Dimensions Frederick The Literate Cat Cross Stitch Finish
Hello friends,
Recently my husband and I finished cross stitching the Dimensions Kit 'Frederick The Literate', and it was very much a team effort. I did all the cross stitching over a period of nearly two years, while my husband took on the much less glamorous job of completing a large amount of back stitching which brought the books, Frederick the cat, and the decorations on the bookshelves, to life.
My husband got involved with this project because I absolutely hate back stitching and specialty stitches. In fact, I'd rather leave a cross stitch project unfinished than do them myself, so having someone willing to tackle the back stitching was the perfect solution for me.
Unfortunately I don't have many in progress photos of this project, because mostly the stitching was done at night when the lighting was poor.
This project was very enjoyable to stitch, especially the Frederick the cat, and the fish, owl, and bird decorations.
Our least favourite part of stitching this project was the sparkly gold thread included in the kit. Gold thread is notoriously difficult to work with because it twists, tangles, and shifts as you stitch, making it particularly fiddly to thread through the needle and keep under control.
Despite all the frustration, it was fun to watch the lettering on the books come to life, and discover all the cat-related puns emerging as hubby back stitched.
With the final stitch completed, the Frederick the Literate cross stitch project is finally finished. It's been washed and ironed, and is now waiting alongside two other completed projects to be framed. I'm really looking forward to getting all three framed and up on the walls of our home, where they can finally be enjoyed.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
A Winter Reshuffle in the Shade Garden
Hello friends,
Over the winter I've done some rearranging in the shadiest part of the backyard. A couple of years ago I planted two hostas, 'Purple Heart' and 'Sleeping Beauty', beneath the magnolia tree, and beside a colour-changing Hydrangea macrophylla. As the hydrangea has grown, it has completely smothered both plants, so it was time to move them to another shady spot in the backyard, beside my wasabi plant.
It didn't take long to dig up the hostas and transplant them into their new positions beside the wasabi plant. With a little more space and less competition, I'm hoping they'll be much happier in their new homes.
With that job completed, I noticed the space on the other side of the magnolia tree was looking pretty empty, apart from a single peony that wasn't particularly happy in its current position. It didn't take long for an idea to form. By moving the peony to a better location elsewhere in the garden, I'd have the perfect spot for another hydrangea.
I'd been wanting to add another hydrangea to the garden for some time, so I decided to have a look around a few local garden centres to see what was available. Winter isn't the best time to shop for hydrangeas, but sometimes you get lucky.
As it turned out, I was very lucky. The first place I visited, our local Mitre 10, had exactly the hydrangea I was hoping to find, 'Bridal Bouquet'.
'Bridal Bouquet' is a beautiful white-flowering hydrangea prized for its mop head blooms. The flowers open creamy white before gradually ageing to soft green tones, providing interest over a long period. Like many white hydrangeas, it brightens shady areas of the garden and combines well with a wide range of other plants. Its blooms are excellent for cutting and can also be dried, extending their usefulness long after the flowering season has finished.
It didn't take long to dig a hole and plant my new hydrangea. With its new home prepared, 'Bridal Bouquet' was finally settled into the garden.
Because the soil in this part of the garden is quite compact and filled with decorative schist stones, I decided to add a bag of Tui Mulch & Feed around 'Bridal Bouquet' and along the garden bed. I even had enough to spread it all the way along the bed to my other hydrangea. Whenever I add a new permanent perennial to the garden, I like to add mulch and feed around it. Over time, this helps improve the soil across the whole wider garden.
With all these small jobs done, this shady area of the garden feels much tidier, and the plants are now in positions that should suit them much better. I'm looking forward to seeing how they grow this coming spring.
Have a wonderful day,
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
Growing Specialty Cut Flower Pansies For My Garden
Hello friends,
This year I'm starting a new garden project, growing specialty pansies and violas as cut flowers. With their frilly petals, unusual colours, and longer stems, many modern pansy and viola varieties are well suited to being cut flowers. The current Japanese pansy cut flower craze has made me curious to see what all the fuss was about. Over the coming months I'll be growing them, photographing them, and discovering which ones are worth the current hype.
Let's begin with the seeds I've chosen. There isn't a huge range of specialty cut flower pansy and viola varieties available in New Zealand, so I selected the best options I could find from local suppliers:
The varieties I selected for this project are:
- 'Moulin Rouge Mixed F1'
- 'Sweet Pea Mixed F1'
- 'Fizzy Lemonberry F1'
- 'Frizzleswizzle Mix'
- 'Gelato Salmon Red'
- 'Frizzleswizzle Raspberry'
- 'Matrix Sangria'
- 'Pandora's Box'
- 'Plum Antique F1'
- 'Rococo Frill Mix'
- 'Brush Strokes'
- 'Aalsmeer King Size Mix'
Because pansies and violas are hardy plants that don't mind winter conditions, I sowed the seeds back in July. It didn't take long to fill a couple of covered seed trays with sieved seed-raising mix and get them sown.
I've found that many seed-raising mixes contain surprisingly large pieces of bark and stone, which can easily end up sitting on top of newly sown seeds and interfere with germination, so I always take the time to sieve my seed mix before sowing.
Once the seeds had been sown, lightly covered with seed-raising mix, and labelled, the trays were gently watered and moved into the glasshouse to await germination.
It has been a couple of weeks since the seeds were sown, and the first seedlings have already begun to emerge, with more appearing every day. So far, germination has been encouraging. To protect the young seedlings from frost and snow (which we had a couple of weeks ago), the trays are covered with their plastic lids each night and wrapped in frost cloth.
I'm looking forward to seeing how these varieties perform in the garden over the coming months and discovering which ones become my new favourites.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
Restocking My Seed Boxes for the New Growing Season
Hello friends,
It's seed buying time again, when New Zealand seed companies tempt gardeners with their favourite seed packets, along with a bunch of new exciting varieties. Before I placed any orders this year, I wanted to take stock of the seeds already stored in my Franchville 16 storage cases from Spotlight.
I may have been lasy last year and neglected to throw out empty seed packets as I sowed seeds throughout the season. As a result, my seed boxes looked far more full than what they actually were.
It took quite a while to work through every compartment in the storage cases, checking whether packets still contained seeds, noting expiry dates, and updating my seed database. By the time I finished, I had a clearer picture of which varieties were still in stock, and which ones needed replacing. My herb and vegetable seed stocks were in pretty good shape, but my flower seed stocks were heavily depleted. Many seed packets were nearly empty, and ones like cosmos and calendula had completely run out.
Knowing how depleted my flower seed stocks were, and how expensive they would be to replace, I opened about a million tabs in my web browser and got to work comparing varieties and prices from different seed suppliers. After many hours at the computer, I had narrowed down the varieties I wanted, worked out which suppliers offered the best prices, and was finally ready to begin placing orders with the following seed companies. These are just a few highlights from this year's seed order. There were many more packets than I could realistically include in one blog post!
From Kings Seeds, I mostly purchased a bunch of cosmos, herbs, zinnias, and viola and pansy varieties. I'm especially looking forward to growing the Zinderella range of zinnias this season. And yes, I also fell victim to the chocolate cosmos growing craze sweeping the gardening world right now.
From Egmont Seeds, I purchased a selection of herb, tomato, calendula, and marigold seeds, along with a large cut flower packet of Cosmos 'Fizzy White'. This is my favourite cosmos variety, and it's not easy to find in small packets, so I decided to splurge on a 300-seed packet. I'm sure they'll all get used eventually...even if it takes me a few seasons to get through them.
From Susie Ripley, I purchased several rarer flower varieties, along with strawflower and statice for drying. These were varieties I hadn't been able to source elsewhere, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with dried flowers this season.
And finally, from Crawford Road, I purchased several new-to-me calendula varieties, along with violas and some new cosmos and cornflower selections to trial in the garden this season.
Just when I thought all my seed buying was done, I discovered that Wild Flora was selling some rare flower seeds that were simply too tempting to resist. First on my list were seeds from the dahlia variety 'April Heather'. This collarette dahlia is a rare plant to source in New Zealand, and while I can't justify spending $100–$300 on a single tuber, I was more than happy to invest in a packet of its daughters for my dahlia breeding project.
Wild Flora also had progeny from several Floret zinnia and celosia varieties available for sale. These seeds were only offered in New Zealand during 2024 and can no longer be purchased directly, so when the opportunity came up, I couldn't resist. I'm looking forward to growing these varieties and seeing what interesting colours and forms appear in the next generation.
With all this seed purchasing completed, I ran out of space in my Francheville seed storage boxes. Fortunately, Spotlight had them on sale for 30% off, so my husband picked up two more for me. Hopefully they'll last me a little while. I find these boxes perfect for seed organisation, keeping everything tidy and easy to find when sowing season arrives.
I'm pleased with this year's seed purchases and looking forward to getting everything sown over the coming months. There are plenty of old favourites returning to my garden, along with many new varieties and a few exciting breeding projects to explore. Now comes the hard part—finding the time to sow everything, and the space to grow it all!
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
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