Hello Snow!

Hello Snow!

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After a cooler, wetter summer than usual, we are now experiencing a colder winter than usual.  Last Monday most of Tasmania woke to a blanket of snow.  It snowed in the capital city Hobart for the first time since 1986. With snow down to sea level in some areas, this was a newsworthy weather event.  

It's always a magical experience to wake up to a white winter wonderland and it doesn't happen very often here in, at least in the more inhabited parts of our state.  Even school was cancelled, and the kids went out to play in the snow.

Last time we had snow at Swallows Nest Farm was mid-September 2013.  The snow was beautiful but it did damage some of the early spring flowers that were just starting to bloom.  I lost a lot of my waratah crop that year as the early ones had all begun to unfold.  The snow left burn marks on their bracts and petals.  I was keen to check this years plants to make sure they were ok.  The Berzelia crop is coming along and I'm hoping theres no damage. 

Leucadendrons catch the snow in their bracts.  Most Leucadendrons, once established, are quite frost hardy.

The Leucadendron Tall Red is about to flower, but hasn't begun to open yet.  I hope they'll be ok! 

Safari Goldstrike captured the snow all along their stems.  In our last snow event, many of our larger Leucadendron plants lost limbs because the weight of the snow weighed them down and they snapped. This time, it seems to have been a gentler fall.  You can see in this picture just how extensive the snow fall was.  We are quite elevated but the hills across the valley in the picture are just over 100m above sea level.  

Leucadendron Safari Sunset look so "Christmassy" covered in snow!

The open flowers acted like cups for the snow.  These Leucadendrons are quite tough, and seem to have coped well with the unusual weather.

I was surprised at how much snow cover the Leucadendron Jubilee Crown had.  It completely transformed the look of the plant.  

The familiar intense winter colour of the Leucadendrons was softened with the white of the snow.  Such a pretty sight.

Richea Dracophylla are used to snowy conditions, being endemic to the higher, wet slopes of Tasmania's mountains.  You can see them growing on the slopes of Mt Wellington which are no strangers to snowfall, even in the warmer months at times.   

The other plants on the farm that are no strangers to snowy conditions are the Myrtle Beech trees.  They looked so pretty covered in snow.  This tree is one of the dominant species in the temperate rain forests of western Tasmania.  

Some of the Leucadendron Red Gem had already started to flower.  Their bracts were wide open and caught lots of snow.  I think the majority have yet to open, so I hope they'll be ok too. They're such pretty winter flower.

Of all the plants that worried me, these were the ones I was most keen to check.  They are some new Leucadendron Laureolum that had only been planted a week before the snow.  This is  the reason that we choose to use planting guards to give the baby plants a little bit of extra protection in case of extreme weather.  I'm hopeful these little babies will survive and thrive.  

A day or so after the big freeze, I had to fly to the mainland and saw the snow coverage across the state.  Tasmania looked white from above.  Amazing!  I wonder what spring has in store. 

December Bush Wedding

December Bush Wedding

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A simple native bush theme was the brief for this December wedding.  

My first few blooms from Banksia Praemorsa bushes planted only a couple of years ago were the inspiration for the colour scheme.  What a beautiful wine-coloured flower!  I teamed a single Banksia bloom with some Protea Pink Ice as the focal flowers.

Creamy Leucadendron Discolour look great with their pink blushed tips.  I also used some late Berzelia, Pink Kangaroo Paw called Bush Pearl, and some leucadendron cones -  Jubilee Crown are the ruby red ones and Purple Haze are the silvery ones.  There's some wax flower peeping out in places too.   I also used some Hebe that were flowering profusely at the time.  I like the colour and structure they add. Some eucalyptus foliage provides a fresh background for a simple bush bouquet.

The groomsmen's boutonnieres were a simple combination of Berzelia, Wax Flower and Leucadendron Jubilee Crown, with eucalyptus and cyprus in the background.  

The groom's button hole adds a single creamy Leucadendron Discolour.

Table decorations for the reception held at Stewarts Bay Lodge, a fabulous local Tasman Peninsula wedding venue, used vintage preserving jars as the vases.

Leucospermum Scarlet Ribbons teamed with more Hebe, Leucadendron Jubilee Crown Cones, and fresh eucalyptus foliage fill the jars.  

Twisted willow branches create a sculptural effect against the white table cloths for a fresh, pretty bush themed wedding.   

"Rustic Vintage" Native Wedding

"Rustic Vintage" Native Wedding

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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.  

Native Spring Wedding Flowers

Native Spring Wedding Flowers

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October is a brilliant month for native flowers.  A bride is spoilt for choice!  Last October I was privileged to be able to provide flowers for a wedding at MONA in Hobart.  The bride and groom were from Sydney so NSW Waratah's were a perfect choice.  My Telopea Speciosissima hybrids were just bursting with colour.  

The bride was wearing gold, so the red was really a standout colour.  I added Dryandra Formosa flowers to tie in the gold.  They are at their height in early to mid spring.  

The Dryandra leaves also add a  lovely textural quality to the bouquet.  They have a fine, zig-zag shape and fall at nice angles.

For the flower girl's bouquet, I chose some smaller waratahs to keep the size and weight manageable.   The bright pink is added by Boronia which not only creates a burst of colour, but smells divine, making it a pleasure to handle.  I used Leucadendron Lemon Spice, a selection of the female Leucadendron Discolour.  In spring its colour is spectacular, changing from a sage green to a gorgeous creamy ivory with a pink blush.  

Another ingredient I loved using for this wedding was some fresh green eucalyptus pods, immature and not ready to flower until summer.  In their immature state, they are bright green, and the textural quality adds another layer of interest to a bouquet bursting with spring goodness.  

In early October, the Berzelia or Button Bush is just ready to begin picking.  The "buttons" are green and they add another fresh textural layer to the spring native bouquet.  

One of the things I loved about this wedding was that the bride was particular about the boutonnieres.  The groom wanted white.  For the Fathers, I was given pictures of the suits and ties they were wearing, so I could create something that worked well.  It was a great way to work.  

White was a little tricky with so much colour available!  I used both wax flower and thryptomene (another duo that are fabulously perfumed) teamed with Berzelia and an immature Leucadendron Silver Tree cone.

The Silver Tree cone really glows. 

For the Fathers' boutonnieres, I used small waratahs.  I usually cull these smaller flowers, pruning them off the bushes and leaving them.  They are pretty but too small and often at odd angles so no good for selling wholesale.   I decided that they were perfect button holes for this spring wedding though - like a scaled down version of the main bouquet flowers. I like the way the red bracts surrounding the flower sit at interesting angles.

For the other boutonnieres, I used Dryandra.   These Australian Natives have a strong almost citrusy smell that can be a bit overpowering when they are first picked so I pick them a week early and sit them in the cold room till it fades a little.  They are teamed up with Lipstick Boronia and wax flower.  

Such a joyous combination of spring goodness! 

Natives are a vibrant and memorable choice for a spring wedding.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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Can you believe we are saying goodbye to 2013?  The year seems to have flown by so fast and the Christmas Season has been so busy that I have hardly come up for air!  In Tasmania the long summer days linger and the summer solstice occurs just before Christmas.  It's a lovely time of year.  

The main flower we're harvesting now is the Leucospermum, commonly known as a Pincushion.  Its beautiful summer colours provide inspiration for me when it comes to festive decorations.  I love fresh Christmas wreaths.  They make great table centrepieces, especially with a candle in the middle.  

I love the challenge of combining colours and textures to create these wreaths.  Foliage plays a big part in the overall feel of the wreath and its fun foraging around the farm for beautiful fresh foliage to use.

I love the wreath above using some late Tasmanian Waratah and button bush or Berzelia.  I've also used some Dryandra Formosa, an Australian flower from the protea family that I did a test plant of a few years ago.  The golden flowers are surrounded by lovely foliage that looks like strips of green zig zag.  Dryandra flowers dry well too and last for years in a dried arrangement.

During spring I noticed a wonderful eucalypt in my local area that was laden with gum nuts.  So heavily laden was it that the branches were weighed down to the ground.  I snipped a few branches and dried them, looking forward to when I could use them.  They were a perfect addition to this wreath, I thought!

Orange Leucospermums and yellow Leucadendron Pisa make this wreath really summery and fresh.  The Pisa can be used at various stages.  I picked some quite early to use it in its flowering stage.  Later the central cone enlarges.   It is silvery green and beautifully surround by yellow and lime green bracts.  

Geraldton Wax flowers and Leucadendron Jubilee Crown, also known as Christmas Cones fill out the bright citrusy wreath.  I couldn't resist adding some more gum nuts!

Foraging around the farm lead me to seek out a small holly bush that had been overgrown in the last two years.  After a bit of bush-bashing, accompanied by my trusty sidekick, I found the bush and was delighted to discover that it had grown significantly, even though it had been almost hidden by bushy growth.  Needless to say I've now cleared around it.  The holly was fun to play with in wreaths and Christmas bunches too, although it was a little prickly to deal with. 

I also found, during one of my foraging walks, some impressive cones on a big conifer our family imaginatively calls the Christmas Tree!  When I first started doing the local farmer's market I was excited to use some foliage I found which had pink immature cones on it.  These are the same cones a couple of months later.  I really don't remember this tree producing such impressive cones before! The photo doesn't do them justice - they are shiny and deep purple.  Wonderful for an addition to a Christmas wreath!!

I saved them for my own Christmas wreath.  I added Leucaspermum Scarlet Ribbons, some wild foraged Ozothamnus (white Rice Flower)  Tasmanian Myrtle foliage, Leucadendron Safari Sunset, Christmas Cones, and Goldstrike, and of course, some of the gum nuts.  Knowing it was my own wreath I probably tried to pack too many things onto the one wreath, but I'm glad I made the time to make a wreath for our own table.

It was a beautiful summer day in Tasmania on December 25th.  We had Christmas brunch on the deck in the open air.

It was a memorable day.  As I write this, the wreath is still relatively fresh and sitting on the table beside me.  I love to enjoy the flowers I grow in my own home!

I'm looking forward to 2014 - it promises to be a very exciting year.  In the meantime, we are still working to pick the rest of the summer crops as they bloom.  I'm looking forward to doing some wedding flowers this week, and then maybe getting a short break toward the end of January before the year really begins in earnest.  I hope 2014 is happy one for you - enjoy!!

Farewell until next year.