Dunlop's Garden…

The garden we visited today saw us take a walk just down the road to our next door neighbours Jan and Ross Dunlop (Ross is the local mayor) I have admired the house from afar…

but today I had the privilege of seeing it up close :OD

Keep walking past the house and onto the expansive back lawn and tennis court…

The view of the back of the house from the tennis court…(swimming pool and changing shed just to the left) The french doors on the right was added on and this is where the kitchen can now be found…

From there we walked through the bush track to the lookout…

And then through the lovely old wrought iron gates to the wool shed…

The wool shed was fill of memorabilia from the past… and also had a brief description of the history of the property…

No garden visiting tomorrow… tomorrow we are cleaning up the section at the workers house in preparation for a relief milker… and after all the hard work is done I will get to go visit some on Wednesday with the Kindred Heart Stitchers’ and my lovely Mum…

Keep smiling…

Michelle

Garden Festival…

Each year about this time we have a regional Garden Festival, it’s one of my favourite times of the year… the festival started yesterday and goes until next Sunday and I aim to get around as many as I can this year… This afternoon I managed to get to three gardens… would you like to take a stroll with me?… The first garden I visited was in the Hawera township, I have lived in this area all my life and didn’t even know it was here, Lol

First here is a brief description from the Festival Book…

GRAVETYE

This five acre property, once ‘The Woolshed Paddock’ is now in it’s sixth year of development, with formal gardens, deciduous trees and room to graze stock. Several features radiate from the house, which include a lime walk, laburnum arch, reflection pool and enclosed vegetable garden interspersed with sweeping lawns. Hedges define each garden which contain topiary and plantings of iris, lavender and roses.

A lot of symmetry in this garden and lots and lots of lawn, even with a ride on it would take hours to mow!  But I liked the overall effect. The second garden I visited was…

PUKETARATA

Natives, rhodos, roses, hydrangeas, shrubs, herbs, perennial's and fruit trees under planted with daffodils, box hedging, and an abundance of bird life gives Puketarata diversity and charm. This is a large country garden set into the landscape adjacent to the 400 year old Puketarata Pa. Views of a borrowed landscape from a haha across a planted gully, and the mountain.

Can you see a wooden door built into the side of the hill? Any ideas what it might be? I’ll let you know at the end of this post… The last garden was…

OLIVER GARDEN

Two acres of immaculate garden, designed around mature trees and incorporating many rhododendrons , azaleas and wisterias. Sunken garden, maples and lakeside areas add interest to this well maintained garden…

Unfortunately I didn’t get many photo’s of this garden as my camera battery decided it would be a good time to go flat and the sky started to cloud over with big black rain clouds! The trees were stunning though and the garden was very peaceful to wander through. I really liked the way they have fenced the property, it would have taken a lot of work but the results were amazing. It was a good opportunity to play with my camera a wee bit, I am slowly(very slowly) learning everything it can do, this is my favourite shot of the day…

Even though I cut the top of the stem off…

For the next week or so I will be blogging about my garden rambles so if you are not really a garden person or not that interested please feel free to pass on through…

Did you come up with any ideas about what might be behind that door? Curiosity got the better of me last year when I visited and I just had to ask…

It’s a wine cellar! Did you guess correctly?

Michelle

Labour Day…

The holidays have come to an end… though we have one extra day off as today is Labour Day but come tomorrow it will be back into school mode :O( The weather hasn’t been the greatest but I love it when the kids use their imaginations and create their own fun…

Here’s ‘Lolly’ with her new teapot(it used to be mine;O) playing ladies… and my fridge has been turned into a pony paddock, Lol Today the weather has cleared and they have been out building swords and shields… and while they have been playing creatively outside, I have been playing creatively inside…

I have finished quilting the pink and green table runner for the hutch… just need to decide what fabric to use for the binding. Speaking of binding I have just received a baby quilt back from my LAQ so that will need to be done too.

And I thought I better show you my Tilda finishes for the month… a wee little angel wings pillow…

And a big poofy pillow…

I am sew happy with the way it has turned out…

Better go the day has suddenly disappeared on me… DH is on a road trip today with DS1, they have gone to pick up a new dirt bike and I am on farm duties…

Enjoy your day…

Michelle

Grow garden grow…

On Thursday I spent most of the day out in the garden the aim was to weed the vege garden but I managed to do everything but! Lol …instead I sowed some seeds… I planted some plants… I sprayed under the fences and along the edges… redesigned a garden edging…cleaned up the shed where everything just gets dumped… restacked what wood we had left… raked up all the wood chips into a pile… etc… The beans have grown heaps since last week…

Here is DH finishing off the bean frame… Isn’t he a good lad? He is actually smiling in this pic, our conversation went like this… “You are not going to put that photo on your blog are you?” Me… “Yeah of course!”  Him… Oh no your not!” Me “Oh Yes I just have!” Lol.

The other day when Gail and I went to the afternoon tea party she bought me a belated birthday present for the garden…

Meet Percy and Peggy Pukeko!  Thanks Gail they have added some quirkiness to my garden and I smile each time I see them!

I have planted Red Snap Dragons, pumpkin seeds, Aquilegia's(Granny Bonnets) and Red Bean Tree Seeds(don’t ask me what they are because I really don’t know do you?) I am guessing they are some sort of tree with bean like flowers!

I have planted Petunia’s in the tyres, I am looking forward to a lovely summer display!

So as you can see the garden is coming along slowly… It would be wonderful to have a more established garden but I am having fun creating new ones too from bits and pieces found on the farm…  I found this old garden gate the other day…

Which I already have plans for :O)

What is happening in your gardens?

Michelle