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The Garden Curator

Garden designer | Landscape designer | Landscape illustrator

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Colleen Southwell

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Green leaves Illustration by Colleen Southwell

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My fellow teens of the 80's, do you remember the s

My fellow teens of the 80's, do you remember the song Electric Blue by Icehouse...mullet clad boy loves girl, girls sees through boy, boy broken hearted..."help me baby what can I do"? You get the drift. The song has been on replay in my mind since the Echinops ritro Veitchs Blue came into flower this year, and I think I'm equally as smitten with it as the boy with the girl, though considerably more satisfied with the outcome than the poor chap experiencing unrequited love. When you love a plant, most of the time they love you back, tenfold. Gardening is a bit of a love story, complete with awkward moments along the way, occasional arguments and a lot of give and take, though thankfully with a happy ending. 😘😘
PS apologies for the Electric Blue earworm...

Australian native plants for Australia Day. Our i

Australian native plants for Australia Day.
Our indigenous flora so perfectly represent all that is wonderful about this incredible nation. Beauty. resilience, tenacity, adaptability, strength. Despite adversity. these plants exude optimism. Our family today consciously celebrates all that we have, not the things we don't. We look forward, not past, we show gratitude, not complaint. And we wholeheartedly reflect that compared so many on this planet, each and every one of us are merely custodians and privileged to live in this country. We have so much to be thankful for.

Turn on the sound for an early morning moment befo

Turn on the sound for an early morning moment before the heat rises, serenaded by the birds and the sheep.
Daybreak this week has involved a walk to the dam to start the pump that fills the tank that waters the garden and troughs....rain has eluded us for a month or more now and the crispness of our inland Australian summer is here. There is nothing like watching inky navy storm clouds roll across the hills, the perfect pairing with paddocks that have shed their emerald, gilded now with unpolished gold. They'll come.
Happy weekend to you all♡♡♡

Big news! I'm so excited to let you know that my f

Big news! I'm so excited to let you know that my first exhibition for 2021 will be at the fabulous Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney! This group show commencing late April, will be all about fungi, and will include a line up of sensational artists. It's such a privilege to be invited to participate at such a wonderful event in a beautiful and iconic location. Stay tuned for posts of works available as they evolve in the studio over coming months. I'm so looking forward to being back at RBGS!

Baubles- if you've been following for a while it'l

Baubles- if you've been following for a while it'll be no surprise that a good plump bauble (or many) are favourites here. The voluptuous Alliums as featured in my last garden post, Echinops for sure, the buds of Japanese windflowers, and in these images, the fabulous Sanguisorba which have rapidly become one of my most loved perennials. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th photos show the lovely deep purplish red of Sanguisorba officinalis and S. Tanna, the 1st image the mass of Sanguisorba Pink Tanna (all taken over the last week or two, hence the now absent but much desired storm clouds). I love their oblong blooms, bumblebee sized, teetering atop thin stems. Gorgeous cut for vases, fabulous among grasses and just really satisfying. They're not ostentatious or particularly showy, but really that's not what it's all about. The collective mass of baubles is just as lovely as a big blousey bloom, just as effective but with a little less ego. Hmmmm....
Questions about the other treasures in the photos welcome, as always ♡♡♡

On a day when the sun is scorching and the wind fr

On a day when the sun is scorching and the wind frying, when plants are wilting and humans drooping, it feels at odds to be working on perky Penny Gum in the studio. At least one of the crew is still fresh as a daisy despite the conditions!

Just giving the Alliums another moment in the spot

Just giving the Alliums another moment in the spotlight before their curtain falls. Drumroll please!#gardenplanning

© Copyright 2019 Colleen Southwell