Say It With Flowers

Creativity Gets A Springtime Boost

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

So spring is well and truly here and three weeks after the end of winter, we've already had those warmer, longer days that inspire us to spend more time outdoors. The roses at Casa Authorblog will soon be in full bloom, although there have been isolated buds and blooms here and there.

But these images were shot with the permission of a Melbourne florist, just outside the shop, about ten days ago. Somehow, it seems just about everybody feels more creative as the bite of winter recedes. The displays seem bigger, more inventive and the colours seem more welcoming.

Maybe it's just my imagination. Or maybe there really is some truth to the theory that inspiration comes when surrounded by colour ....


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Say It With Flowers

Creativity Gets A Springtime Boost

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

So spring is well and truly here and three weeks after the end of winter, we've already had those warmer, longer days that inspire us to spend more time outdoors. The roses at Casa Authorblog will soon be in full bloom, although there have been isolated buds and blooms here and there.

But these images were shot with the permission of a Melbourne florist, just outside the shop, about ten days ago. Somehow, it seems just about everybody feels more creative as the bite of winter recedes. The displays seem bigger, more inventive and the colours seem more welcoming.

Maybe it's just my imagination. Or maybe there really is some truth to the theory that inspiration comes when surrounded by colour ....


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

The Other Terracotta Army

Tossing Their Heads In Sprightly Dance

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It's always a wonderful thing to see a splash of natural colour in winter. To this end, we always plant seedlings in our terracotta pots under cover (and therefore protected from the frost) at the front of Casa Authorblog, with a rich variety that is always deliberately chosen.

Some of the pots have polyanthus, some have lobellia, some have pansies, some have primulas. That mix always ensures that the plants blossom at different times, we have an array of colours and more importantly, because of the mix of types, they flower at different times as well.

With the end of winter only a week away, the tall primulas are now past their best, so we might give them a few more days until the leaves start turning colour. Then we'll head off to the nursery and buy some punnets of petunias, those old favourites that never really go out of fashion.

This shot, taken from above one of the terracotta pots, shows the primulas, both white and purple, in the strong sunlight that is bringing warmth back to Melbourne.

Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

The Other Terracotta Army

Tossing Their Heads In Sprightly Dance

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

It's always a wonderful thing to see a splash of natural colour in winter. To this end, we always plant seedlings in our terracotta pots under cover (and therefore protected from the frost) at the front of Casa Authorblog, with a rich variety that is always deliberately chosen.

Some of the pots have polyanthus, some have lobellia, some have pansies, some have primulas. That mix always ensures that the plants blossom at different times, we have an array of colours and more importantly, because of the mix of types, they flower at different times as well.

With the end of winter only a week away, the tall primulas are now past their best, so we might give them a few more days until the leaves start turning colour. Then we'll head off to the nursery and buy some punnets of petunias, those old favourites that never really go out of fashion.

This shot, taken from above one of the terracotta pots, shows the primulas, both white and purple, in the strong sunlight that is bringing warmth back to Melbourne.

Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Cutting Remarks

Truly, A Rose Between Two Thorns

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I had to photograph these roses just before I cut them down, just to remind us all how resilient these plants are - some of them flowering even in the Australian winter that gets colder the further south you go in the country-continent.

Last week we completed the pruning of the roses at Casa Authorblog - a long process, because there are so many rose bushes around the property. A lot of people start cutting their roses back as soon as winter begins, but I have a slightly different theory.

The way I figure it, there’s not much point cutting roses back while we still get heavy frost as well as ice in the morning. So I let them be, with their straggly branches bare of any leaves, but I get the secateurs out in late July, when the worst of the frosts are behind us.

Then we begin the long job of pruning each bush. Some of them grow to the limit of my arm’s reach, and there is one climbing rose in particular that reaches about four metres in height. As each bush is pruned, we use secateurs to cut the branches into smaller bits and these are then loaded into a special bin for gardening-related items.

Already, some of the bushes have started to sprout new growth, fresh leaves and shoots that are a rich burgundy. And now I start checking each bush for aphids, those little green insects that suck the life out of any fresh shoots.

Kinda like an "Aphid and Goliath" situation, huh?


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Cutting Remarks

Truly, A Rose Between Two Thorns

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I had to photograph these roses just before I cut them down, just to remind us all how resilient these plants are - some of them flowering even in the Australian winter that gets colder the further south you go in the country-continent.

Last week we completed the pruning of the roses at Casa Authorblog - a long process, because there are so many rose bushes around the property. A lot of people start cutting their roses back as soon as winter begins, but I have a slightly different theory.

The way I figure it, there’s not much point cutting roses back while we still get heavy frost as well as ice in the morning. So I let them be, with their straggly branches bare of any leaves, but I get the secateurs out in late July, when the worst of the frosts are behind us.

Then we begin the long job of pruning each bush. Some of them grow to the limit of my arm’s reach, and there is one climbing rose in particular that reaches about four metres in height. As each bush is pruned, we use secateurs to cut the branches into smaller bits and these are then loaded into a special bin for gardening-related items.

Already, some of the bushes have started to sprout new growth, fresh leaves and shoots that are a rich burgundy. And now I start checking each bush for aphids, those little green insects that suck the life out of any fresh shoots.

Kinda like an "Aphid and Goliath" situation, huh?


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Cluster's Last Stand

Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Dancer, Do

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This huge bush of yellow daisies is a great colour spot in the winter garden at Casa Authorblog. When little else flowers as the frost and ice thwart us, these daisies bloom as if their life depends on it.

Now, with only four weeks to go until spring arrives, the daisies have finally started to look a bit the worse for wear. As the newly-pruned rose bushes start to show new, tentative growth, these yellow beauties are in turn starting to show their age.

In a couple of weeks, we'll prune them back, savagely, as we always do. And next autumn they will sprout defiantly, reminding us that they will be back in all their golden glory when the nights get so much shorter and so much colder.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Cluster's Last Stand

Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Dancer, Do

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This huge bush of yellow daisies is a great colour spot in the winter garden at Casa Authorblog. When little else flowers as the frost and ice thwart us, these daisies bloom as if their life depends on it.

Now, with only four weeks to go until spring arrives, the daisies have finally started to look a bit the worse for wear. As the newly-pruned rose bushes start to show new, tentative growth, these yellow beauties are in turn starting to show their age.

In a couple of weeks, we'll prune them back, savagely, as we always do. And next autumn they will sprout defiantly, reminding us that they will be back in all their golden glory when the nights get so much shorter and so much colder.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Small Is Beautiful

Protect Them From Frost And They Will Thrive

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

The front of Casa Authorblog is always a riot of natural colour, whatever the season. Last summer we had cascades of petunias - and yes, we're talking real cascades, in every colour. This winter, as you can see, these terracotta pots under the front verandah are ablaze with violas.

I have to admit, I've never planted viola seedlings before, but there is a reason for this. From the time our children were little, they have always chosen the seedlings that get planted out the front and out the back of the house. Sometimes, ahem, their choices have been helped along by a little guidance from the publisher of this blog.


But now that the Authorbloglets have their own opinions, I find that we plant things in our pots that I'm not familiar with. Like the time a few weeks ago, when I told the youngest Authorbloglet that perhaps violas were too tiny to provide any real splash of colour.

No, my argument didn't make any headway at all. And yes, I was wrong. These blooms are no more than two and a half or maybe three centimetres across - and the colour is a welcome boon this winter. Yes, we've had frost and ice, but because the terracotta pots are under cover, they are ablaze with every hue.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Small Is Beautiful

Protect Them From Frost And They Will Thrive

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

The front of Casa Authorblog is always a riot of natural colour, whatever the season. Last summer we had cascades of petunias - and yes, we're talking real cascades, in every colour. This winter, as you can see, these terracotta pots under the front verandah are ablaze with violas.

I have to admit, I've never planted viola seedlings before, but there is a reason for this. From the time our children were little, they have always chosen the seedlings that get planted out the front and out the back of the house. Sometimes, ahem, their choices have been helped along by a little guidance from the publisher of this blog.


But now that the Authorbloglets have their own opinions, I find that we plant things in our pots that I'm not familiar with. Like the time a few weeks ago, when I told the youngest Authorbloglet that perhaps violas were too tiny to provide any real splash of colour.

No, my argument didn't make any headway at all. And yes, I was wrong. These blooms are no more than two and a half or maybe three centimetres across - and the colour is a welcome boon this winter. Yes, we've had frost and ice, but because the terracotta pots are under cover, they are ablaze with every hue.


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.