FIRST SPRING FLOWERS
When I established the garden surrounding our home Das Helwig Haus B&B it was to ensure that there was something of interest in the garden at all times of the year for our visiting guests. My secondary desire was to be able to walk out into the garden at all seasons with a basket and secateurs to enable me to bring cut flowers into the house. My third goal was achieved thanks to the cool mountain climate of the Granite Belt which enabled me to grow northern Hemisphere flowers, seldom seen in Queensland gardens. It was only in later years that we began opening our garden in November, as we will do again this year for the Australian Open Garden Scheme on 7/8th November, and growing a Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies to bloom for 11th November. This morning I was able to go into my garden and gather the red foliage of an early flowering ornamental plum tree, the yellow flowers of forsythia and sprigs of of pussy willow. I displayed these on the unlit combustion wood stove in our dining room.
Early spring foliage
This has been an unusually warm spring and I no longer need to heat the house.
Pussy willow has fascinated me since I was a child and first stroked the velvet like buds, but not until I established this garden was I able to plant my own pussy willow tree. It is growing above a bed of Spanish bluebells as one of my priorities in establishing this garden was to minimize the work of maintenance with permanent plantings of bulbs and perennial plants.
Pussy Willow
Spanish bluebells
This red leafed ornamental plum tree is situated at the front entrance of our house and is the first of the flowering trees to bloom, followed by the ornamental peaches and crab apple trees. Its foliage contrasts with the gray-green spreading coniferous shrub in its shade.
Red leafed flowering plum
This crab apple tree is one of several deciduous trees on the northern side of the house which colour beautifully for autumn, bloom in the spring and then provide cooling shade during the summer months. This mixture of conifers and deciduous trees ensures that our garden continues to have a green image even during the winter months.
Northern garden
Nor have I neglected the hotter western side of our house where I planted several deciduous vines to bring shade and beauty to utility areas and vegetable gardens. Here you see my Jack Russell puppy, Trixie, framed by one of the wisteria vines.
Wisteria vine
Book cover
Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.
This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.
To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au
Internationally it is available on the Amazon.com website. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=
http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary
http://books.google.co.uk/
