Sarah Rajkotwala's Blog, page 45

My Garden

Our beautiful organic country flower garden plays host to all my Fairy Workshops and often I hold the weekly spiritual development classes there too. It is loaded full of flowers, fairies, butterflies, free range bantams and native birds. An ideal and peaceful place to learn more about the spiritual aspects of nature. The Spring months of October and November are particularly beautiful ideal and flower-filled time to come to one of our workshops.

I am also garden writer and write about my garden and garden adventures in all my spiritual gardening books.

I love colour and I love flowers and old fashioned fragrant flowers in particular, like vintage roses, lilac, iris, carnations, sweet peas, freesias etc. I also love pets and animals and wildlife and have lots of bees and butterflies and unusual and pretty Australian birds frequent our garden. It is gardening really in the cottage garden style because I love all things romantic and cottagey. I am part Welsh so perhaps that explain my love for pretty cottage style things. So I suppose my garden could be described as an Australian cottage garden.

I use lots of Mediterranean climate flowering plants and attractive flowering Australian natives, like purple flowered emu bushes and Alyogyne purple hibiscuses. I have collections of bearded irises that flower all October. Old fashioned vintage and modern shrub roses that flower in November along with a lovely collection of flowering garden pelargoniums and salvias. Our climate is typically Mediterranean with cold wet winter and spring rains and hot dry summers and autumns. I live in country South Australia, where the climate is quite temperate and is comfortable to garden in all year long. The garden flowers profusely when it rains so from the start of the rains in say late autumn and when the day temperatures cool down a little the flowers come back en-masse from May to December, Late autumn to Summer we have continuous flowers. Then it has a brief respite in January, Feb in the high summer when it is quite hot and dry, I garden here in the cool mornings and evenings and stay out of the midday sun.

I started the garden more or less from scratch. There were some previous fruit trees and driveway native trees and a woodlot planted by previous owners. There were no nice garden plants apart from a few lavenders, an oleander and a Persian lilac and a flowering quince shrub. So I had to start everything from scratch, I have enjoyed immensely creating a garden here that suits our climate. Working with an empty but good area to grow lots of my favourite garden plants.

I like to grow lots of edibles with tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelon lettuce and parsley and herbs in summer depending on how well I set it up in early spring. I also like to grow lots of organic fruit and we are lucky enough to be warm enough to grow all the citrus varieties as we ll as ll the pomes and stone fruits, peaches, pears, apples and plums. Plus we are cold enough in winter to allow a good fruit set of fruit such as apricots and cherries, providing seasonal treats. I have set up a new garden area in the last 3 years that includes many of these fruit treats.

Our vegetable garden a few years ago with zucchinis, tomatoes, leeks, rocket and carrots.

Also sadly it is quite an environmentally degraded area. I live in typical sheep and grain farming country. This particular area was stripped of almost every, last tree, shrub and groundcover by over judicious clearing and clearing trees to make a crust (sold for firewood to the local copper mines) in the 1890s when there was a drought for farmers. So this degraded and sullied land has given me a unique insight into the problems regarding bringing the land and the wildlife back from the brink of extinction.

I have planted lots of native trees and shrubs back on my small acreage to bring back some of the balance of nature. To provide a wildlife corridor for visiting birds, butterflies and kangaroos etc. Also to stop wind and water erosion of the precious yet thin topsoils typical in Australia.

Beautiful bearded irises in OctoberBearded irises, Mediterranean garden flowering shrubs and perennials are joined by the roses in November.As a painter, I use my flowers as my paint palette. I thank the fairies, Mother Earth and God too for making this garden possible. I thank our land also for being such a lovely place to garden. I enjoy growing Asiatic lillies in pots that flower in December along with my hanging baskets full of colourful annuals. I grow lots of Regal, ivy leafed and zonal pelargoniums in pots and in the dry shade under gum trees and other trees where there are away from the frost.

Sarah

Six on Saturday – Trees of my Acquaintance 25-2-23

A young sheoak indigenous to this area. You can hear the wind coursing through their long leaves.

It has been quite a hot week this week. We kept things watered as best we can. But I expect it will be the last heatwave of summer, so we might as well enjoy it.

Not much flowering in the garden apart from agapanthus and plumbago so I thought I would take you for a walk up our hill. This area had no trees in it when we moved here, so most of the plantings around the field edges I have planted either by seed or tubestock plants. Small eucalyptus grow quite readily from small plants if you plant them in winter when it rains. When I can I put a tree guard on them to keep the rabbits and kangaroos out. The ponies that I graze here don’t bother to eat the gum trees as they are unpalatable, but they do fancy wattles and Melaleauca shrubs that I also plant.

The attractive Eucalyptus sideroxylon,  Blackbutt with grey green slightly pendulous leaves and pretty pink flowers. The branches naturally form a skirt all the way to the ground, this one has been trimmed as it is on the driveway. Looking down from our hill onto the windbreak plantings. I planted all of these trees, some by small tubestock plants and some by seed. I’m planting these trees also to provide a wildlife corridor. The birds have taken to them. As you can see there are no trees for miles beyond our property! I used to water these trees in summer with a watering can. One day I saw a fox scamper away after drinking from the freshly watered tree hole! It’s good to see someone appreciates my trees!View from the top of the hills looking over to the distant ranges. Along the fenceline are more eucalyptus tree plantings I have planted. At the very bottom is our own little Forrest, planted by the previous owner as a woodlot.An almond tree I grew by seed growing high on the hill with no irrigation as an experiment to see if it produces almonds. It does, but it is too far away to properly monitor and the parrots eat the few it produces I enjoy the springtime blossom though.A casurina tree I grew from seed look pretty healthy.Ar the very top of the hill, the gum trees I have planted grow more like a mallee (many branched) tree, as there is rock on top of the hill. Here is an Eucalyptus leacoxylon SA Blue gum.

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening – Sarah

Indoor Plant Fairies Clear Your Aura As You Sleep

Another good reason to have indoor plants, particularly in your bedroom! ⚘栗‍

‘The Year of Talking to Plants’
is here – a.co/cKiKZdg
#Gaia  #fairiesarereal #GardeningTwitter  #fairygarden  #mygardeismyhappyplace #indoorplants

Six on Saturday – High Summer Happenings

Another busy week, the summer weather has decided to do a last hurrah and decided to be hot. Gardening wise I have been applying the the sprinkler to the main beds around the house and hand watering the outlying trees. I quiet enjoy hand watering, it is a very peaceful warm weather pastime! You can check the plants close-up and really see their progress.

Alyogyne Blue Heeler is flowering on a dry little bank with no watering by me. Very impressed!A dominant flowering duo during high summer are the Pelargoniums with sporadic flowers and the Cotyledon bells.Was rooting around on my new vege pod, to see if the cucumber plant had any baby cucumbers set, and glory of glories I found 3 secret full sized cucumbers in the undergrowth! They are not bitter either and taste great. The vege pods shade cover enables me to keep the hot sun off the cucumber plants, so that they can thrive. Cucumbers have been a difficult plant for me to grow in our hot summers. Rather than encouraging the sun, we spend time keeping it off some of the plants.My plum perennial Verbena has been in my garden for many years. I must now have at least 20 plants spread around the garden. I keep it going by divisions. It flowers right throughout the warm months. It is great under roses, and seems impervious to the heat. It is a little faded because it just survived a 40 degree day.The morning sun on the pretty autumn foliage in my purple crabapple that has gone prematurely into autumn mode because it is in a drier spot in the garden and I keep forgetting to water it.New acquisition,  Crepe Myrtle Yuma, with pretty purple flowers. Always on the lookout for high summer flowerers that love the heat!

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening – Sarah

Six in Saturday – Incredible Edibles 11/2/23

It’s been a pretty cruisy week this week. I have been steadily putting the finishing touches on my new ‘Wild Gardening With The Fairies ‘book. With plenty of yummy editing and rewriting to keep me amused, but I have been enjoying the process.

The weather has been gently hot, but with quite cool nights, so the house can be opened up with cool air in the evenings. Making the last month of summer quite comfortable and bearable. The garden is kind of dry looking but, has little punctuations of beauty where I planted a summer flowering plant. There is a lot going on in the garden however, even if it may not be full of flower there is lots of growth on many plants being established. The edible garden plants are always enjoyable at this time of year.

Lots of tomatoes are in fruit now. These are Roma’s and another Italian tomato variety.Thornless blackberry plant has produced lots of fruit this season.I am quite chuffed about this white mulberry plant spending 4 month extra dormant after winter then suddenly bursting into life! I planted this new as a bareroot plant this spring. It looks pretty healthy now.Small tree of this Washington navel orange looks good.New growth in my eureka lemon tree. Double graft Jonathan and Granny Smith apple tree is laden.Cucumbers and capsicums in my grow shade-house.

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening - Sarah

You Always Feel Better in the Garden

The Garden and Nature acts as a healing agent for humans. Go outside and grab some healing today.

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

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…

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

Summer Sun Lovers ☀️

In the middle of a quite cool for us summer, I’m glad to say. It has been dry though. I’m still dead- heading all the flower heads from my excessively lovely spring. Using them as more garden mulch.

These are flowers that love to bloom in my summer garden.

Agapanthus, petunias, violas, pelargoniums The lovely vintage rose Madam Isaac Pereire, agapanthus, tiger lily, alyogyne haekeafolia A lovely glimpse of summer

Much love. ⚘

Six on Saturday – Summer Lovelies that Thrive in Dry Areas 4/2/23

As summer hits it’s stride, these reliable summer blooms are are here to save the day. Not fazed by and heat and dry, it’s nice to be able to rely on these lovelies to provide some colour where there is not much about. There is a lot in flower, with patchy blooms on lots of plants, but not much in full flower. Except for the plants below.

Plumbago I have plants of two different blues, providing a lovely lacy foil to other plants.This lovely Tiger lily has flowered in the same pot for years, multiplying a little more each year. Lilies really are great pot plants.This gorgeous Queen Mother agapanthus likewise just flowers more each year as the clump expands.Salvia somaliensis is another summer toughie,  that thrives in the dry and makes a tall 1.4 metre clump. I have it growing in some areas of the garden with no watering from me and it still flowers and thrives.I grow this lovely succulent Cotyledon orbiculata primarily for its silvery leaves and love to plant it in the dry shade under gum trees. Then I realized that it’s lovely bell flowers are just as showy. They flower reliably in the middle of summer. It also provides nectar for the native honeyeater birds even though it is not a native plant. A lovely dark blue agapanthus.

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening! – Sarah

Six on Saturday – Summer Lovelies that Thrive in Dry Areas

As summer hits it’s stride, these reliable summer blooms are are here to save the day. Not fazed by and heat and dry, it’s nice to be able to rely on these lovelies to provide some colour where there is not much about. There is a lot in flower, with patchy blooms on lots of plants, but not much in full flower. Except for the plants below.

Plumbago I have plants of two different blues, providing a lovely lacy foil to other plants.This lovely Tiger lily has flowered in the same pot for years, multiplying a little more each year. Lilies really are great pot plants.This gorgeous Queen Mother agapanthus likewise just flowers more each year as the clump expands.Salvia somaliensis is another summer toughie,  that thrives in the dry and makes a tall 1.4 metre clump. I have it growing in some areas of the garden with no watering from me and it still flowers and thrives.I grow this lovely succulent Cotyledon orbiculata primarily for its silvery leaves and love to plant it in the dry shade under gum trees. Then I realized that it’s lovely bell flowers are just as showy. They flower reliably in the middle of summer. It also provides nectar for the native honeyeater birds even though it is not a native plant. A lovely dark blue agapanthus.

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening! – Sarah

Six on Saturday – Summer Lovelies that Thrive in Dry

As summer hits it’s stride, these reliable summer blooms are are here to save the day. Not fazed by and heat and dry, it’s nice to be able to rely on these lovelies to provide some colour where there is not much about. There is a lot in flower, with patchy blooms on lots of plants, but not much in full flower. Except for the plants below.

Plumbago I have plants of two different blues, providing a lovely lacy foil to other plants.This lovely Tiger lily has flowered in the same pot for years, multiplying a little more each year. Lilies really are great pot plants.This gorgeous Queen Mother agapanthus likewise just flowers more each year as the clump expands.Salvia somaliensis is another summer toughie, that thrives in the dry and makes a tall 1.4 metre clump. I have it growing in some areas of the garden with no watering from me and it still flowers and thrives.I grow this lovely succulent Cotyledon orbiculata primarily for its silvery leaves and love to plant it in the dry shade under gum trees. Then it I realized that it’s lovely bell flowers are just as showy. They flower reliably in the middle of summer. It also provides nectar for the native honeyeater birds even though it is not a native plant. A lovely dark blue agapanthus.

Thanks for visiting loves. 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 .

Happy Gardening! – Sarah