Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing birds has come...." Song of Solomon

Hello all you lovely lovelies♥  How lovely of you to visit my flowery little place where our little plot of land is covered with pretty flowers and the sweet birdies are rejoicing in song. Here in Tassie flower shows and festivals are enticing the throngs to celebrate all things flowers. There are many private homes who have flung open their garden gates welcoming the crowds to stroll around the manicured lawns; oohing and aahing over the floral displays under the shade of ancient trees. If you listen carefully you can hear whispers of the stories of the gardens that rest under the shelter of the trees' canopy.

Yesterday, my good husband and I strolled around such a garden. We enjoyed a beautiful day wandering around the garden and historic house, Entally Estate; drinking in all the beauty that a venerable garden such as this, can gift. It was a magical day; wandering around the stalls, drinking in the beauty of the garden, enjoying scones and tea and taking a few potted pretties home with us. As for those potted pretties we took home.....a few hydrangea beauties were in the mix. I know, I know, it isn't as if I don't have oodles of my favourite flower, but there is always room in my garden for one or two more. I oohed and aahed over many a pretty flower.....bearded irises, foxgloves, roses, peonies....oh the peonies! Their dinner-plate size, diaphanous, petticoat-like petals drew me into the many shimmering folds. Yes indeed, a garden with many jewels to enchant the eye.

Wandering around this garden I was struck by what a difference a couple of hundred years makes to a garden. Ancient, majestic trees stretching and twisting their limbs every which way, gnarled and bent, delighting all who look up to marvel at their splendour. Old-world blooms flowering freely behind borders of immaculately manicured hedges. As I strolled up and down the hedge-lined paths I took a mental note of the essence of this cottage garden. It is a bountiful garden and though the flowers bloom in a happy jumble there is a regulated informality.  Nothing like my disobedient garden back home where of late the weeds have appeared jostling for precious space. Not a weed to be seen here though. Aah....an ancient garden, with many secrets hidden between the petals. I wondered about the gardeners of years past, who as guardians ambled along these grounds. In my mind's eye I could see many a gardener lovingly tending the plants, pulling at those cantankerous weeds, and as they pruned and dead-headed the blooms, smiling at the beauty enveloping them, while the birds chorused above. Oh, the bliss to be the caretaker of such a garden. I discovered too, the conservatory through which I wandered was the oldest conservatory in Australia.

Here at my humble li'l old abode the garden is showing off splendidly, too. The wisteria is in full bloom and the dense panicles of the lilacs are now parading their beauty. The fragrance of the garden, with these two trees vying for most fragrant plant, is intoxicating. I of course, had to, had to play florists, yet again. At this time of year I am spoiled for choice of which flowers to pick for a bouquet. I know there are some of you who don't like to pick flowers from the garden, but I have to say, here, in this little piece of paradise there are oodles and oodles of each species of botanical delight. I simply cannot leave every flower in the garden. I have this uncontrollable desire to snip a 'few' and make each bloom the star of a bouquet or two, thus beautifying each room in my humble abode. The fragrance of the garden's bounty gently drifts from room to room. 'Tis truly paradise, this heady mix of fragrances. Besides, the more you pick flowers, the more flowers the plant produces. 'Tis true.......I tell you no lie!

As I stood under the shade of the wisteria, plonking flowers into porcelain pretties, I was enchanted by the bewitching aromas that floated around me. Truly, the mixture of the heady scents of each flower was something that no perfumer could ever conjure up. If only I could magically produce all the scents into one perfume bottle, why, I think it would be every perfumer's dream. 

I haven't spent all my time this last little while, floating, lost in the exhilarating and paradisiacal world of perfumed flowers. A few more hexies have been stitched. Scores of little hexdens have been cut and stitched together to form pretty fabric flowers. Sixty of these sweet little squares are now finished. ......sixty more to go. =) I haven't begun to join the squares together yet. I am thinking I might wait until all the squares have been finished (but then....I may not)......then I will begin to play.

From this little patch of perfumed paradise where the flowers are smiling and the little birdies are singing I want to wish you a day filled with wonderfulness. Take time to enjoy something you love to do. May you snatch many moments to sprinkle beauty to your day. 'Tis Sunday here in this flowery little place and by the looks of it, the sun will be casting it's beams down upon me.....well, I hope it does. I am going to join that little band of lovelies all around the world and enjoy a little Slow Sunday Stitching, later this afternoon. Yes indeedy, me thinks a little hand stitching of some pretty hexies whilst sitting in the swinging seat by the pond, sounds like a most excellent idea.

Until the next time.............

Linking up this week to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching