Relaxed Native Wedding in Early Summer

Relaxed Native Wedding in Early Summer

Comment   

K & S Photography

 What a great setting for a relaxed summer wedding - the Coal River Valley is a beautiful part of Tasmania with many fabulous wineries.  Pooley Wines is the setting for this wedding I was privileged to provide flowers for.  

The three bouquets combine pastel summer tones with the textures of native foliage and gum nuts.

In the bouquets you can see Wax Flower, Eucalyptus, Dryandra Formosa, Proteas and a number of different Leucadendrons including Pisa, Safari Goldstrike and Safari Sunset.  There is also some late Berzelia.

K & S Photography

I love the style of this informal, yet well-considered wedding theme.  

Early wax flower, some still in bud, combined with gum nuts, eucalyptus foliage and the soft silvery yellow of the Leucadendron Pisa bracts surrounding silvery cones - simple rustic boutonnieres.

K & S Photography

A beautiful country scene!  And great photography by Kat from K & S Photography.   

K & S Photography

They look so happy!

K & S Photography 

There were so many lovely details included in the celebration.  Floral centrepieces were created in vintage fowlers jars and suited the long table style of seating.  Bunches of flowers were also hung on the doors of the beautiful old stone barn where the wedding was held.  You can see a Leucadendron Silver Tree cone, more gum nuts, Silver Tree foliage, Leucadendrons and Proteas.

Native summer blooms are combined with foliage, gum huts and twisted willow.

The pincushions are Scarlet Ribbons which are early in their season here, and are softly purple and red coloured.  

Little details provide personality to a wedding.  This wedding had loads of personality!  The chair decorations were simple but added soft summery colour to the ceremony seating.  

K & S Photography

Leucadendron Love

Leucadendron Love

Comment   

Leucadendron Red Gem

It's this time of year that I fall in love with Leucadendrons all over again.  Not that I ever really fall out of love with them.  Its just that as autumn deepens, their new growth matures and their colours really pop.  Maybe I forget over the summer, just how sparkly they can be.

Front: L. Safari Goldstrike,  Middle: L. Jubilee Crown,  Back: L. Safari Sunset

In the foreground, the Leucadendron Safari Goldstrike are still in their growth phase, and too droopy to pick.  But that startling red in the back row is the Safari Sunset, showing off one of the reasons why it's the most widely grown leucadendron.

Front: Leucadendron Maui Sunset, Backgrounds L. Tall Red

Everywhere I look in mid autumn there are leucadendrons showing off.  Some of the Maui Sunsets have just set their flower heads and others are still growing.  Their colour is dusky but fresh.  Behind them is the glow of Leucadendron Tall Red.

Leucadendron Tall Red

The Tall Red are such a great filler.  

Leucadendron Inca Gold

Inca Gold are a fabulous yellow winter flowering Leuco.   Most of their growth has happened by this time of the year and the winter weather brings the colour.  They can be picked green, and often have a bronzy orange tinge as the you get towards the red tips.   

Leucadendron Safari Sunset

Picking Leucos is a pleasure.  It's one of my favourite jobs on the farm.  There's always a feeling of satisfaction at this time of year when they're a fabulous colour, and great length.  

Leucadendron Safari Sunset

And there are also moments when I gasp, and have to whip out the camera to capture the light and colour.

Safari Sunset at Sunset

I love Leucadendrons!

"Rustic Vintage" Native Wedding

"Rustic Vintage" Native Wedding

Comment   

Natives are a great choice for a spring wedding because there are so many gorgeous colours and textures available to use.  I was excited to be able to provide flowers for a lovely bride for her November wedding.  Her idea was for a "rustic vintage" look.

A beautiful vintage lace dress with red lipstick and green shoes was the starting point for these bouquets - not too big, and in a simple hand-tied style.  

That gave me the perfect opportunity to use some lovely vintage lace that I've been keeping in my stash.  

All the bouquets and boutonnieres were bound with the lace.  Its so nice when you find the perfect use for that special something you've been keeping!

For the brides bouquet, I used a white waratah surrounded by some Satin Mink Proteas.  You can also see some Safari Sunset leucadendrons providing the darker tones.  Some pink kangaroo paw called Bush Pearl also adds to the pinky red tones.  The creamy leucadendrons are Lemon Spice, a female Discolour leucadendron that is green most of the year but in late spring changes to a this gorgeous cream with pink tips. 

 For the greens, there are eucalyptus buds, peppermint gum, and some thryptomene foliage.  The silver balls are a Leucadendron called Purple Haze.  The foliage has a purple tinge, but these cones produced after flowering are a pretty silvery addition to a bouquet.

Wax flower was also sprinkled throughout the design, seen here in the boutonnieres.  I was also able to use Berzelia.  It is a spring flowering plant that is often used at its green stage, but in late spring the little green balls "flower" and become a gorgeous fluffy white.  They are just perfect for weddings.  

So the "rustic vintage" look came together with a pink, green and cream colour scheme.  

Hello Winter

Hello Winter

Comment   

Winter is here.  There is always just a little sadness heading into winter.  I find myself almost grieving  at the turning of the season.  Autumn has its beauty and in Tasmania, I think its possibly the best season.  (So difficult to pick!)  But prior to the solstice, the onset of winter can make me feel a little sad, with no apparent reason.  

And then, like waking from a dream, I remember its charms!  There are misty, foggy days that make you feel like you're the only person on the planet. 

The rain is so refreshing, so life-giving.  The plants drink it up and seem so full of life.  

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that live around the Tasman Peninsula are more often about, singing their raucous songs.

Winter has its own beauty.  And I remember that I love it!  I love the short days and warm fires, the crisp morning air,  the moss,  the rain, the mist, and I LOVE the colour!! Although this is my sixth winter at Swallows Nest, I still am surprised by the intensity of the winter colour that our plants produce.  Yellow that seems to trap the sunlight and glow, startling pink and red, lime green, and pale buttery yellow, peach, and white.  

And then there are those euphoric blue-sky days that have such clarity as you look up that you feel as if there is nothing but sunlight between you and the rest of the universe.  

Winter is also a busy time with planting, clearing, pruning and picking.  So forgive the recent lack of blog posts!  In the next few days I will catch you up on the flowers that are making winter so colourful here at the moment.  

What's your favourite thing about winter? ....

winter mornings

winter mornings

Comment   

Winter mornings can be spectacular here in Tasmania.  Frost, fog, mist, mizzle, ice, even snow on occasions.  And blue skies!  I love sunny winter mornings.  They are usually accompanied by frosts and as the frost melts, mist wafts up from the ground, glowing in the sunlight.  This week we've had some low lying fog which are really quite spectacular to see from above.  

Picking on these mornings can be a real joy.  New growth can sometimes be frosted with ice, and sparkling like treasure.  I took a break from pruning yesterday to take a few photos of these floral gems.

Thankfully proteas are, on the whole, quite frost hardy and will tolerate the cold as long as there is good airflow and the temperature does not dip too low into the minus'.