for the mouse;

Tirelessly weaving on her silent flight

Between the laden branches and the house.

Creation of Living Roof

The following images show the stages in creation of a living roof on my shepherds hut sleep out.  I implemented the living roof myself and it was remarkably easy to achieve following  Dusty Gedge Living Roof DIY Guide.  The result is a stunning vegetated roof which not only provides great insulation for the sleep-out, but is proving to be a popular insect habitat and I think it looks fantastic.  I am now keen to have a living roof on any and every roof at the farm that I can manage - i'm a total living roof convert!

Structural roof beams

Plywood base to roof

Layer of pond liner

Adding timber edging and bringing liner up edge

Thin drainage layer added (Versidrain) - retains some water 

Adding substrate and plants (mix of sedums and succulents)

Completed living roof

View across living roof

Shepherds hut with living roof (plants peeping over edge)

Self seeded native orchid

A great habitat for bees and other insects

Elderflowers

My elderberry trees were in full bloom a few weeks back and I decided to try and make some elderflower champagne (River Cottage recipe).  The results were opened on christmas day and despite not having quite enough sugar the results were very tasty and had that lovely floral and yet slightly musky scent and flavour of the elderberry flowers with some great bubbles.  They are so short-lived it seems fitting to be able to capture their delicacy in a bottle.  I will try elderflower cordial next year and in autumn will look at using the wonderful purply black berries in jams and maybe a wine?  Not only do they taste delicious but just look at the gorgeous flowers, like tiny little start bursts - a favourite sign of late spring at Violet Hill Farm!

Roses Galore

One thing I have learned in my years of gardening is that it is always worth experimenting - despite any advice or opinion to the contrary.  I've lost count of the number of people who have said that we can't grow roses well in Auckland - all that humidity and black spot!  I love roses, so despite my clay soil and humid environment i've planted a number of old fashioned varieties, and i'm pleased to say that despite the odd black spot on the leaves (which I don't actually mind at all) the roses flower profusely and look wonderful to which the following photos will attest.  I say, there are no rules when it comes to gardening and a bit of trial and error is the best way to determine what will or won't work!