The joys of a fresh garden

tuberous begoniasI’m so excited I can barely breathe. After applying for months and months for any and every job out there on the market, someone has finally decided to give me a go. Well, they haven’t hired me yet exactly, but I’m meeting with a guy, and that’s the most I’ve heard back from anyone in months. And it’s not just any old job either, it’s an amazing job. My dream job, in fact. I would get to work at one of the best nurseries in Melbourne!

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a complete green thumb. I’ve spent hours boring my friends to death talking about different plant species and whenever I see a plant I like, it just consumes me. I have a little experience doing something kind of similar, I worked on the grounds of my old school for about six months after I finished, but this is an absolute dream come true.

To make myself the best candidate I can possibly be, I’ve been reading up like crazy. I realised that there’s a huge gap in my knowledge about summer flowering bulbs, and to be honest, flowers in general. Working on school grounds I mostly just dealt with mowing the grass, but private study I’ve mostly focused on trees and ferns. So naturally I’ve been reading up like a madman, trying to learn as much as I possibly can about every type of angiosperm under the sun. Having said that, I decided to start with bergonias. I just figured they’d be a good entry point. Besides, the tuberous begonias is absolutely fascinating.

Still, though, I feel vastly under qualified for this role. I realise they’re probably going to be looking at people who have degrees in horticulture, which I certainly do not have, but I hope my enthusiasm about the subject will be enough to make them at least consider me.

The joy of colour in the garden

gladioliWith springtime just around the corner, a great and long held tradition is sneaking up on me. Every year without fail since I was a little girl, my mum and I have gone to our favourite garden shop to find the plants of the season. I know most people just buy all the plants for their house when they move in, and then only do a little maintenance when required, but where’s the fun in that? Mum gave me a love of gardening, and she’s not the kind of person who’s happy to look at the same thing day in, day out her whole life. She wants something different, and I can’t say I blame her.

This year, it’s all about the gladioli. Mum’s a huge fan of having an explosive pop of colour or two, just to liven the place up, but despite that she’s never gone down the hyacinth road. It’s actually quite strange that she hasn’t. I mean, over the years, mum’s grown almost every type of flower imaginable in that garden of hers, from alstromeria to zephyranthes, but never has she had a hyacinth. Not that she’s got anything against them, just that it’s never seemed to happen. Either they’d run out of stock or she’d found something online beforehand and decided that she just had to have it. Even when that is the case, and mum knows exactly what she wants before we even go to the nursery, it’s still an experience to go there. I just love wandering through the aisles, looking at all the different types of Summer flowering bulbs and seedlings that will one day grow into a big and strong plant all in their own right. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t live at home anymore, it’s really just a fun mother-daughter activity we do once a year.