Designing a Rose Goddess Garden

Planting a garden and watching it come to life over the years must be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. It brings me so much joy to work hand in hand with mother nature, creating something of beauty and magic, a living artwork with my own two hands. Being out in the garden is incredibly healing, sun on my skin, earth between my fingers and toes. It allows me to enter that flow state, where all my fears and anxieties recede, my chattering mind goes quiet, and I feel in a peaceful state of ebb and flow, effortlessly dissolving into the rythym of nature. My heartbeat seems to slow to that of the pace of earth itself, and insights flow to me.

I’ve recently added a film to my vlog ‘The Rambling Rose’ where I show how I created a rose garden in honour of one of my favourite goddesses. You might recall that in my ‘Sowing A Secret Garden’ episode, I introduced you to the different zones in my ever evolving cottage garden, and how I promised to plant a brand new garden bed with you, centered around this stunning goddess bird bath?

When I spotted her on my local buy, swap, sell group, I knew instantly, that she was the one. Faeries love magical garden decor, mirrors, water features, wind chimes and such, and I felt they would be adore this bird bath. I thought, she would make the perfect centrepiece for a rose garden, one that would delight any romantic soul or, sweet little nanna at heart. And, of course, with the hot Australian summer on the way, it would hopefully become a beloved oasis for native birds, bees and other beneficial insects. 

But at first, I couldn’t quite decide which goddess she most resembled... and which one I most wanted to honour with this garden. So... let’s start planting, and wait for a sign from the faeries. And, once all that hard work is done, we’ll head on up to my art loft to paint another page of my new illustrated book ‘Wild Faerie Magick’. Finally, a few weeks later, we’ll return to the rose goddess garden for the final reveal.

Watch the full episode here…

Sowing a Secret Garden & Harvesting Purple Veggies

I stumbled upon the quote, ‘The secret garden bloomed and bloomed, and every morning revealed new miracles.” It is from the beloved book ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Burnett Hodges, and I recall that this story is about healing. A garden left abandoned and forgotten for a decade, just like the little orphan Mary herself, is brought back to life with love and care. With the help of a robin, Mary discovers the key and slowly begins to interact with the seasons, the dirt, and the flowers – and both she, and the garden are beautifully transformed.

I loved this quote, because gardening has healed me too, and I feel like we are healing each other. Every morning, when I walk to the back of my garden to let my chickens out to roam and forage, I always stop to marvel at something new and beautiful that seems to have appeared overnight, every day a new surprise. It does feel like a secret place, away from the world, where I can let my imagination wander.

I have big dreams for my secret garden this season, and want to try my luck at growing flowers from seed, to fill out any little gaps in the garden beds. I have names for each an every one, there’s the moon garden, the faerie garden that I planted for my birthday last year, and... a new rose goddess garden centered around a stunning bird bath.

It’s all a bit wild and weedy in my garden and my excuse is the incredible amount of rain we’ve had these past few months. La Nina is in its third consecutive year here in Australia. And I must say, the weather has really challenged my co-creative gardening skills. I do love a good cosy rainy day, but I am itching to get out in the garden and get to work. I guess this weather is just another life lesson taught to me by nature. You can only do your best, and that’s always good enough. 

Co-creative gardening is where you work with all the forces of nature and the plant spirits, working together rather than imposing your will. It’s not neat and tidy, it’s rambling and shifting, like a conversation, thanking the plants for all that they provide, and asking them what they need in return. I always talk to my plants, giving them tender words of encouragement and explaining what is going on and where and why I’ve planted them. I also play them classical music, especially when transplanting, to help settle them into their new home. I often place crystals in their pots, and when I’ve planted something new, I sit with it for a moment, and with one hand on my heart and one over the plant, close my eyes and visualise sending them love and joy, picturing them growing beautiful and strong and leafy and blooming, season after season.

At the end of Djilba season, just after the equinox, is just about the right time to harvest the last of the winter greens, and prepare the beds for the season’s crop. In the last episode, I talked a little about colour magic, and how simply reading the colour of a plant is a simple way to reveal it’s healing or magical properties. Purple is associated with the crown chakra, the portal to other dimensions and higher states of consciousness. When you see this colour in a fruit or vegetable, you know it’s high in anthocyanins, which are known to improve vision and have neuro-protective effects. I love it when modern science figures out an ancient kind of magic that pagans have intutively known for centuries, don’t you?

I’m so pleased that the purple kohlabi, kale and cauliflower all did so well this year, even with so much neglect, and I’m going to use them to make fritters with kale pesto (and share the recipe with everyone on Patreon!)

All of my brassicas are going to seed now, and the bees are loving it. Some might say I’ve made a mistake in planting too many varieties together, and letting them all flower at once, as this means they will likely cross pollinate and create strange and not so productive hybrids... but I’m happy experimenting and practicing an intuitive gardening style. I feel like this is more magical and special. This way, I’m creating my own unique little ecosystem, complete with weeds and beneficial insects, and letting the plants surprise me. After all, its a secret garden, and its designed to reveal new miracles.

But, in order to create a truly magical cottage garden – one that attracts beautiful birds, butterflies and bees... and, of course, faeries – one needs to grow more than just herbs and vegetables. Flowers are of course, essential to the secret garden of my dreams. And this year, I’ve collected some really exciting varieties of flower seeds. 

Now, being an artist, I have a loose colour palette in mind for each of my garden zones – It feels like painting a Monet, dabbing pastels and jewel tones across my garden canvas, hopefully creating a dreamlike harmony, and an enchanted place that I will want to spend my summer days in, reading books and drinking iced tea, chatting to the faeries and chasing butterflies.

When it comes to planting seeds in seedling trays, I think there’s something quite meditative about little repetitive tasks. And of course, being outside in the fresh air, and working with soil, is so healing. I often feel that gardening is a metaphor for life, and I ponder the quote; ‘the seed never sees the flower’. I find it so profound to think that, in the passage of time, this tiny seed, will never know the magnificence that it will one day become. It makes me think of my younger self, little Nancy, and I wish she could see the woman we have become, all of the beautiful art we’ve made and the home and garden I know she’d love.

So, I hope you will join in the fun with me as I plan out my garden, harvest some veggies, sow seeds for an enchanted faerie wonderland, and paint a few pages for my upcoming book, ‘Wild Faerie Magick’.

Watch the full episode here:

Tiny House Garden Project: Chicken Cottage Makeover

In my latest vlog over at ‘The Rambling Rose’, I shared how I gave my chicken coop a cottage garden makeover and figured out what herbs and flowers are best suited to my chookos. I even got to work with some power tools – yes, faeries use power tools! I share a few insights into building a tiny home, living off grid, and starting a cottage garden. And so, I thought it might be nice to share a little snippet here on my blog too…

When I found this little block of land back in 2019, my heart was filled with romantic dreams of creating an off-grid tiny home, with an overflowing veggie garden, an outdoor tub, meandering animals, and flowers everywhere. I thought I’d be self-sufficient, plastic free and living like a reclusive, forest witch in no time. But, dear wildflowers, I had no idea just how hard it would be to make that dream come true.

I shivered through the first three winters, after realising that my solar battery would not see me through the cold and dark and snow, trudging out to start the generator in my gumboots and dressing gown, faerie umbrella in hand, crawling under the house to reset the battery, brushing spiders and cobwebs from my hair. There have been so many challenges, blood, sweat and tears, and a whole lot of mud and mistakes.

But the garden teaches me so many things, and one of the most important is patience, and learning to adapt to your conditions, problem solving, and... when you make a mistake, you can always try again next season.

On one of my forest walks recently, I was drawn to a little creek and considered that, when a rock falls in its way, the river simply flows around it. When a tree comes down after a thunderstorm, it is as if nature just shrugs and simply sends some mushrooms and moss to make it their new home. I felt like the forest faeries were whispering some wisdom to me – mistakes are just opportunities to try a different approach.

My chicken coop has seen better days, and just like me, my two chickens have been doing it tough in their tiny home this winter. Now, as the days get brighter, I thought it was time to treat them to a Spring surprise, and build them a beautiful new home with a cottage garden of their very own. I put together a lovely green and white ‘cottage style’ chicken coop, made the nesting boxes cosy with wood shavings and herbs from the garden, and potted up some flowers to place around the coop. I also put in a little stone path leading up to the coop, and, in a future episode, want to build a ‘Hobbit style’ chicken run with wicker swinging gate and climbing vines. I honestly think I could live in a little green and white cottage surrounded by garden flowers. Hmm... I kinda do!

It looks like my girls are already loving their new home, and I’m so pleased with the result too! I feel much better knowing that they will be safe and warm through winter, and cool in summer here under the leaves of a peach tree. I can totally imagine little faeries sitting on the poppies and blessing my chickens too! Can you?

Watch the full episode here: