Vertical pallet garden

My studio is in a very industrial part of town. In fact, it's an old converted factory - very trendy, but very bleak outside. Not a tree to be seen. I decided a little while ago that I would have a try at creating a pallet garden, which could be fixed to the wall, and in which we could grow some salad vegetables for summer.



In theory, they're quite easy to make... find a pallet...line the back with heavy-duty black plastic... fill with soil...plant the seedlings....all this should take place whilst the pallet is horizontal.



Then, after 2-3 weeks, when the seedlings have taken root, you can stand it up and/or fix it to a wall, and just wait for harvest time.

Unfortunately, sometimes I have difficulty with the concept of waiting, and this, coupled with the fact that we didn't really have anywhere to lie the pallet down, meant that we fixed it to the wall before we had even put in the soil !

So, to stop the soil from falling out, I lined the pallet with a hessian sack, put in the soil, and then cut little holes in the sack, and poked the seedlings in.

The picture shows the left side with the black plastic on the back, and some little mint plants on the bottom row, and the right hand side shows the newly planted seedlings. We have, in descending order, lettuce, rocket, coriander and spring onions !

This was planted at the beginning of August. Three weeks later, they have all taken root, and are growing strongly.

I'm not sure about the location: it will get very, very hot in summer, so I might have to think of something else... maybe succulents are the way to go !

Succulent picture from www.countryliving.com, top pic from www.vibrantlivingmagazine.com

You can find the full instructions for making a pallet garden
here. Let me know how it goes !!

Facebook, finally !

It's taken months for me to do it, but we're finally on Facebook.
I hope that the site will be of particular interest to women who are planning their wedding.
I'd love you to have a Look & Like, and leave a comment or two.
Here's the Facebook link:

Facebook.com/CalypsoFlowers

Anthuriums

I often love to practise working with primarily one flower, which gives me an opportunity to really get to know its personality ! With such an attention-grabbing flower such as the anthurium you have to know how to make it be a little more sociable... how to make it fit in with other flowers if you are using them...and how to take advantage of its strengths.

I once had to do a bridal bouquet with bright red anthuriums, and white lilies with dark green foliage - a very unforgiving combination. It was early in my career, and it took a long time to recover !

I recently bought a book by Pim Van Den Akker, called ANTHURIUM , in which he makes about 50 different arrangements using this flower with very few other flowers.

This is my effort, using anthuriums (I think they are Choco and Fantasia), soft pink hypericum berries and dodda vine, in an old tin bucket which provided a perfect textural contrast.

I was very pleased with it, and thought it would look great on a coffee table in a very modern corporate office foyer. Which is exactly where it ended up !

Thank you for creating such an inspiring book, Pim !

You can read more about the flower here.

Dangar Island, a nature walk

One of my favourite pastimes is going on what I call a 'nature walk'  - a time to get out of the city of concrete and cement, look at the trees and the flowers, and listen to the silence. Earlier this month, I went with some friends to Dangar Island, in the Hawkesbury River, which is an hour or so by plane, then an hour by train, and finally10 mins by ferry, from where I live.

The population of the island is about 250, although I would imagine there are a few hundred more in the holiday season.  There are no vehicles on the island, apart from a couple of service vehicles, and so the main means of transport is walking, using wheelbarrows to cart your things around. Here is the 'car park' by the ferry !

You'll notice that most of the photos include rain. Rain is not necessarily a part of my nature walks, but on this occasion, it did add to the atmosphere.

The island was quite a haven for artists at one stage, but the natural beauty of the location, and its proximity to Sydney, have now priced it out of the reach of artists. But I could quite easily be inspired to create with a view like this....

 ....or in gardens like these... just look at that Spanish Moss (tillandsia) - it was everywhere. Just shows how wet it is there.

Because it is quite rocky and steep, it is not uncommon for the luscious vegetation to grow almost vertically. I am currently working with a client on their indoor vertical garden, and it was inspiring to see how it occurs in nature.

 If only I could get their maidenhair fern to look like this !

 The sun did come through for a moment, whilst we sat at the cafe waiting for the ferry.

 But not for long !  By this stage we were wet through. But it was a beautiful walk. We took over an hour to walk around the island, but we stopped at every view, took lots of photos, and examined practically every leaf en route. Very satisfying !

Wikipedia has a good section on the island, and tells a little of  its history.

 

So when do you throw the flowers out ?

This is the title of the photographic exhibition which opens next week at the Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne.

My friend Dena Ashbolt was inspired by the way that poppies age:

They begin with those tight, little hairy buds that give away nothing, then as the sunlight unzips them, soft chiffon-like petals come tumbling out. Ballerina-like they stand in their diaphanous gowns, and too soon they start to wither, and to fall into very angular poses.

So when do you throw the flowers out ?

Read about Dena and the exhibition here

Floral Handbags - IWD

I was asked to do some table centres for a favourite client who was celebrating International Women's Day, yesterday, with a cocktail party.

The IWD colours are green, white and purple: white for purity in public as well as private life; purple for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (and representing the women's vote) ; green for hope and new life. Apparently there is some debate about the use and meaning/concept of the word 'purity' - I would be interested in learning more, if you can help me here.

I wanted to do something a bit different, as the tables which they had to adorn were very large, and unfortunately the flower budget was not to scale. The theme was 'Planning', which in these modern e-times, does not give you much to play with as props ... no more diaries, desk calendars, or paper charts.

I decided to try using handbags as containers. I found a couple at the local Opportunity Shop, lined them and made then waterproof with plastic bags (recycled) and this is how they turned out...




The one on the left is actually made of tin, but was in the shape
of a shopping bag.

(The photos don't really do them justice. I didn't have time to take photos before I delivered them).

It was good fun doing them, and creating something totally different from my usual style.

I originally had the idea that they could be taken home afterwards, but I had to weight them considerably so that they wouldn't topple over.

Might work on the idea though !

Sunflowers 1

This week, barely having recovered from the busy-ness that is Valentine's Day, Calypso Flowers supplied flowers for the celebration of Audrey's 75th birthday.

Who, you might well ask, is Audrey ?

Audrey is the name of the girl featured on the neon sign for the former Skipping Girl vinegar factory in Abbotsford. The sign is one of Melbourne's most popular icons, and it happens to be a hop, skip, and a jump from my studio.

A couple of years ago, she had a facelift, and this year, just to show that she is keeping abreast of technology, she has gone solar.

Go, Audrey !





The flower of choice for the birthday party was... sunflowers - of course !

These are a couple of the little table centres which we did for the cocktail tables.

I didn't manage to get any photos of the arrangements in situ, because, Melbourne being Melbourne, a dreadfully hot (32 deg Centigrade) day was followed by a totally voluptuous thunder lighting and rain storm. The works.

The function was to be held on the rooftop from whence I took the first photo, but it was too wet and windy to put the flowers in place just to take a photo.

Anyway, as often happens when a truly seasonal flower comes around, I was reminded of the beauty, intricacy, and perfection of each bloom. Such beautiful colours, and such a transformation from the tight, green and brown bud, into such a large 'in your face' flower.

They last quite well, although the leaves lose their vitality first.
Hmm, think I might buy a few bunches at market this week....