Whose shoes?

 Create it yourself: SHOE GARDEN

 

 Start with a pair of high heels or stilettos. I found these ones at a local op shop. I spray painted the black pair purple. You can use any colour you fancy. Then drill two -three holes right through the sole for drainage.

 

 

 

 

I used Amgro succulent and cacti potting mix. This mix is free draining and perfect for the plants chosen.

 

 

I had fun choosing some succulents from the nursery. The rosette formed succulent acts as a sort of shoe embellishment and the finer variegated succulent will cascade out of the shoe.

 

Fill the pointy toe part of the shoe with soil and then place the plants in. Back fill with soil and press firmly.

 

 

Succulent with pink tinges and pink flowers were matched with the pink stilettos.

Purple spotted succulents were teamed with the purple shoes.

 

Have fun with it.

 

 

 

These boots were made for walking

 

 

 Pretty in pink.

 

 

Thanks for visiting our blog.

Krystal

 

 

 



Mr & Mrs Serenity, how does your garden grow?

 

A potted display and chook ornament adorn the old cottage.

Let's take a little tour around the homestead at Serenity Nursery.

Dotted with stone cottages and buildings from the yester year, it's no wonder Marian and Rod aka Mum and Dad have a flair for the nostalgic and a little bit of country whim. Here they have potted some kalanchoe succulents and an aloe tree into a trio of terracotta pots in their private Serenity garden. The ivy backdrop, as wild as it can grow, always looks lush.



 

The old wagon parked next to heritage scrub.

Most of the trees you will find growing at the Serenity Gardens are native to the area. In fact 5 acres of the nursery property are heritage listed scrub land. The lawn areas are dotted with some ornamental trees that Mum and Dad have planted over the years. Gleditsia 'Sun Burst', ornamental pear "Aristocrat", and ash trees are all doing well in the Murray Bridge climate.

 

 A pretty cottage garden inspired by "Monet's garden" makes for a colourful display at the front of the homestead.

 Last year Mum and Dad removed all of the plants from the front of the homestead. The garden was getting tied and needed a fresh start. The concept for the new garden was Monet's Garden. We wanted lots of hot colours clashing together like one of Monet's Impressionist paintings.

Here they have lined the steps with standard roses ( Augusta Louise and Fire &  roses). Dwarf Polygalas with purple pea-like flowers are planted in between each standard rose.

Salvia "Ember's Wish" and Dwarf Buddleias for intense garden colour.

 Salvia "Ember's Wish" ( pictured left) sits along side purple flowers to make it vibrate even more. Salvia " Embers Wish" grows to 80cm x 1.20cm with a mass of bright coral flowers covering the plant in the warmer months- but don't be surprised if it flowers all year round.

 

The purple flowering dwarf buddleia ( pictured on the right) only grows to one metre making it quite compact compared to the buddleias we are used to seeing that tower over two metres tall. The deep purple elongated flowers attracts butterflies.

New realease Fire& Ice Rose.

A close up of "Fire & Ice" Rose. One of the prettiest two- tone roses around.


Salvia "Heatwave Glow", Alyssum "Snow Princess, Salvia "Caradonna" and trailing convolvulus envelope a
 historic church ornament.

Perennial Alyssum "Snow Princess" softens the edges of the garden and looks like a sea of heavy snow. Salvia "heat wave glow" features soft peachy flowers and Salvia "Caradonna" could almost be mistaken for Italian lavender. The mauve moon flowers of convolvulus trail over the moss rocks, closing their blooms at night and reopening for a fresh day.

Moon flowers teamed with deep pink ruffle flowers of  "The Princess Lavender"

The Princess Lavender ( pictured Right) is an easy to grow lavender with deep pink large flowers and fragrant foliage. The flowers will last well when picked for indoor display.



 

 And finally we couldn't plant "Monet's garden without growing one of the best flowering trees around, Crepe Myrtle "Tuscarora". The large flowers actually resemble crepe paper and are available in white, mauve and pink tones.

 

Hope you enjoyed our little tour.

Sign up for the blog so you don't miss a post.

Cheers Krystal

 

Detail of plant images via PGA Plants Australia

The blue room

Serenity Nursery Home and Garden wares

Serenity Nursery gorgeous patio settings

 

Serenity Nursery new "blue room"- No more red walls!!!

 

One thing we try to always do is surprise and delight our customers. We had a purple and grey painted room which was painted red about three years ago. Everyone loved "the red room" and we mostly decorated it with Asian style pieces. Well this week we thought out with the old and in with the new. We pained the walls of the red room a pretty pale blue and we love it. It's fresh, summery and bright. Pop in and have a look how we decorated it...our theme was "no theme" and we have mixed french style chairs with modern metal home wares and our very popular multicoloured side board tables.

Enjoy.

 

A gift for a gardener..

Find adorable gifts at Serenity Nursery.

Serenity's woven chairs and urns will add warm to your home or garden.

 

 Come and fossic through our lovely garden gift displays.

You will be sure to find a gift for someone who loves to decorate their home or garden.

Creative Christmas...

 

This Christmas wreath is so easy to make at home with material from around the house.  Start with two wire coat hangers and cut off the hook part on both of them using wire cutters. Twist two of the ends together and bend the Wire into a circle. Cut hessian strips about 4cm x 30cm.

 

Thread the wire through the hessian folding the hessian back and forth as you go.

 

Keep threading until all the wire is covered.

 

 

Once all hessian is threaded on twist the remaining ends of wire together.

( Cute dog to help optional)

 

 

I finished my wreath off with a wooden heart from Serenity Nursery. I used organza ribbon to hang the wreath from my mirror. There are lots of beautiful Christmas decorations to choose from at Serenity Nursery. Use them in Christmas craft or to decorate your Christmas tree.

 

Krystal

A visit to Mum and Dad's garden...

 Have a look at Mum and Dad's garden (Above). Well this is just one section of the garden that they have worked on over the last couple of years. I really like what they have done with a simple metal arbour from our garden centre. They painted the arbour black along with this solid wrought iron urn. Mum and Dad chose a wisteria to cover the arbour. The purple and black is an unexpected combination and actually looks quite striking. The vigorous wisteria climber flowers during the warmer months and in winter sheds it's leave to reveal a woven bare vine.

 

A variety of deciduous trees surround the arbour and a large lawn area. What an excellent spot for a private get together.



 

 

Wisteria Amethyst Falls

 

What's this? Wisteria Amethyst Falls. It is an American variety of wisteria that is a well behaved variety, not as invasive and more compact then the Asian varieties more commonly grown.

Masses of deep lilac coloured flowers are produced on shorter than usual racemes giving a fuller effect. Flowering begins in spring with repeat flushes throughout summer. Can be trained to climb posts or trellis or in the garden bed can be left to trail over retaining walls, rockeries or embankments.

Available now.

 

 

 



Perfect Pieces

Acid brights are still a main theme in our little stone wagon shed gift shop ( pictured above left). We have gift and home wares rolling in from Melbourne leading up to Christmas so now is the time to get the best pick. We have scarves in all the colours of the rainbow and

 oil cloth handbags in spots and florals.

 

Pretty pastels are another theme we have chosen and our powder pink, blue and white hanging hearts and garlands are a gorgeous decorative touch for the home...Mum found them on an overseas buying trip so they are truly unique to us...Enjoy.

 

PS. Love lavenders? pop in now for a huge offering, including the one pictured here!

 

Krystal





Dome it.

 

We have been having fun "doming" things in the gift shop this week with our new delivery of gift ware and glass domes from Melbourne. We have domed cute little rabbits, books and

 things found in nature.

 

 Our black board in the garden centre is always inspiring.

Spiral herb garden

Tim and I held a "Growing Herbs" workshop this week and we spoke about creative ways to grow herbs. The D.I.Y spiral herb garden was intriguing to most of the attendees. It's something easy that you can make with rocks, bricks or any material that can be up cycled.

 

The spiral garden is a great way to get kids involved in gardening and is something they can help build themselves. Use different coloured herbs like opal basil, purple sage and bright green chives. Improve biodiversity by mixing in a few flowering plants such as marigolds and nasturtiums.

 

Krystal

Image via Sweet Local Farm’s flickr

Dad's Veggie House

 

Dad designed and created a enlosed veggie garden on his property in Murray Bridge.  He used  cement sleepers that he made to build up the veggie garden. For ergonomic reasons he built it up three sleepers high.

 

Dad created an island in the middle of the garden house which you can walk around. The island is filled with an abundance of leaffy vegetables. The perimeter is also filled with all kinds of eddibles including parsley, broccolli, spring onions and even ginger.

Outside of the garden house is a lovely freshly planted blueberry BURST. A new variety that produces extra large and flavoursome fruit.

 

Mum and Dad are proud of the chew marks in their cabbages!! No nasty chemicals are used to treat insects. This enables them to use the leafy greens for feeding their pet birds.

 

Dad shows Milton Vadoulis the hard work that has gone into making his dream veggie garden. The most important thing when gardening is getting the soil right and that's why Dad used alot of Plants Plus Groganic to improve the sandy loam when blending his mix.

 

 

The Serenity team Get Dirty with Milton

 Had a great day today showcasing our garden centre for TV's Getting Dirty with Milton.

Getting Dirty with Milton is a fantastic gardening show offering ideas on growing great gardens in Australia. Tune in 8pm Wednesdays on Channel 44 Adelaide.

 

I will keep you all posted when our nursery segment will be going to air.

New Lifestyle displays

 

Thought I would share with you some displays Kelsey and I worked on today. We are loving all the new decore items to work with!



Accommodation on The Edge.

 

Check out this new B&B in Murray Bridge, Narooma Waters. It's a very stylish 5 star apartment style accommodation, which overlooks the mighty Murray River. Established by locals Patrick & Sharon Secker who are enthused to show off what the Murray Lands has to offer.

Only 45 minutes from Adelaide...Book it today!

 

Head over to the website Narooma Waters and Like their FB Page.

 

Cheers The Serenity Nursery team.

Roses with meaning

"Firestar" is an award winning rose. The first rose to represent the CFA.

Firestar Rose- The first in the series.

We fell in love with the first 'Firestar' rose (pictured above) and planted a whole heap on our property in Murray Bridge. It's performs really well and the flowers change colour constantly.

 

"Phoenix" is the second rose in the "Firestar Series"- The official rose of the CFA.

About Phoenix Rose- New 2013

Phoenix Rose is a new release rose for 2013. It follows the first in the series 'Firestar'. Phoenix is a very fragrant shrub rose growing to 140cm. Pink petals meet a yellow orange hue reminiscent of early morning sunrise. Phoenix is a hardy rose that will tolerate Australia's harsh conditions. It is another great symbol  that conveys a sense of solace and quiet beauty, and embodied both a sense of hope and renewal, and the energy of re-generation.

 

Phoenix Rose is in store now!

Proceeds of these two roses go to the CFA. Image via The Age