Birthday note to myself.

Birthday note to myself.

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I am 24 years old today.

Yes I haven't posted in a long time. However today feel just right. I shall now highlight the events of my life during my missing in action period. For much easier reading I'm putting it into bullets, more sexier than the super long text kan?

• I finally graduated from law school after almost 6 years of hard work. Alhamdulilah It has been quite an interesting journey, a journey which I re-learnt myself again.
• I am currently attached to an awesome law firm in Petaling Jaya and I am loving every minute being there. With a tasteful and ultra chic taste in interior design, and amazing work ethics I am not doubting my interest in law. It finally feels right to be here, doing whatever I am doing now.
• Finally accepting my flaws, and accepting who I am. 
• I am now putting myself as the focus. No worries, people still amaze me every now and then, I promise I will be there when ever needed, however for once I feel that I should be focusing one me, my family and my loved ones (you know who you are). Alison you are one amazing woman for being there with me.
• Eliminate petty things, focus on the main course.

Along the way I met so many people, however one person affect me the most, the person shall be named X. As per X,

"Sometimes people come into your life & you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are & or who you want to become."

It felt that X came into my life as a life tutor, a hands lesson on life. I've always told myself that life is great and pretty and candy like, like sweets made of nutella and chocolate fudge. X taught me otherwise, I am thankful for that.

There were moments when I doubt everything in life, everything I believed, I might have done something I shouldn't have done in the name of trust. X didn't get angry, X told me,

"remember, regardless how many people you know or have met, in the end, you will sleep alone."

That is the deepest thing someone had ever told me, it felt so clear after that, that life is great if we face everything as an individual and others as support system.

To X,  thank you for everything. 

Now I am not expecting anything in return  from people, everything is done in the name of love and care. I am being positive in everything because being positive saved me from everything.

quoted from the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,

"Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end."

Cheers to a great 20 years ahead.

Winter Rain

Winter Rain

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Well winter has certainly arrived here at Swallows Nest!  Winter is our rainy season here and we've just had almost 2 weeks of wet weather.  The sun would pop out for brief moments as the wind pushed clouds across the sky, but on the whole, its been grey and misty.  Lovely weather for growing proteas. And despite what you might think, its not so bad to pick them in either, as long as you are suited up in your warmest wet-weather gear.  It is actually something I enjoy, in a strange kind of way - getting out in the weather and working.  As long as there is a warm fire and a good cup of tea waiting when I'm finished!

The Neriifolias are starting to bloom.

I love the way mist wafts through the valley - so peaceful.

My picking companions have been rather entertaining lately.  The spaniel (too excited to catch a photo that wasn't just a blur of brown and white) has been rushing about madly and ending up drenched.  She comes back to the house looking like a homeless dog!  The cat seems to manage, miraculously I think, to maintain a complete state of composure and doesn't even seem to get wet!  Her winter coat must have waterproofing!  

I've been focusing on pruning in the last few weeks, as some of our leucadendrons have grown too tall for their own good.  Generally, pruning is something that is done at harvest time, but we're playing catch up this year.  There have been areas of planting that have been neglected due to our family situation over the last few years.  Some of our Safari Sunset are over 3 metres tall this year and are being pruned back to a more manageable size.  This type of Leucadendron has a root system called a lignotuber, and this means that it can be pruned quite happily, without causing damage to the plant.  In fact, they seem to thrive on pruning.  I'm looking forward to next years crop already - I know the plants are going to be happily pushing out lovely long stems.  

After such a long rainy spell, its beautifully sunny today so I'm off to take advantage of the blue skies - I'll leave you with a "before" shot of the beginnings of our new flower shed.  

  

Blue Skies

Blue Skies

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I've been really enjoying the mild winter days we've had so far - beautiful clear blue skies that make you glad you're alive!  It's also been great for photographing flowers.

My plan for this blog has always had 2 main goals.  Firstly,  to showcase the beauty and versatility of proteas and australian natives which are sometimes undervalued as cut flowers, and also, to provide an online guide to what's available and when at Swallows Nest.  Creating a catalogue of what we grow has been quite difficult!  Its been a project I've started a few times and then put off.  Because I'm a visual person, it really had to be an illustrated catalogue.  These blue skies we're having are providing a great backdrop for catalogue illustration photos, and its given me the little push I've needed to get the job done, or at least nearer to completion! 

When it's all finished, it will be published as a permanent link at the top of the blog.

I know winter won't all be like this!! Enjoying it while I can!

The crop of lovely long Safari Goldstrike singing in the sunshine!

Some of the Grampians Thryptomene is flowering early this year - handy for getting a good portrait shot!  It's not usually like this until July.

One of my little companions taking photos with my iphone and having a great old chat!

 

Difficult to really capture the shimmering beauty and structure of the Silver Tree - this is more of a close up shot really, but look at that blue sky!

Leucadendron Red Gem - one of my favourites - just such a quiet achiever.  Large tulipy blooms with a great range of colour throughout the year,  great stem length and not at all fussy.  A very satisfying flower to grow!

Look out for the product catalogue over the next couple of weeks - fingers crossed these blue sky days will get me over the line!

May Madness

May Madness

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It's been a mad month!  Early May is always a busy time on a flower farm - Mother's Day is one of the great flower-giving occasions of the year.  It happens in late autumn here in the southern hemisphere, just when proteas and leucadendrons are really blooming well.  This year I was organised - it was still busy, but things were under control!

There were lots of local orders this year and we had a ball putting everything together.  We did lots of seasonal bouquets of various sizes, and some boxed arrangements - something I'm just trying my hand at.  I've not had any florist training but what I lack in technique, I hope I make up for in enthusiasm for the flowers themselves.  

The Pink Ice Protea are really clear and lovely at this time of year.  They were the stars of the show, and set off really well with a variety of leucadendrons and foliage.  I've used some lovely grevillea foliage, some banksia, and some thryptomene which seems to be popping out early this year.  The white flowers are a lemon scented tea tree flower which are just gorgeous at the end of autumn.  And they smell good too!

The leucadendrons seem to be colouring up early this year.  Maui Sunset are lovely and pink, and the Inca Gold, whilst not at their stunning yellow best, are definitely looking golden, showing off their red tips.  It was great to have a variety to play with when putting it all together.  

The morning after mother's day we had a nasty surprise when we found our baby dangerously ill. She was rushed to hospital (an hour and a half by road ambulance).   She is ok now, but it was a shock and its taken us a while to recover from it all.  Combined with a deadline for an exhibition of linoprints that I've been working on and May was definitely what I'd call MAD!  

But what I love about growing flowers is the calming measured quality that they give to your life.  They keep growing and blooming, and the cycles keep ticking over.  When you plant something, it seems like it will take ages to give you any flowers, but life gets busy and time goes on, and before you know it those tiny plants are producing  flowers and needing a prune!  They add such beauty to life.  I think they give more than they take.  

And now, we're into winter.  We've got major infrastructure projects planned for around the farm over the next few months, including a new flower shed.  I'm looking forward to the winter season and all that it will bring!  

Tasmanian Flora at the TMAG

Tasmanian Flora at the TMAG

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I recently visited the newly renovated Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.  What a treat!  The renovations and restorations are just brilliant - I felt very proud to be a Tasmanian!  There were many favourites from the visit - some spectacular printmaking by Tasmanian artist Raymond Arnold  

and some wonderful contemporary paintings.  I really enjoyed the section of Australian art from the 1950s and 60s too.  I also found this gorgeous hand painted screen that I thought I'd share with you.  I was so excited when I found it, taking photos and enjoying it, that I forgot to take note of the artist and the year - all I remember is that it was in the same room as a Margaret Preston painting so I can only assume it was produced in the early 20th century.  

I'm sharing it here because it has some beautiful representations of plants that we grow here at Swallows Nest Farm.  The first panel on the left depicts the Tasmanian plant Richea Dracophylla, or the Pineapple Candle Heath.  It is a rainforest shrub that generally grows at higher altitudes and can be found growing in the wild on the slopes of Mt Wellington, among other places.   It is a very striking plant that I'm very proud to be growing.  Its an unusual cut flower and gets a lot of comments during its flowering season in spring.  

The next panel depicted the Mountain Pepper Berry plant or Tasmannia Lanceolata - it wasn't lit well enough to get a good photo.  Then, one of my fabourites - the Tasmanian Waratah - Telopea Truncata, which we grow here at Swallows Nest.  Its another spring flowering Tasmanian Native.   Its cheery red flowers are a sight to see in the wild.  They are such a beautiful cut flower too, smaller than the well known mainland Waratahs but finer.  I love them!

Next, no Tasmanian floral screen could be complete without the Blue Gum, Tasmania's floral emblem.  It's a bit of a strange floral emblem, actually, because it is such an imposing large tree.   Eucalyptus Globulus can grow to 60m and is a gum tree that grows wild in the area around where I live.  Its beautiful flowers appear in October - January.  They are creamy white and quite large as far an gum blossom goes - 4cm.  They make good honey! The gum nuts are distinctively shaped and coated in a silvery blue bloom with a very strong eucalyptus smell.  Eucalyptus trees often have different foliage as a sapling and then develop their more typical "gum leaf" shape as a mature tree.  The foliage of a juvenile Blue Gum is really lovely - very large leaves covered with the same silvery blue bloom as the nuts.  I use it in bunches and arrangements - its colour really contrasts well with other flowers and foliage. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little peek at the treasure I found at the new TMAG.  If you are local, don't miss it - the renovations are really fabulous and there are some great pieces to see.  

See You Next Year ...

See You Next Year ...

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Am I allowed to have favourites?  If so, this would be it.  The Brunia Albiflora are officially finished for the year.  I picked the last few stragglers this week and have kept them in a vase in my kitchen to say "goodbye" till next year ... sigh!  They began to "flower" about 2 weeks ago.  What we call the flower is actually a collection of flowers, and we usually sell it when its in its bud stage.  When the little buds start to flower, they start from the outside and work inwards, creating for a while, the look of rings of flowers, like a little wreath or headband!  

Of course, I had to get the macro lens out to explore them from a bugs-eye perspective!  

Tiny flowers peeping out!

This little growth tip will be next years flower!

I wonder what the year will bring?