Sweet Mary

I didn't think I would get another post done before Christmas but here I am again. As I knew it was going to be a rainy day today, I picked all the sweetpeas and filled four vases with their beautiful colours and country garden scent. Later on in the morning I found Annie tucked under the hydrangeas and pink yarrow. She looked so sweet, all wound up in a ball but came out to see me the second I bent down to take the photo. Still sweet though I have had a wee run of sales from my Felt shop recently so have just listed two more items including these sweet clothes hangers. Click here to have a look. For those who don't know, except for the odd one which I will inform you about, I will not be running my Sweet Mary stall at markets from now on. Mainly I will sell online through my Felt shop - click the Felt icon, up a bit on the right.

Over the last few days we have started the final autumn clean-up. Its officially winter here now in New Zealand but there is still alot of autumn colour around. I love pansies so like to fill any spare pots with them - these ones will be red and in the white washed pots should look very striking when they flower. I think these pansies are mixed colours with an underplanting of anenomes and ranunculus. The bamboo canes are there to support the sweetpeas planted as seeds which hopefully will be climbing up them come the spring. I wanted to leave this mountain of leaves as a haven for hedgehogs but the landlord doesn't agree so I will pack them into bags tomorrow to mulch down over the winter. My favourite tree on this property is this glorious copper beech - it is huge and the most perfect shape. Photo taken from the rose garden where I am still picking the odd bunch - see blog below. Today was a cold but sunny, cloudless, blue sky day.

We have had very high temperatures in Hawkes Bay recently but first thing in the morning, when its cooler its nice to potter in the garden, picking flowers and vegetables and talking to the cats. We never use the front door as the driveway leads you to the back door but its a lovely cool spot to sit at most times of the day and always seems to have these great looking shadows filling it. The sweetpeas needed picking and they will need picking the next day and the next... A mug of fresh coffee really adds to this pleasant little pastime With all the doors open to catch any passing breeze I decided to not only take the Christmas decorations down (a few days late!) but to sort them into colour, mend any broken ones and make up a box of unwanted decos for the charity shop. We have an enormous collection of decorations which we add to every year - its only mean't to be one each year but a few extras always slip in, including a handmade by myself and usually one from a very dear frien...

The night before I left for a few days in Auckland I ran another Sweet Mary stall at Black Barn. It was a twilight market running from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. Most of the stalls were food stalls but it was good to be there and chat to customers and visitors and I sold more than enough to cover costs. Looking out from my stall in to the centre of the market - its a permanent stucture of about 20 stalls in a circle surrounded by trees and the lovely landscape around Black Barn. We returned from our very busy but fun trip up to Auckland to find the sweet peas in the garden desparately needed picking - they smell so good. I did a spot of fabric shopping for my Sweet Mary business while up there and also came home with a nice little stash of presents from the family.

Early evening with dinner cooking in the oven I went out to water the pots. We have a cute courtyard that has been created within the confines of the L shaped house and two outside rooms called "sleepouts" here in New Zealand. Its warm and sheltered and everything grows very well so I find I have to cut back on a regular basis to keep it looking nice. Watering done, I thought the pretty lavender against the wall could do with a trim so that I get another show in about 6 weeks time. I did mean to do this a couple of weeks ago so they would be flowering for Christmas but oh well... So pretty - it does seem a shame. Piled up on the table ready to be bunched up for drying in the airing cupboard alongside the rosemary and rose petals already there. I use the rosemary in my Sweet Mary "men only" sachets. My lavender goes into my Sweet Mary lavender hearts topped up with lavender that I buy in from a beautiful New Zealand lavender farm as I don't produce enough. Th...