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Monthly Archives: February 2013

Dreaming Of An Outdoor Shower

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens, Polka Dots

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Beachside, garden design, Outdoor Showers, Rustic Design, Serendipity, Serendipity Garden Designs

I dream of having an outdoor shower in my garden. Who doesn’t? Originally I thought one would only be suited to a beachside home. You know the type – a tropical oasis, large leaf plants, splashes of bright colour and the sound of waves floating on the sea breeze. That tends to be the images one conjures up when thinking about an outdoor shower.

But why limit outdoor showers to rinsing off the salt and sand after a trip to the beach. We can have them anywhere!

Rustic Outdoor Shower, with one comes with a bathtub.

Rustic Outdoor Shower, this one comes with a bathtub. Yay!

This renewed desire for an outdoor shower came about after I visited a client’s garden. Together we are turning their unused garden into a beachside haven. I was doing my first site visit and taking a tour around the garden and there it was, an outdoor shower, looking a little forgotten about. At the moment it is nothing fancy, in fact you could walk past it and not know it is there. But you wait, it will be a wonderful destination in the garden once the creative juices start flowing and the possibilities unleashed.

I love the colour of the wall and the large stone paver surrounded by pebbles.

This got me thinking about what makes a great outdoor shower. It’s one thing to have water pouring out of a shower head, it’s another thing to make it a destination in your garden that you, your family and your visitors can enjoy.

I love this shower with its curved wall and hanging bucket, it creates interest. Mediterranean holiday anyone?

Here are three things I would consider when planning an outdoor shower.

–While you may still have trouble picturing an outdoor shower anywhere but in a tropical paradise don’t go turning a teeny tiny spot in your cottage garden into a large leaf beachside oasis. It won’t work. It will stand out for all the wrong reasons. Allow the shower space to compliment what you already have. Consider what is already in your garden and enhance it. Consider the plants, materials and the colours.

A outdoor shower with a view.

A outdoor shower with a view.

–There are endless amounts of shower heads and taps available to incorporate into your outdoor shower. From contemporary to traditional there is one to suit the look and feel that you are after. Take a little time to browse and find something you will be truely happy soaking under.

Be creative, anything is possible

Be creative, anything is possible

— The finishing touch to your outdoor shower should be the towel hooks. You can’t have a shower without somewhere to put your towel, whether you have come from the beach or the paddock. Add one as a feature or have them for practical purposes only which ever you decide on don’t forget to consider the look and feel of the space. The addition of hooks will add to the destination and provide somewhere for the user to put their towel other than on the ground.

These towel hooks have been made a feature.

These towel hooks are a feature of this outdoor shower.

I hope I have inspired you with some of these images. If you would like to see more outdoor showers you can visit my Pinterest board ‘Outdoor Showers’ here where you will find lots more wonderful images.

There are still more things to consider when designing and installing an outdoor shower such as water use and availability, drainage and aspect, to name just a few. Always consult a professional before undertaking design and construction of a new outdoor space, there may be more things you need to know than you are aware of.

Until next time.

Carmel

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Our Bees

08 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens, Polka Dots

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Australian Native Bees, Australian Stingless Bees, Bee Hive, Flowering Gum, Serendipity Garden Designs, Splitting the Hive, Sugarbag beekeeping

We have pets, actually we have hundreds, maybe thousands of them.  No I haven’t relocated to my dream country cottage with hobby farm and no I haven’t moved to a zoo. Are we busy? Not really, just the usual, work, play, gardening, yoga. Curious? Well, I’ll tell you. We have a colony of native stingless bees living in a purpose-built hive on our sunroom windowsill.

Native Stingless bee hive

My husband has wanted a stingless bee hive for many years now.  A friend of ours who has had native stingless bees for a number of years offered to split his hive with us.

‘Splitting a hive’ is the most common method used to propagate a hive:

“the splitting method of propagation involves dividing the hive horizontally at its midpoint and equipping the old top part with a new empty bottom and the old bottom half with a new top. The bees are then left to furnish their new basement or attic depending on which side of the split they find themselves”. Taken from p60 of Australian Stingless Bees A Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping by John Klumpp.

The Queen is left on one side and as long as there is a viable queen in the other side of the split, the new colony will be successful.

So, early one Saturday morning before the day got too hot, Dave went to collect his new hive. Sorry, Dave didn’t take any pictures of the split, I think the upheaval of happy bees and the splitting of the colony was all a little to much to capture.

Fast forward two months and the bees are happy in their new home and position. We have put the hive on our sunroom windowsill (outside of course) with the tiny opening facing east so that it gets the first sun in the morning. What’s not to love about that situation?

Here you can see the opening of the hive. The bees had put resin on the top half of the opening since being here.

You can see the opening of the hive. The bees have put resin on the top half of the opening since being here and the yellow around the opening is pollen.

They are the most delicate little things you can imagine. Ok, I’m sure you can imagine a far more delicate ‘thing’ than an insect but trust me, they are cute and tiny. If they are flying solo you have to look closely to see them.

One day not long after we had them I walked in front of the hive, to be honest I forgot they were there but I could feel these little things touching my arm, like they were flying into me and pinging off me in all directions. Instantly I remembered them and stopped but they just kept pinging. I held out my hand hoping some might land but they weren’t interested in that. So cute! I promise no bees were harmed in the construction of this paragraph.

Here is the openginog the hive, if you look closely you can see a bee underneath the opening and you can see some just inside too. To give you an idea of the size of the bees, the opening is about 1.5cm diameter.

Here is the openging of the hive, if you look closely you can see a bee underneath the opening and you can see some just inside too. To give you an idea of the size of the bees, the opening is about 1.5cm diameter.

It seemed to take the tiny bees a few weeks to settle in. We often saw them swarming at the front of the hive (that is what I walked into). Perhaps they were voting for their new Queen and having a few heated discussions, we aren’t sure why they were swarming. But I think they were settling in and arranging their hierarchy. Thankfully that behaviour has stopped and we just see them coming and going now.

The bees are most active during the morning, but we do see them coming and going throughout the day. This will be their busiest time of year while the weather is warm, because they avoid flying when the temperature drops below 18˚Celcius. Even during December when we had a few cool days (a rainy, cool Christmas day for example) they were nowhere to be seen.

I guess that leads us to your burning question, what about the honey? Well, our tiny bees do produce honey, but no, we do not harvest it. You see, they don’t make a lot of it and what they do make they store and use during winter when they can’t leave the hive.

This prompts another question, what’s the point of having bees if we don’t harvest the honey? We have the bees to help with pollination of our plants, our neighbour’s plants, the street plants and maybe even plants in your garden. The Australian bee population, both native and Australian, is in decline. Without bees there is decreased pollination of our flowering plants which results in less fruit and vegetables.

A pink flowering gum with some visiting Sugarbag bees.

A pink flowering gum with some visiting Sugarbag bees.

So apart from providing us with so much joy and fascination as we watch them leave the hive and return with an array of brightly coloured pollen, we are also helping increase their population and rate of pollination in our neighbourhood.

You can find my previous blog posts about Australian native bees here (Australian Native Bees) and here (Australian Native Stingless Bees). You can also see more wonderful pictures and bee footage here (My Adventures in the Real World).

Until next time

Carmel

p.s. My husband and I got confirmation that we’ll be doing a native bee workshop in a few weeks. We are so looking forward to it and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, stay tuned. C

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Crepe Myrtle

01 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by gardensandpolkadots in Gardens, Polka Dots

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Crepe Myrtle, Deciduous, Flowering, garden design, Gargening, Lagerstoemia indica, polka dots, Serendipity Garden Designs, Summer Flowers

Lagerstroemia indica, more commonly known as the beautiful, the gorgeous and the delicious Crepe Myrtle. Oh, how I love this tree and wish there were more around our streets, gardens and parks. They herald the warm days of summer with eye-popping pinks or majestic white and provide a structural element to the garden during winter when the tree is bare and without its leaves.

SAMSUNG

The trunk is multi-stemmed which means rather than having a trunk with a mop of green leaves on top like our childhood tree drawings it has any number of trunks sprouting from its base. The trunk is mostly salmon in colour with lovely flecks of green throughout.

Crepe Myrtle Trunk

Here’s an idea, when the branches are long and strong enough to support weight, you can decorate the bare stems with lanterns or fairy lights or even tea cups.

Decorating a tree any which way you choose!

{I found this picture after I had written this piece, it’s so perfect to share here.}

In spring we start to see the first flushes of new leaves and you just know that with a little patience the crepe fabric flowers will follow. We’ll delight in this sight knowing that the cycle of the seasons will bring a carpet of flowers underfoot when they float down away from the branches. The leaves will change from green to red, yellow, orange and crimson and soon after the trunk will be exposed, letting us know winter is approaching.

We don’t have a Crepe Myrtle planted in our garden, just a sad little one in a pot that my husband rescued {it needs a lot more lovin’ still}. We do however have the luxury of having an uninterupted view of our neighbours bright pink Crepe Myrtle. It is quite old and has the most beautiful display of flowers at the moment {it did have a beautiful display before the storms over Australia Day weekend}.

Our neighbour, the owner of the Crepe Myrtle does a fantastic job of maintaining it. Each year after it has lost all of its leaves {when it is dormant} he cuts it back to about 2m from the ground {remember it is multi-stemmed so it has lots of ‘trunks’}. By doing this he is can maintain its height and it also promotes healthy new growth in spring that results in new branches with an abundance of foliage, followed by an overwhelming display of flowers. This Crepe Myrtle shares close quarters with a mature frangipani {this also gets a chop every now and then} that has a fabulous canopy, maintaining the height keeps them from getting all tangled up in pink and white loveliness.

Oh, and the best bit about the pruning is that our view of the ocean gets replenished each year. Yay!!!

Crepe Mytle flower

Crepe Myrtles are a fabulous addition to any garden. If you are thinking of adding one to your garden now is the time to purchase, they are flowering in all good garden centres so you can see them in flower and pick the perfect colour.

Lagerstoemia indica – Crepe Myrtle

    • Family: Lythraceae
    • Plant Type: Deciduous small to medium size tree
    • Flowers in late summer to autumn in colours of pink, purple, red and white
    • Foliage colour change in Autumn
    • Requires full sun but will tolerate some shade
    • Prefers moderately fertile, well draining soil
    • Prune to shape in winter if required
    • Dought tolerant but will produce good flower display if kept moist
    • Fertilising not required once established
    • Plant in open area with good air circulation

All posts need a Polka Dot so here’s one for those that REALLY like their Crepe Myrtles. How about a Crepe Myrtle print dress like the one below?

Crepe Myrtle print dress from Anthropologie

Crepe Myrtle print dress from Anthropologie

Until next time.

Carmel

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