Lavender is one of my favourite flowers and once established in a friendly spot is as tough as old boots, as you can see in my photo!

Lavender a symbol of an old worldy age, a simple life.

From Wikipedia…
“Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast …are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.”

It make me think of when times were slower, when seasons were followed, when thought was given how everything could be used wisely.

No waste and carelessness, but a time of learning , how to make do, work hard but enjoy the fruits of ones labours. Of helping and supporting one another. Of time to ponder instead of always having to race around or wanting to try something new. Of being content.

The story to my hedge stared over two years ago. My garden was and is getting to be like a very aged person who needs lots of loving care and rejuvenation, but with not too much time I wanted to spruce it up a bit…it is a slow work in progress.

Where I wanted to plant this hedge was a long bed which had a lot of overgrown old plants which needed ripping out and poisoning, a very slow process which I undertook over time. Then had to wait for the Nandina Bamboo and ivy to really die and with a pick dig out the roots…needless to say it was hard work. The soil needed to be enriched a little so I just dug and turned it over where each cutting was going in. Once everything was planted and watered I put down cane mulch of which I had a bale needing to be used up from the shed….it broke down beautifully to feed the soil over time. With sunshine and rain and day following day.

Let’s start some new plants…by harvesting cuttings from my proud “Mother” plant. A large scruffy old bush which I had been tempted to rip out but kept. I have grown so new many plants from this one bush

In July last year I just took soft cuttings and stuck them straight in the ground. I put in excess cuttings knowing I would loose some. Water was applied to keep them moist over summer. A lot of going out everyday to cheer them on and watch as they grew from drooping cuttings. By September the cuttings had “taken” and were well growing with new shoots by October.

I cut off their first flower buds in sacrifice to give strength to the newly grown plants. Once the next flush of smallish flowers had finished I thought I’d better trim the whole hedge to make it even…after some days I thought I’d killed it and was so very upset. But by mid January there was re growth much to my joy.

Now in mid May which is the next year I have a lovely hedge which soon I must prune again to remove spent flowers and let the plants regenerate and so the process goes on. Time after time.

A beautiful sight for me every day out my back door and windows. A lesson in time and patience. To keep going even if it gets tough…hard work never killed anyone , except for the aches in muscles I forgot I had

I love my hedge bordering my herb garden as do the bees and can watch and admire it for an age standing with my back to the sun….and now the lavender is sheltering new cuttings which when a little bigger I will transplant for another type of hedge …a Japanese Box

….and in between loving the sprinkles of joy and sun shine some of our little grandsons bring when we visit their homes x

First Sunday in May is traditionally World Permaculture day
It is also Honey month

A day when and where people come together to share ideas, ideals, ways of doing and the how’s of doing. A day of places to visit to learn about this big word Permaculture. Work shops and open gardens. Community events.

How to look after the gardens they have. Ways to improve their soil. How to make mulch or compost. What to use the compost for. How to encourage worms into their gardens whether of flowers, vegetable or a mixture because these wriggly friends move nutrients through your soil and break it down silently. They are your invisible friends working in the background or in the worm farm.

Why, how and are you allowed to keep the humble hens for their eggs in your suburban back yard or rural property…but watch out for Mr Fox or other predators!…how to build their little hen houses or castles.

How to make use of your small suburban block in a productive way. Suburban homesteading. There don’t have to be grand ideas or spending lots of money. Starting small or micro small. Just the act of getting to and starting and not being afraid to give it a go.

As I wrote in a post on “Sharing” …it’s not in the big words of Sustainable Living or as now Permaculture, it’s in the doing it simply without worrying about the big words. Read what I said about sharing. Remember how our parents or family did things in their little patch of earth called home. They did it to support the family budget. They worked hard, had to work hard to survive, and just got on with doing because there was no other way.

They worked together, had working bees, helped each other, supported each other and shared with each other. I know I had chores which gave me the love and understanding of gardening to this day….but there’s always things to learn which in itself is good even as one approaches retiring age. Ones brain doesn’t become stale. New horizons are there beckoning.

Try growing a few herbs in pots or on a window sill. Share what you have with a friend or neighbour. Do a bit of research. Do grow a few marigolds or such amongst your veggies to attract the bees for a productive garden.

Bees our friends that I blogged about on “World Health Day”. Little workers that the world can’t do without.

Share with the children and teach them about the simple things of a garden. The joys of a garden. The responsibility that goes with gardening too. The awesomeness of growth. Share the beauty, it’s free.

So many things that we can simply do or already are doing unknowingly, without the need for big words.

WHO…World Heath Organisation

A bit of trivia information for you today…

Google was my friend today taking me to Wikipedia, every man’s fount of knowledge and easy to understand. There I just learnt that on April 7 every year W.H.O. celebrates “world health day”. This commenced in 1950 being the year before I was born….and THAT makes me feel old!

Each year a different topic is discussed with Vector Borne Diseases being chosen for this year.

Vector-borne diseases” are infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that living creatures carry and pass on to other living creatures…..cited by the British Columbia Ministry of Health.

http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/protect/ehp_vector.html

What is a vector? Well a common one is the humble mosquito. Not very humble though as there a many varieties of mosquito in different parts of the world which cause a multitude of illnesses. I suppose the most commonly known one is Malaria which is the scourge of the tropic as also is Dengue fever….A friend of ours travelling in the Philippines contracted this and was very ill and still suffers at times some of its effects.

Another is the Varroa mite which attacks healthy bees and causes hive collapse due to weakened bees, with devastating effect. Google the word to find out more.

This attack on bees has the potential to have massive effects on food production. Little hard-working bees which we see every day in our gardens, amongst the herbs, on flowering trees, on our Australian native trees, the eucalyptus gum trees. All over the world. They are the backbone of our ecology, the food bowls…..besides providing that golden honey.

How can we encourage bees into our gardens? Plant flowering herbs or companion plants in amongst our established garden….
and watch that little bee next time. Pause a moment to observe it and give thanks….and in so doing we feed and refresh our inner being.

…..this short post was sparked when I was cleaning out my emails late last night. There was one advertising world health day, so I had to check it out, and as they say the rest is history.

Short and sweet today.

Breathe and observe.

Joining in with http://essentiallyjess.com/fish-chips-blogging-ibot/

I Blog On Tuesdays

It’s raining sort of…
Drizzling
Grey skies
Soggy washing on the line
Wet washing languishing in basket
Dew drop beads of rain on washing line
Don’t accidentally knock the line, or
Big cold drops on your head

But….
Green grass
Mowed lawns
No more drooping plants
Now vibrant and crisp herbs appeased
Weeds a-growing abundantly
Happy not to get poisoned today,
in the space where hedge will grow…

Autumn has arrived much too quick!

Can you see me…

Here I am , a busy bee after the rain

A little bit of rain yet so many impressions…affecting the laundry, garden, and nature. Broaden it out and it’s endless as can be seen by some of the tag words I’ve used

Why is it raining, refreshing, washing, water, rain, save water, rain drops, Basil, Nasturtium, Lavender, vegetable garden, herbs, fresh herbs, bees, pollination , herb garden, grow your own vegetables, grow your own herbs.

So if there’s no bees then no honey and so the circle continues on…I don’t think I’ll ever think of a wet day in a stereotype way again!

This post started off as being a short poem …it grew from there.

To all, have a blessed day and try to find the best in maybe a grey sort of feeling day…in Sydney anyway…spring happenings to you all in the northern hemisphere.

From Alexa

Content written and photos belong to

http://www.Alexa-asimplelife.com