In the pink...

A chill wind is blowing through my garden and the leaves on the silver birches are starting to turn. Oddly enough in the garden across the road the birches have completely turned already and one tree is already showing its silvery bare branches. Perhaps there is such a thing as the right side of the road.

The roses have given me so much pleasure in the past few months. The bushes in this garden are old, gnarled and woody. Our house has been rented out for fifteen years or so which probably means 15  years of neglect from tenants. Or more fairly, mistreatment by well-meaning but brown-fingered tenants like me.

I wasn't expecting much from the old dears but have been given a lot. A little dead-heading, not a lot of water and a lot of lovely soft pink blooms. Thank you summer.

Heartfelt...

There has been a lot of love on the blogosphere this week... apparently it was Valentine's Day this week, yesterday I think. I only realised halfway through the morning when my gym instructor wished me (and forty others I should add) a happy Valentine's Day. After a hard forty five minutes clmbing up imaginary hills on a bike he gave me (and the other forty) a chocolate heart. I didn't have the heart to tell him how much chocolate I eat in a week.

We ignore V Day in our house and my parents (who are staying with us) have always ignored it. They've been married nearly forty years and still laugh at each other's jokes (Dad jokes and my Mum laughs) so I rather think we can happily go on ignoring it. 

I read somewhere that today is Singles Day. I'm sure it's made up but do I like the idea. Not that I want to be single again, I rather enjoy my husband's company and love family life but I did like the time I had as a Happy Single before he and the two boys came along. 

These flowers are for all of you - the singles and the smug and not-so-smug marrieds. You may have seen them before on my table. Perhaps I'm in a flower rut but I do rather like them...

I also like my new purchase - new to me but old and no longer needed by someone else which is my very favourite sort of household item. 'Thrifted' is the term given to the shopping habit of more clever people. Me? I go to lovely well styled shops and buy my second hand goods there.

 The flowers and the new jars go very happily with my favourite green cupboard - also pre-loved and now very much loved by me and even my Valentine. The painting is one I bought when I was 23 and it's waited until this house to hang on a wall. It looks made for this cupboard with the same muted, restful tones. Odd how that happens by accident. I could never have planned it.

I am a little absent this week... spending time with my parents and my children. For families who move too much this is a rare treat and we're loving it.

Flowers for a Friday...

Walking with the family in Wellington last week (actually running, my boys never walk anywhere) we came upon this little grove of hydrangeas in a shady corner of the Botanical Gardens. Gorgeous.

Okay so the dusty pink is a little bit grandma. But who cares? Grandmas are the new black, just ask my mum.

Friday flowers and a few thoughts...

The past week has flown by with no time given at all to my poor little blog. It was the last week of school for my son. His first year as a school boy is now behind him and many more years ahead... ah to be five again.

I have been shopping, baking, arranging flowers and generally swanning around trying to emulate Nigella at her most laid-back yet charismatic best. I'd forgotten just how much I love cooking for others and will do more of it next year.

I had been feeling a little caught up in the pre-Christmas rush and then read this very personal post from Jane a blogger I really admire.

She writes as I would like to write with clear opinions and a wide breadth of knowledge about art, food, design and books. She has a beautiful life and I feel lucky to have shared a portion of it through her posts.

Her life in the coming months will be difficult. A good time for us all to pause and remember how fragile our beautiful lives are and how worth fighting for.

Gardening inside and out...

Thank you for all your kind, sympathetic comments about my son's foray into indoor gardening.  What am I talking about?! You all LAUGHED.

Actually I did too but not while I was cleaning the floor and trying to get dirt out of the cracks. (some is there to stay)

Now to my outdoor garden. It's a work in progress so I took a stroll to get some inspiration and see what I should plant to replace my hedges. I found a lot of green. Green, green and more green. When did flowers go right out of style?

Luckily everyone's picked my favourite, the Iceberg rose. They look simply lovely lined up behind a white picket fence and the grey villas I like so much are a perfect backdrop. Icebergs are blousy and beautiful and wonderfully disheveled. We ordered Icebergs for my wedding flowers and the commercial ones looked nothing like they should - they were prim and perfect and quite overworked.

I loved these old-fashioned climbers peeking out from a less than perfect picket fence. The pale pink rose will probably go when the landscape designers move in.

So what did I learn from my garden tour? Green is good. Actually green is god. And lots of structural plants in rows at different heights with dark grey pots and edging. Crisp white paintwork and blousy white roses.

I came home and popped this Nicotiana or flowering tobacco plant in a pot.  I grew these in my London courtyard and they have a beautiful delicate scent in the evening.  Despite the name it is not the scent of smouldering Marlboro Lights.

Luckily hydrangeas are back in fashion - I read that somewhere this week but they're probably only talking about the white ones. I've just planted one in my new patch of soil where the hedge used to be. You know how I like to be dead on trend.