Promise of Spring

 The first of the Peony Roses has opened. These flowers with an old fashioned charm are a welcome sign of a shift in the weather. The plant has responded very well to a generous helping of mushroom compost around the base. Had to hurry and pick for indoors as some hoodlum young snails have been tagging, chomping petals leaving graffiti holes.

Red and Green Harmony

When thinking colour harmonies it is important to consider the proportion of one colour to another. As always Mother Nature has all the answers. This beautiful shrub, Adenanthus sericeus has small red flowers that almost look like punctation marks scattered amongst the foilage. The red flowers highlight and give emphasis to the soft green foilage and vise versa.  Each colour visually supports the other, a subtle balancing act...the result...the creation of a colour harmony.

This shrub makes a wonderful hedge or specimen plant in coastal conditions where many other plants will fail. It responds extremely well to pruning. Its soft foilage invites touch and my work mate has dubbed it the Teddy Bear of the plant world.   

Saving Pumpkin Seed

Scooped out the seed from half of this pumpkin and spread onto a piece of paper napkin. This enables the seeds to dry out before saving them in an envelope for planting next spring. The pumpkin flesh was cubed and baked with a dash of black pepper and a 'slurp' of olive oil. It then became one of the ingredients in a couscous dish for dinner !