It's spring Down Under and
this month I'm sharing some recent snaps from my farm garden.
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| I wish I could share the glorious fragrance of the climbing rose Zepherine Drouhin that grows near our vegetable garden |
My dear husband
put in a lot of work over the winter (I was too busy writing to share much of
the burden!) and our cottage-style garden is looking its best.
 |
| Our flowering cherry - sadly no fruit! |
We have a cool winter and
a hot summer and fruit, iris, roses and spring-flowering bulbs thrive.
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| I love columbines |
In the
last weeks the iris have been superb and the roses have just started.
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| Our climate is perfect for iris |
We had
the threat of bushfire last week but thankfully all we could smell was the
fragrance of roses.
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| I love the bold shape of artichoke, here with clematis and sage in flower at the front |
We grow vegetables too
though it can be a hit or miss affair as to when we actually get them planted!
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| Lots of lettuce! |
The cats are constant
companions in the garden and tend to photo bomb any opportunity they can.
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| Rhubarb, too - those are its flowers that I cut off so all the growth goes into the edible stems |
The
horses, little bulls and chickens all contribute to the garden with fertilizer.
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| Cindy is always nearby |
My husband often lets the horses into the garden but not so much at the moment
as the lettuce is a huge attraction. They nibble on the camellias too which
makes me rather cranky!
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| Ivy helps too |
At the moment I’m writing
a story that features a rather grand garden. Mine is not on such a scale but it
is lovely to be able to walk outside and feel inspired.
 |
| My husband worked all his winter weekends to put in this new path |
Are you of the
green-thumbed or brown-thumbed type of gardener? Do you have a favorite flower?
Do you enjoy growing vegetables or herbs? I’d love to know!
Make a comment to be in
the draw for a signed copy of my Christmas book for Harlequin Romance Diamond In Her Stocking.
Please include your email address in your comment if you want to be included in
the draw.
Kandy’s third
Dolphin Bay story for Harlequin Romance, A Diamond in Her
Stocking, goes on sale on December 1, 2014 and is available for
pre-order now
Kandy Shepherd is
an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives
on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family
and a menagerie of four-legged friends.
Visit Kandy at her website
23 comments:
Your garden looks beautiful. I'm no gardener. I have 5 pots that I can barely keep alive. It's way too hot to be out in the garden working now anyway.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
i'm not a gardener, but my husband has a green thumb, and i do love looking at flowers too. we have bougainvillea in many colours, roses, anthurium, dahlias and lots of local flowers. but the main focus is on fruit trees and the odd vegetable that survives animal attacks. :-)
your garden looks SO beautiful, and certainly grand enough for me.
Keeping pots alive is an art in itself Mary!
I adore bougainvillea Devika but it doesn't like the frosts at our farm! I can imagine the bounty of fruit you must get from your garden as well as the flowers.
Beautiful garden! Unfortunately I don't like gardening but luckily I have great mother in law who enjoys it so we always have beautiful flowers for our vases and homegrown vegetables for our table ��
Franalokas(at) yahoo (dot) com
Yes, I agree with the others. Your garden IS beautiful!
I would say brown-thumbed gardener best describes me. We keep perennials just so we don't have to be bothered with planting annuals.
Tried growing vegetables. Only ones that survived were the ones underground, like potatoes, as we have tons of animals in our neighbourhood that love to eat the above-ground veggies before they are ready for humans to eat. For the cost of a bag of potatoes, we no longer have a vegetable garden. (Oh! And skunks adored our composter, so we no longer have that either. Thankfully, our city now picks up compost weekly, so it isn't an issue.)
Fave flower? I suppose lilacs. Our lilac bushes had to be removed to widen our driveway a few years ago, but I still miss them (even though they were a pain at the time).
seytype at hotmail dot com
Kandy, what absolutely beautiful pictures! Love them! I, sadly, have a black thumb - I merely need to look at a plant for it to start dying. It's quite a superpower! Congratulations on the release of A DIAMOND IN HER STOCKING. I loved your previous two Dolphin Bay books and I can't wait to read this one.
Kandy, what a lovely garden you've got!
So looking forward to reading your DIAMOND IN HER STOCKING and seeing what's happening in Dolphin Bay.
I'm afraid I don't have a single favourite flower, but tulips and peonies are definitely in the list.
Love your beautiful garden Kandy. I also love the cat pictures. Big fan of your books and would love to win and read this one. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us and thanks for writing such great books.
christinebails at yahoo dot com
Your garden is beautiful! I love how your husband did the path, I miss having a garden, we will be moving towards the end of next month so we are looking for a place with a yard I can't wait to plant things veggies and flowers, The pansy are my favorite too. I love the sound of your new book and am looking forward to reading it. Love the cover.
Penney penneyw at sbcglobal dot net
How wonderful to have your green thumbed MIL to gift you flowers and vegetables Host!
Laney, you made me smile with your tale of animal predators! I love lilacs too but one of our horses loved our lilac tree too--to scratch his back on and tear off branches. The tree just couldn't survive!
Anna, the garden really is looking its best right now! I love the idea of a black thumb superpower - it could wreak havoc! Thank you for the kind words about my Dolphin Bay books, I hope you enjoy this third one.
Thank you Annie, and I hope you enjoy A DIAMOND IN HER STOCKING. Oh peonies, I adore them but have never tried to grow them. Must remedy that!
Thank you Christine for your kind words! So glad you enjoyed both the garden and the kitty pictures - the cats just had to sneak into a few photos!
Hi Penney, I'll pass on your comment to my husband re the path. He worked so hard on it, back-breaking work. I adore pansies too, I planted a whole packet of them this year and not one came up - don't know what I did wrong! The cover of A DIAMOND IN HER STOCKING is lovely, isn't it? The heroine Lizzie looks just as I imagined her.
Keeping pots alive is an art in itself Mary!
I have great admiration for anyone who gardens as I have a very definite black thumb ;) Thanks for sharing!
What beautiful pictures!
cinthiacinful1@aol.com
Thank you Erin!
Glad you liked them Cindy!
I'm a 50/50 gardener. Only about half om my plantings survive. I do use Miracle Grow and I water. I have a lot of pine trees and not a ton of sunny areas so maybe it's not all my fault.
My favorite flowers are hibiscus. Closely followed by gardenias and gerbera daisies.
Love your flowers.
johns lake at usa dot com
Hi Laurie, I know what you mean about being a 50/50 gardener. My husband and I were walking around the garden admiring how lovely it's looking at the moment--but we also talked about all the things we'd planted that had turned up their toes!
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