What's in the old wagon shed?

Timber dice stool/ coffee table. Aluminium and timber coffee rest and hand made throws.

Rust garden sculptures, heuchera plants and phormiums ( NZ flax)

Hand made gifts, Multi coloured floor rugs and faux cacti.

New Summer fashion and necklaces. Rope dogs and crafty handbags made from fabric and leather.

Trendy folding stools.

The old wagon shed full of on trend goodies.

Chelsea Flower Show 2013 Winners...



A large Xanthorrhoea ( also known as a grass tree) Makes an amazing feature.



Natural elements have been selected. Timber, stone and bamboo enhance the green life.





A curved timber walkway leads the eye around the garden.



Simply Beautiful!

 

The talented team of Flemings Nursery.

Congratulations to Flemings Nursery for winning Best in Show for their garden design at the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show. I thought I would share the talent of this team with you and hope you like it as much as we do. We are proud stockists of Flemings trees so look out for them at Serenity very soon.

Enjoy

The Serenity Team

xx

A little bit about the garden:

Designed by Phillip Johnson, this garden reminds us that nature is the perfect reference for sustainable design, imperative in the twenty first century.

The focal points of the landscape are the Billabong, gorge and waterfalls, as well as the Studio perched on the edge of the gorge. The Studio roof includes solar panels with the capacity to generate enough power for the whole landscape.

So Tweet

A couple of things in our home wares shop that I am loving right now are the rhinestone swallow wall art and woolen throw blanket with Love/ birds design...Divine!

New Wall decores, cushions and furniture...

Our "Spider Man" chair comes as a set of two with a matching coffee table.

Love Love Love the bamboo woven round wall decores, just in.

Let's get creative...

 What a cute little idea. When the kids grow out of their gumboots turn them into garden art.

 What an innovative way to recycle plastic bottles. I have also seen old gutters mounted to walls and used as herb gardens.

Have some fun outdoors with this clever idea.

First two images here. Last Image here.

Deluxe Nectar

 ...Our new terracotta birds and pink lanterns are the perfect garden accessory.

Mother's Day is the prettiest time of year in our garden centre. Pink lilliums, orchids, hyacinth, gerberas, cyclamens and camellias are in bloom. We go mad with our deluxe plant gift wrapping using the prettiest printed papers.

Hanging Tough

Our timber carved jackets arrived today.

Quirky Potting Room

As Marian and Rod delved further into the gardens of New Zealand they discovered the quirky side of some home owners. This particular garden had the most adorable little potting shed ( so good it looks better than my kitchen). Complete with a working sink, useful garden tools and lots of baskets to harvest the produce from the garden.

Image by Serenity Nursery

The height of Blue and White

 A snippet of blue and white lace cap hydrangeas, a dreamy blue gate way and blue gorgeous house that Marian and Rod visited this week.

 The blue milk can, cane chairs and bird cages were nostalgic elements found around the house and garden.

 Marian Loved the use of this blue glazed pot and said the hydrangeas and fuchsias were stunning.

 Love this look.

People from all over came to visit this pretty place.

Mum and Dads New Zealand adventures continued as they explored another beautiful house and garden. Laden with pretty cottage plants and magnificent established trees this place put a twinge in their heart.

Images by Serenity Nursery

Choose your favourite...

 Choose from our delectable range of fragranced candles.

Our all time favourite fragrance is the bright green Nashi Pear and Cucumber because it is so refreshing.

The new Tangarine Blossom & Lychee is amazing too and the bright orange hue is perfect for Autumn/ Winter. We also have matching fragrant room difusers to pair with your fave candles.

Our little birdy tealight holders are an adorable little gift.

Images via shadows candles

Peek-a-Boo

What's inside: Stone candle holders, brass urns and a mirror vase.

Love Love Love our floral stone pots and heart hangers (over mirror)

I love to see our customers peep inside our little stone feed shed.

 We change the display all the time and this week Jen has teamed over-sized

 magnolia paintings with all things glitz.

I wander what the next themed display will be?

Photos by Krystal

Our little feed shed.

One of the things that makes are garden centre unique is our old stone feed shed.

 It was built in the early 1900's and once

 housed the grains and hay for the horses and pigs

 that once live on the property.

Today we use the feed shed to display our garden gifts and plants.

Top: our Courtney's Tub is planted with an ivy hoop and trailing geraniums.

 A second hand chair that we have planted with succulents sits by the doorway.

Middle: French style cushions and wall art adorn our little feed shed.

Bottom: It's a great time to plant lavender.

 There are lots of autumn/ winter  flowering varieties in store now.

Photos by Krystal



Zen Zone V's kitsch

Have you seen our GIANT water lettuce?

They are AMAZING.

They look great floating in earthy

 or glazed water bowls.

 It's so easy to grow them just drop them in the water

 and they will multiply

 by growing little pups on the side.

( our zenned out Buddha's are cool too)

Have fun

 in your garden

with our kitsch pink flamingos

 and giant flower wall hangings.

Photos by Krystal

Yucca Flowers & Gargoyles

I am in awe

 of the wonderful yucca flowers

 that I have seen popping up

 all over town this Autumn.

I discovered these ones today while wandering

 around the garden centre.

 Our hand-made

 lantern is spot on

 next to the

 giant

 architectural

yucca

 plant.

I pieced together this little display

 for the garden centre today.

I've used Dad's hand-made

 old finish gargoyles.

 A suar stool made from teak,

 stone steppers

 &

 striking canna plants for a rustic/gothic look.

Photos by Krystal

NEW HUES...

Bring the fun indoors with brightly hued ceramics.

Give white furniture a lick of paint in your favourite bright colour.

Artwork by Krystal James

lanterns and birdcages in cool aqua for outside on in.

Throughout or recent trips to China and Sydney whilst looking  for new home and garden ware we couldn't help but notice a vibrant trend of bright hues such as aqua, orange, pink and yellow.

Our favourite colour combo is Turquoise and Tangerine. This colour combo will add zing to any natural space.

Green scene

GO GREEN

When I designed my front garden  three years ago I was determined to have

an all green garden. Green foliage with a hint of white flowers was the plan. This theme would go with my mist green roof and cream timber posts on my little cottage.

Green plants that I used in my garden pictured above:

Frangapani- Cream flowers, large broad green leaves.

Buxus Faulkner- Green foliage, excellent evergreen border.

Cycad- Palm ideal planted in urns or pots.

Escallonia Iveyi- White flowers, dark green foliage.

Viburnum- Excellent screen, White flowers

Hellebore " Ivory Prince"- Cream to green flowers

Viburnum Laurustinis- One of the hardiest hedging plants around. Will grow 3m + and can be pruned to suit your location. Here I have used the viburnum to screen the fence line. I planted them 1m apart and prune the tops regularly to promote bushy plants. Doing so has paid off as they formed a hedge quickly. I like to use Neutrog SeaMungus throughout the year to keep the hedge healthy. Neutrog sudden impact for lawns is also great for leafy plants.

Hellebore "Ivory Prince"- A gem in the garden. I have planted my "Ivory Prince" under my advanced frangapani trees, they provide part shade for this amazing plant. The flower starts off cream and changes to green ( pictured above).

I have blogged this picture before, Its a favourite of mine. I think it must remind me of our garden centre, with all of the life size elephants roaming around.

Green Ivy walls. I would never get sick of this sight.

Grow Green. Grow your own edibles not only for eating but for visual effect. Try a border of green kale, creeping thyme as a ground cover or feijoa as a hedge.

It's a green life. I found this image on Martha Stuart.com. and thought I might share it with you.

I absolutely love this. Try it yourself, by placing a few pavers in the garden and envelope them with a sea of green.

Green Ideas for planting in between pavers:

Dichondra- A small kidney shaped leaf that grows close to the ground ( available in seed or seedlings). Dwarf Mondo Grass, low growing dark green foliage. Creeping thyme, will take light foot traffic and will be fragrant too.

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