Spring Flowers

The garden is darling hubby's creation and it was delightful to return from Melbourne to a garden full of lovely flowers. Especially as many are native orchids ...

We've lots of Dendrobium kingianums growing in the rocks around the fish pond :-) some are man-made hibrids (with D. falcorostrum aka beech orchid) so they vary -

they smell very sweet and more traditionally floral than most of the Dendis.

Checking on the google web I find that they've been reclassified and renamed Thelychiton kingianum - as Dendrobium means "tree living" and Kingys like to live on rocks (one common name is Pink Rock Orchid) this seems sensible but these constant name changes are really confusing for us amateurs. Shall I be cheeky and point out to my botanist friends that D. speciosum (common name King Orchid which is confusing) also likes a home made of stone - nice crumbly sandstone. We've a couple of Kings in the garden and the biggest has 3 flower spikes this year :-) Big fox-tails of secretive creamy lemon flowers with a wonderful scent - powdery and burnt sweetness like a burnt honey cake or overdone toasted marshmallows.

Also just starting to flower is the D. gracilicaule - graceful because of the long thin stems - I love the plump little flowers -

Again the scent is a bit burnt & powdery but this time with a citrus tang.

Finally a non-orchid and not an Ozzie but quite lovely - Spanish Bluebells.

Roses and a mini bathroom

Bought some gorgeous old-fashioned roses at our local Farmers' Market yesterday ... wish we had smell-a-'puter because they smell even better than they look.

And there is no need to worry about how this bathroom smells - it is part of my dolls' house!


Originally started for our daughter about 25yrs ago - this dolls' house is a converted cupboard which means it is all about the interior and there are no chimneys to fall off or roof tiles that catch the dust. The wood on the side of that photo is the door of the cupboard.

Daughter quickly disowned the dolls' house and it has become another of my UFOs (UnFinished Projects). So - in an attempt to provide myself with some motivation, I'm posting about it. The bathroom is one of 3 rooms on the top floor/shelf of the cupboard. I'm quite pleased with the ceramic-ware which I painted - we couldn't afford gorgeous repro flowered ceramic-ware for our own bathroom when we renovated but I could make some for the dolls' house :-) and the light fitting is OK though it doesn't like to hang straight! (it is made of beads, string and Fimo). However, the green paint job needs redoing and the 'window' at the back is rather awful. Also I need to make towels and things but have been completely stuck for suitable fabric.