Sarah Rajkotwala's Blog, page 38

Your Garden Loves You Unconditionally

As soon a you walk out in it, it does everything to help you feel better on every level. ⚘

Find out more in my book ‘The Year of Talking to Plants’
is here – a.co/cKiKZdg

#gaia #GardeningTwitter #adelaidewriters #writerslife #cottagegarden #flowers #roses

Winter Miracle Iris Talks

Delighted my Double Shot iris has rebloomed in winter! I asked him and he said “Of course I can re-flower again, that is why you bought me all those years ago. I have finally got the right conditions and watering to make it possible for you.”

#fairiesarereal

Six on Saturday – Miracle Iris 17🌸6🌸23

It has been a mild winter week this week. I have been busy transplanting little couch grass runners to my new ‘front lawn’. Filling in the gaps in the beds with struck garden cuttings. Also happily the bareroot roses have come into the nurseries. This week I bought an old fashioned Ballerina rose. Plus a Lamarque, a white rose for our climbing poles. I like to buy them bare root because they are cheaper that way, plus they establish more readily in winter when they are dormant.

What could be nicer on a gloomy winter’s day thank an iris that blooms out of season. This iris I had to look up what it’s name was as it’s a transplant from an old garden area. His name is Double Shot, he didn’t even flower in spring but benefited from the sprinkler watering I gave the roses in summer. Now his name makes sense, this iris is well known to have the ability to rebloom again in autumn, and that is what he is doing now. Double Shot is taking a double shot at flowering! Quite delighted! Heaven on Earth rose still producing little flowers.Still lots of flowers about Senecio cineraria, Cineraria saxifraga, Salvia Marine blue and felicias. This is another plant that is famous for producing winter flowers, the Australian bred Lorraine Lee has just started to get winter blooms. The breeder Alistair Clarke wanted to produce attractive roses that were capable of producing roses in winter, and with Lorraine Lee he succeeded. An attractive tracery of vranch of the dormant Chinese Elm against a blue sky. Dusty Miller Centurea Plants are below it.Mind Games rose, while not famous for flowering in winter was just slow to produce her autumn blooms. A welcome sight now.

That’s all from me. See more beautiful Six on Saturday gardens from around the world, on the Six on the Saturday tag, our host is Jim you can find his blog here .
Thanks for visiting. Happy Gardening – Sarah

Imagine Everyone is Healthy

Imagine that the highest and best health reality for your friends, family and the citizens of the world, and that is what you will start to create. Do not watch too much of the news about covid or other diseases, watch a comedy instead!

We all create our realities via the law of attraction and have an influence over other’s lives too via your expectations and imaginings. So imagine the highest and best outcome for people, not the worst.

Six on Saturday – Good Rains and Garage Sale Rose 10🌸6🌸23

It has been a quite a chilly week this week. Lots of very nice winter rains, wind and a grumbly thunderstorm, has made gardening interesting. But I was still out every day planting something. You’ve heard of the saying ‘Make hay while the sun shines’, instead here it’s ‘Make garden while soil is soft and moist!’ Winter is the start of my planting time, not the end. It’s cool and easy to establish plants in the wet time of the year.

I have been weeding the lower driveway, and planting a row of French and Italian lavenders down there. Plus some white Cistus rock roses. It is rather a hike, at 200 metres, that no hose would reach, so I give it an initial watering-can irrigate and maybe a follow-up drink and then leave them to their own devices. I already have some French lavenders successfully growing down there, so the probability of survival is high! It is the public face of the property, so I like to make as attractive as I can, in the exposed road location.

I’m most delighted with the new rose I bought from our town garage sale a few months ago. She’s had a belated flowering and looks to be a very hardy variety of some sort of groundcover rose. I planted a few of these in odd spots in my garden that needed a little colour, but were more challenging site’s. This one in the gravel footings of a shed and another under a standard rose. As long as it gets water and sun, there’s a rose for every position. But I’m a bit of a rose nut! Last of the cute little Golden Delcious apples I’ve been eating daily from our tree. It’s turned out to be a bit of an autumn favourite! Their cute little Golden colour adds to the enjoyment. This is an old fashioned variety of Calendula with raindrops. The raindrops are a delight unto themselves! I am successfully planting these Calendulas in a border around my back garden beds, for a little bit of winter joy…or a lot!Last of the autumn roses amongst the newly burgeoning daisy display. Fire and Ice, Garage Sale groundcover and Unconventional Lady (great name, sounds a bit like me!) Still lots of edibles around the garden. Granny Smith apples on the tree, beetroot, capsicums and mini carrots in the veggie pod. With some newly self-sown sown coriander, good for winter curries. The cold winter weather has brought out the two- tone colouring in this Aquarius rose. They call this a grandiflora rose, a floribunda type, with multiple blooms per stem, but with larger that normal flowers for a floribunda. She makes great cut flowers, with multiple blooms and long stems, and us a very reliable flowerier in my garden, which she has in common with floribundas. Which often have less spectacular blooms than Hybrid Teas, but more of them.

That’s all from me. See more beautiful Six on Saturday gardens from around the world, on the Six on the Saturday tag, our host is Jim you can find his blog here .
Thanks for visiting. Happy Gardening – Sarah

Love Mother Earth Because She Loves You!

Happy World Environment Day. Gaia loves you so! As a conscios being Mother Earth knows each and every one of us individually and loves you so. In my conversations with the Fairies and the Plants this is a recurring theme! The love that Mother Earth has for us is powerful and beautiful,  and she rewards people who care for the environment, the plants and animals on her.

Every year our household gets a little more environmentally friendly. I have stopped using gladwrap and use plastic boxes unstead or bamboo or metal ones. We use only organic dishwashing liquid, shampoos, makeup and soaps.

We don’t use plastic straws and drink bottles and use metal ones instead with cute little bottlebrushes to clean them. I shop at supermarkets or farmers markets that have good organic food and cleaning options.

Buy things from op shops or markets to reuse as much of what has already been produced for the world. Donate what you don’t want rather than throw it away. Plus recycle your garbage a little bit better so that less items go to landfill.

‘The Year of Talking to Plants’
is here – a.co/cKiKZdg
#flowers #GardeningTwitter  #cottagegarden #Gaia #WorldEnvironmentDay2023 #gardeningaustralia

Bless Everyone You Meet

Bless you, bless me, bless the world! I’m a big fan of adding a little positive sparkle to the world and making someone’s day, by engaging them in fun conversation. Whether it be a stranger at a checkout or while sitting at a cafe. If you can make someone’s day, even in a momentary comment of engagement, then I feel like I’ve done a good job. Plus of course whatever you put out comes back to you in positive karma and more love, win- win!

Words & photos by Sarah Rajkotwala spiritual author & teacher ✿¸.• •.•-:¦:–~ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ*~ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐ

Find out more in my books “The Year of Talking To Plants”, ‘Fairy Sparkles ‘ and ‘Conversations with My Vegetable Garden’, available from Amazon and all good online book stores or ask your store to get it in.

My real life Fairy Book ‘The Year of Talking to Plants’
is available on Amazon :
– http://a.co/cKiKZdg

Links to my other E book sellers:
https://books2read.com/u/brveYA
https://books2read.com/u/4Az2X0

Also my new Spiritual Part Autobiographical/ Part Spiritual Life Manual book “Fairy Sparkles” is available from Amazon through this link:

My other sellers – https://books2read.com/u/4Az2X0

My new book ‘Conversations With My Vegetable Garden’ on Amazon :
https://www.amazon.com/Conver…/dp/B08RB2HRGB/ref=sr_1_1…

Plus book depository and other good online book stores & Gawler Books SA.

My website : https://petalsandbuds.wordpress.com/

My writing blog : https://rosegardenconversation.wordpress.com/

Zazzle – some of my nature watercolour art designs for sale –
https://www.zazzle.com.au/store/romance_and_flowers…

Red Bubble my nature watercolour art
https://www.redbubble.com/people/sarahrajkotwala

Let Love Lead The Way

Love always knows what to do next….Listen to your hearts loves, it knows best.

Words & photos by Sarah Rajkotwala spiritual author & teacher ✿¸.• •.•-:¦:–~ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐღ*~ღஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐ

Find out more in my books “The Year of Talking To Plants”, ‘Fairy Sparkles ‘ and ‘Conversations with My Vegetable Garden’, available from Amazon and all good online book stores or ask your store to get it in.

My real life Fairy Book ‘The Year of Talking to Plants’
is available on Amazon :
– http://a.co/cKiKZdg

Links to my other E book sellers:
https://books2read.com/u/brveYA
https://books2read.com/u/4Az2X0

Also my new Spiritual Part Autobiographical/ Part Spiritual Life Manual book “Fairy Sparkles” is available from Amazon through this link:

My other sellers – https://books2read.com/u/4Az2X0

My new book ‘Conversations With My Vegetable Garden’ on Amazon :
https://www.amazon.com/Conver…/dp/B08RB2HRGB/ref=sr_1_1…

Plus book depository and other good online book stores & Gawler Books SA.

My website : https://petalsandbuds.wordpress.com/

My writing blog : https://rosegardenconversation.wordpress.com/

Zazzle – some of my nature watercolour art designs for sale –
https://www.zazzle.com.au/store/romance_and_flowers…

Red Bubble my nature watercolour art
https://www.redbubble.com/people/sarahrajkotwala

Six on Saturday – Winter Wonders 3🌸 6🌸 23

It’s the second day of winter here and ironically is such a lovely warm 19 degree sunny day, I’ve decided to spend a lot of it in the garden and not on the computer! I have an interesting six this week. The cats wanted to spend the day outside, a sure sign of a good sunny day!

Pony mowing the lawn in our field beyond ,with a Melaleauca and Mediterranean Sweet Orange doing surprisingly well. Only planted it this year.This in one of a few Murraya Curry Plants we grow in pots in a sheltered area near the house, to provide curry leaves for my husband’s Indian cooking. Also growing in the pot Salvia Raspberry Royal. I never seem to have enough Shirley Poppies for my garden for spring and the nurseries don’t sell them in punnets. At best they only sell Iceland poppies (they don’t grow that well here) or Red Flanders Poppies (nice but too red) .So I am growing my own supply in the stonking great big pot! Now I will have enough, it looks like over 100 there!Still flowering felicias, plumbago, salvia mexicanus and Aquarius rose. First bloom of my favourite pink daisy. Theses two daisies are a fairy sown variety that spontaneously came up under a rose bush. It is the first daisy to flower, flowers the longest and has a dwarf habit.My favourite Euryops Virginia’s, flowers with little starry flowers that light up the winter garden beds, have just started to bloom. Perfect timing for winter. I have produced quite a few of them by cutting for my front garden over the last two years, dotting them about my garden beds. Yellow is such a jolly colour for winter!

That’s all from me. See more beautiful Six on Saturday gardens from around the world, on the Six on the Saturday tag, our host is Jim you can find his blog here .
Thanks for visiting. Happy Gardening – Sarah

Six on Saturday – Ruby Trees 27🌸5🌸23

It has been unusually still for us this autumn and unusually cold, so the autumn foliage did not get blown or burnt off like it usually does! So we have had a sustained period of autumn colours, which for us in my garden, is an unusual treat. A delight that people get more in the eastern states where it is colder in places.

Our summers the last few years have not been as hot or as sustained,  making them easier to live with. But the winter weather has come in earlier into autumn, making the winters longer. For me our winter is colder and wetter, so that makes better gardening weather for me. I quite like cloudy moist days, it is great to garden in. But we had to move much quicker into our winter clothes and winter behaviour. My drinking water has to be topped up with a little warm water, so they aren’t so cold to drink. They are advertising ‘oodies’ and other thermal TV watching blankets that are lined in thick fleece on TV. It’s like you are wearing a fleece blanket around the house. I don’t wear one but the children love them. We don’t have central heating here in Australia, so we have to adopt other passive heating methods! The fur covered hot water bottles have really come back into fashion here, to help keep your feet toasty in bed. To avoid running up a large electricity bill. We watch TV under donnas in the coldest part of winter. We wear much thicker jumpers here too.

The foliage of the numerous Manchurian pears throughout the garden are glowing a rich ruby with the unusually still conditions  of this autumn.The pretty Plum Pudding is still flowering amongst the calendulas, a little black spot on her leaves with the cool weather doesn’t detract from her elegance.Perfume Delight is a delight! She is quite slow to bloom for me, but if I give her special attentions by watering her, even when she doesn’t bloom in the summer months, and she blooms nicely the other side for me in autumn. Little symphony of autumn flowers felicias, pelargoniums, salvia Marine Blue, Cineraria saxifraga.A close-up of the pretty staff pelargonium that flowers for months with very little effort on my behalf! My favourite sort of plant. This one was growing in a friend’s garden and is super reliable it could almost be a landscaping plant in our country. Second ever blooms on my new rose bush Orangerie after the rain. While I’m a big lover of old roses, I also love modern roses in the old style, with modern colours but the old style and modern breeding to make them very reliable to bloom more, and maybe less susceptible to disease. Although my really old roses don’t get much disease either, they are real toughies too.

That’s all from me. See more beautiful Six on Saturday gardens from around the world, on the Six on the Saturday tag, our host is Jim you can find his blog here .
Thanks for visiting. Happy Gardening – Sarah