Morning Diversion

I was pleasantly distracted this morning as I opened the gate to go to work - a delicate gossamer threaded web (strung between the bare winter branches of the Pin oaks) caught my eye in the morning fog.  It's nice on occasion to be reminded of the pleasure of stopping to notice the small things and the beauty and delicacy of the natural world - suffice it to say I had a lovely drive to work!

Early Spring

Spring has sprung early at Violet Hill Farm with one of my new hens going clucky and successfully hatching (a week ago) the first ever 'home grown' Violet Hill Farm chickens.  I could spend hours watching her demonstrate the art of grass pecking and scratching to her fluffy wee children.  I'm hooked now and have set up a special nursery area so we can have the ongoing delight of baby chickens running around the orchard.

Such an amazing process - the tiny life squeezed into an oval capsule and finally breaking out...

A Passion for Purple

Although the weather outside is still cold and frosty,  the later winter and spring flowers are defiantly blossoming in all their glory.  Purple seems to be the color of choice at the moment around Violet Hill Farm - most appropriately of course, given the farms namesake!

My all time favorite flower - the sweet violet (Viola odorata) is forming a profuse carpet of bright green and purple in the shady bed under the elderberry trees.  It has taken me quite some time to get a full carpet, but it was worth the wait as it has become the perfect spot for these tiny late winter and early spring jewels.

The Australian climber Hardenbergia is a cloud of starry purple pin-pricks - it's almost over-whelming...

...and the rosemary is making it's contribution to keeping the bees fed over winter with it's pale violet flowers.

But, still - there is no beating the beauty and scent of the wee sweet violet.  Diane Ackerman has written a beautiful book on scent and her description of the scent of violets is delightful "Violets smell like burnt sugar cubes that have been dipped in lemon and velvet".  She also explains why the scent of violets is so difficult for perfumers to capture; "Violets contain ion one, which short-circuits our sense of smell.  The flower continues to exude its fragrance, but we lose the ability to smell it.  Wait a minute or two, and the smell will blare again.  Then it will fade again, and so on."  - but despite it's flirtation with our senses it evokes such memories (in my case of visits to Mrs Hart's magical garden where I always went home from my fortnightly visits with a bundle of seasonal flowers, a few bantam eggs a tummy full of lemonade and dreams of secret gardens and the beauty and delight of plants), as Helen Keller wrote "Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived."  My garden is full of plants that evoke particular memories and I love the depth of sensory experience that provides as I wander the garden.  

I have a lovely old book of English wildflowers which contains a gorgeous description and illustration of the violet and I still adore the Shakespeare quote from Midsummer Night's Dream "I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows.  Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows".  

Now, the only problem is that one bed of violets is never enough - so the hunt is on for another secret shady spot to expand the territory of this purple sensation!

A belated documentation of work carried out on Sunday 8th July.  I was spoilt with a range of new plants for the garden from my favorite garden centre Wairere in Gordonton as a mid-winter birthday gift.  So, finally after a two week wait in their pots - on a glorious sunny winters day I spent an afternoon planting my new additions to the garden.  Two roses to frame an archway which will lead up into an extended area of garden in the current paddock (yes, the time has finally come when I can no longer restrain myself from digging up the grass and planting more trees)!  I wanted something of a similar nature to my all time favorite rose Madame Alfred Carriere.  She is such a gentle creature, with very few thorns and flowers profusely - even in the middle of winter!   So, I have chosen Crepuscule - a soft apricot yellow which will complement the soft blue of the archway posts.  Crepuscule is a noisette climber which is supposed to be very long flowering and (most importantly) fragrant, and by all accounts with few thorns.  I can only dream of one day having an archway swathed in green and gold (like this photo below).

 - and just so I remember the magic of plant growth - here's a photo of the two plants on day 1 - for future comparison. 

Other activities on the day included planting three new fig trees (we are totally in love with figs at Violet Hill Farm).  Fig Brunoro Black, Fig Omapere (both red fleshed - cause figs just look all the more delectable with the succulent red flesh beneath either the black or green skin), and Fig 'Panache' - which is an amazing striped fig (again with strawberry red flesh) - I just couldn't resist its melon-like disguise.  They are also known as 'tiger figs' - how fabulous is that - tigers in the garden!

And then a final pergola extravaganza - two seedless table grapes, one red and one green either side of the burnt crimson pergola - I have visions of plucking grapes while walking under the pergola to the glasshouse.

Winter Garden Preparation

A total 'winter clean-out' has been occurring over the last few weeks, with beds being cleared of old plants and fresh worm compost and soil added with winter veges then going in.

I have experimented with a cloche of hazelnut branches (sourced from my yet to fruit hazelnuts - at least this is getting some use out of them) for my winter planted peas - i'm hoping they will not only provide a frame for the peas, but also protect from those nasty frosts that we get in the valley.

Aubergine

The aubergines have been very successful this year and have produced a number of large glossy purple/black fruits.  I love the idea that they (including tomatoes, potatoes & capsicum) are all from the nightshade or Solanaceae family and potentially so dangerous with their vast and interesting mix of alkaloid properties!  Which reminds me of a wonderful book that I discovered recently by Amy Stewart - Wicked Plants, The weed that killed Lincoln's mother & other botanical atrocities.  This is a book which explores the realm of poisonous and deadly plants and the science, history and folklore surrounding them - it's a fascinating read with lovely ink illustrations reminiscent of old botanical texts but with a modern twist.

There are a number of famous gardens which highlight these types of plants - the most famous being that at Alnwick in England.  I rather like the idea of a garden of plant 'prisoners'.

Garden Bouquet

The one remaining dahlia corm that has survived the wet clay conditions of the garden is in full flower.  Makes a dramatic focal point in a green garden bouquet of herbs (rosemary, lemon verbena, bay, parsley and coriander flowers).  I am very fond of the perfect architectural form of the dahlia flowers so must hunt out a free-draining spot in the garden to have a full on old-fashioned riotously coloured dahlia bed.