Olive oil...

 

 

Spring is in the air and the garden in flourishing with the smattering of rain that has been blessed upon us.
My olives are in full flower which can only mean one thing, lots of lovely olives to harvest.
I have been carefully tending to these mini topiary olives trees since last summer and they are finally thriving.

 

 

Talk to you soon.

Andrina x

 

Strolling in heaven

Walking the Cremorne track is always one of the highlights of my trips to visit family in Sydney.
This beautiful winding path that circumnavigates Cremorne Point through gardens, native bushland and parks is truly magestic.

Glimpses of local yacht clubs, beautiful harbour views, grand old houses and time established gardens all combine to make this an enchanting stroll.

Watching a mother share a moment with her daughter or a man enjoying the outdoors with his best friend...this is my idea of strolling in heaven.

Do you have a favourite walk? Please let me know. 

Talk to you soon. Andrina x

Welcome to Albertine

Much of my childhood was spent on a farm in the Avon Valley east of Perth. It was a large property set in rolling hills that led down to the gently flowing Avon River.

I have fond memories of long walks up the steep hills behind the house, collecting mushrooms in tin buckets, sitting in the paddocks making daisy chains, mucking out stables and learning how to cook cakes (a skill I’ve never quite mastered)

View from the farm house.

 My strongest memory however, is of roses, masses and masses of roses.

Pa had two large rose gardens that he tendered with devotion. The farm is where I first learnt about the beauty and magic of roses, my favourites being the climbing Albertine and the tea-rose Just Joey.

Albertine

I regularly helped my grandmother cut and prepare the roses; Iceberg, Golden Bunny, Peace, Abraham Darby, Cecile Brunner and of course Albertine. We would arrange them in crystal or silver vases, their perfume wafting through the old draughty farmhouse.

Albertine is a wonderfully vigorous climbing- rose, it bursts into bloom for about six weeks in late spring and delights you with its heady perfume and its deep salmon –pink colour, with just a hint of yellow in the bud centre.

My climbing Iceburg

So… I thought that I would devote my first post to my darling Mimi, who was such an inspiration to my life, and to whom I think of whenever I tend my garden, which through her has become one of my passions.

Andrina x