Playdate at Hillandale: Jan 3

 

On Thursday I took a drive out to Hillandale Gardens & Nursery, in Yetholme, NSW to have a playdate with my good friend Sarah who owns and operates the garden/nursery with her husband Andrew.

It was a lovely day.  The garden changes almost weekly and Sarah's thoughtful and fabulous plantings means that when one plant stops flowering or dies down, there are plenty more to take its place.    Everything is organic and the work is done entirely by this hardworking couple to transform a derelict and overgrown mess into what must be one of the finest cottage gardens in NSW. 

 

Butterflies and birds were out in attendance and we were joined on our tour of the garden by the resident dogs: Snowy (loves her tummy rubbed), Lily (a little timid mop), and Pixie (the nutty Pomeranian).

Not all was play.  The serious business of discussing the next sets of seed packets and plans for 2013 were undertaken in Sarah's office: the potting/seed shed.

 

Have a great weekend all.

Hillandale Gardens and Nursery

Another plug for a very good friend: Sarah Ryan of Hillandale Gardens and Nursery, Yetholme, NSW

Sarah's beautiful garden is open to the public this weekend: Saturday and Sunday 27/28 October.  The garden is at Eusdale Road, Yetholme.


Sarah will have an abundance of hard-to-find plants: seedlings, cuttings, root systems and established plants will be for sale plus the largest selection of our seed packet designs to date.

This is a well-known and must attend event in the local gardeners' calendars and bus loads go from Sydney it is so popular.

I will be going to get inspired and of course plunder the garden for Spring flowers - I feel a 'rhododendron series' coming on...

Sarah's website is here.

Her facebook page is here.

Seed Packets

Here are some of my favourite seed packet designs.

OK - ones that fitted onto one PPT slide - there are currently 15 types and counting. 
Missing from this image: Helenium, Rudbeckia and Echinacea.

Look for me on etsy and Andable.

Poppy flower seed packets

In the spirit of ANZAC day: poppy seed packets are now available in my etsy store.

The seed packets prices will vary.  This is because some seeds are harder to come by than others - for example, I am reliably informed that it is very hard to buy poppy seeds of this type.  We only have enough for a few packs so once these are gone, they are gone.

All seeds are grown in Yetholme, NSW at Hillandale Garden & Nursery.

Happy ANZAC day everyone.

6 x seed packet designs

Sarah's seeds

My lovely friend, Sarah Ryan of Hillandale Gardens and Nursery in Yetholme, country NSW has been bringing me flowers from her garden to paint for the last year or so.  Yetholme has a cooler climate so the old fashioned favourites thrive there. 

We are currently working on a series of seed packets for her nursery.  Here are the first three offerings: Calendula (marigolds), Penstemon and Granny bonnets.

There will be more throughout the year and Sarah will be selling these on her open days and plant markets - or you could ask me here.

The designs have been executed by my extremely talented niece and Gabby Malpas brand manager: Emma Harris.  Pretty huh?