Garden Travel Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Andrea Whitely Garden Consultant

This week, I took time out from what quite frankly, can at times be a very daunting schedule of work and family, running a small business in a COVID 19 environment and smack bang in the middle of the rose-pruning season. Not to mention feeling a little down at not being in the USA to attend my annual GardenComm International conference which was scheduled to be held in Colonial Williamsburg in VA.

I participated in the inaugural ‘Mindful Meanderings’ event held in Perth, Western Australia.

A new concept that is organized by Perth-based company Journeys of The Spirit, offering small groups of participants an opportunity to get out into the West Australian bush for a solid morning of walking and mindfulness coaching. One of the many benefits of COVID-19 has been the number of nimble thinking small businesses that have identified a need and altered their business plan, flipped the existing business model on its head, and adapted to the needs of their clients in a COVID safe way. This small business is a great example of that. https://www.journeysofthespirit.com.au/small-group-journeys/mindful-meanderings-australia

Last week, we had some work done on our driveway. Our local council put in underground power last year and the light pole which was on the edge of the driveway has been moved to allow for much better access to our property. This has given me a great opportunity to make some changes and start a new project.

We renovated our house about 7 years ago and when we did the builders destroyed the lawn on the verge, which is the space between our property boundary and the road. Technically, homeowners do not own this space but have responsibility for it.

We used to have a well-maintained buffalo lawn in this space, that was reticulated and was constantly being repaired by my husband after damage caused by folks driving over the reticulation sprinkler heads. I really value my husband’s time and was always concerned about watering the lawn that we were never going to be able to use in a practical sense, as this space is mostly used for parking vehicles.

This is why, when it came to moving back into our house after the renovation, I decided to plant purple Agapanthus, yellow Hemerocallis day-lilies and delightfully purple Verbena boneriensis, immediately outside our picket fence and on the other side of the council-owned tree which is a very large and not my favourtite kind of tree, a Queensland Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), I have been placing woodchips that I top up each year or so with mulch that comes from trimming the Fiddlewood, the Marri and the Jarrah trees in our back garden.

Category: Garden Travel

Mindful Meanderings

This Week In The Garden, I Am….Making Changes To My Verge