Berz and the Bees. A Blog About Gardening.

 Gudge and I have been sick which has given me plenty of time to write posts in here as well as Beck's Modern Life . It's been far too long between posts but I have been spending all of that time out in the garden. A wonderfully warm but rainy autumn was perfect for design and planting. One part of the yard that had been such a trial for me was on the south west side. I tried it as an orchard with cottage planting, I tried to create a wildflower meadow and in all cases, I failed. But the best thing about gardening, is every failure is a new lesson learnt.  the empty patch mid-summer What I knew about this patch was that it was a tough area. It gets scorched all summer. It doesn't retain water. It gets the brunt of the western summer afternoon sun. What I needed was something that was going to not only handle this, but thrive in it. I looked around my garden at what does well with little to no attention. Absolutely no supplementary water and that still looked good. The answe...

 Having returned from our recent trip to the warmer climes of Brisbane, we came back to proper Tasmanian winter. As I write this on Saturday, 11 July at 12.40 in the afternoon, the current temperature is 2.3 degrees Celsius with a feel-like temperature of 0. Winter came late this year, and we loved every extra moment of warmth and sunshine, but it showed up and I imagine it's now here to stay for a while. I have been working on some massive projects in the garden which I will update soon, but until then, let's look at the little specks of joy dotted through the greyness and fog. The Hellebores or 'winter rose' is one of my favourite plants. Mine is an evergreen and lives beside the patio and is one of highlights of winter.   Also near the patio, in the tropical garden, and should absolutely not still be in flower is the 'Chocolate Cosmos' (Cosmos atrosanguineus). These flowers' most distinguishing feature is their scent. They literally small of chocolate, (I...