Brisbane life, our first 6 (or so) months

A seasonal journal entry written in the middle of our first winter back in Australia.

Hello dear friends, its been such a long time since I wrote to you here in my seasonal journal! I have been talking for months about getting back into writing here, and today is the day. I can’t quite believe it’s been almost 8 months since we departed the UK and moved to Australia.

The time has gone so fast and yet it feels like a life time ago since David and I were growing flowers in Salisbury. I feel I have a lot to fill you all in on, and I must give you pre warning… there will be a lot of weather chat. I know so many of you are based in the UK and will find my new experience of the seasons fascinating (and so different to the previous 6 years I experienced living in the south of England).

As I am writing to you, I just shared a story on Instagram because it’s almost unbelievable. We are now in the middle of winter and I’m writing at our outdoor table, (where we spend a lot of time) in a t-shirt and bare feet. I’m watching the kookaburras and wild turkeys finding worms in our backyard, and the temperature is around 23 degrees. I knew before we moved here that the weather in Brisbane would be nice, however being a Victorian I didn’t really understand how nice, and the positive effect it would have on my mindset. Most days are blue sky and sunshine, and when it does rain, its good heavy rain. If there is a grey, drizzly day, its literally that, just a day and then the sunshine comes back. I now truly understand why Queensland is know as the sunshine sate. The effects of this weather are of a huge benefit to the garden and how fast seedlings grow, not to mention that it seems we can grow flowers in our garden, all year round.

We arrived at the beginning of summer and boy was it hot! It was quite surreal being home in Australia, yet in a city I didn’t recognise, and still so far from my family and friends down south. Even the scenery was not what I was prepared for at that time of year. Brisbane is subtropical, and so summer is when we got most of our rain, meaning the landscape is green, lush and full of life.

As the months went by, the days got shorter and the season shifted. We got less rain and we watched the bush behind our house loose a lot of the green lushness it had when we arrived. We watched the frangipanis bloom and fade, the jacaranda trees turning a golden shade ready to prepare for their big show in spring. Right now the streets and the bush are filled with the sweet scent of wattle.

In Our Garden

I have been slowly working our how to tackle our new garden. As we are renting and will likely be in this house for around 3 years, I’m establishing a garden in the most economical way I know how. Growing from seed.

David has built me 4 raised beds in the back section of our garden. I’ve filled them with strawflowers, statice, scabious, cornflower, snapdragon, ammi and larkspur. I plan to use these beds to grow annual flowers I will use in my work. I then have a boarder under a hedge that I filled with violas, phlox, marigolds, seaside daisy, native violets and have just been planting any left over seed to see how it does. This bed is struggling with enough sunlight, so I’m just seeing how it goes and working out what is growing best in the conditions it provides.

I have a space down the side of the house that I’m filling with containers and pots to grow both flowers and veggies. Can you believe I have sweet peas flowering? It’s taking some getting used to not to have to protect any of my plants from frost through the winter.

As the months go on, I am watching other growers and gardeners in my area, and I am learning the full potential of what it means to be able to grow flowers in some capacity all year round. I have also noticed that this brings its own challenges. There is an expectation of flowers all year round, which means a lot of people not just in the general public, also in the floristry industry are out of touch with the natural season of flowers. I am learning all I can, and the more I grow and spend time here the more I will gain the knowledge of what flowers will bloom when, to be at their best.

What’s next for the Fox and Dingo

Our plan when we closed The Fox and Dingo in the UK was to wait until we had our own land to grow before we would ramp things up. I planed to work as a florist, which I have been for the past 6 months. My work situation changed, and I’ve found my self ready and needing to do my own thing again. David and I are always planners, yet we’re open to plans changing and so I have just launched The Fox and Dingo as a Wedding and Event business in Brisbane, using locally grown seasonal flowers. I will also be running workshops as I adore teaching and sharing my knowledge.

Our plans are still very much the same, and one day in the future we will have our own land where we can live and grow flowers, I am confident this next phase of The Fox and Dingo will help us to reach our dreams.

On a more personal note, I wanted to share with you all that life is good! I’ve shared so much of my experiences with you all through this blog over the years, the ups and downs of life, and so it seems fitting to share with you all that I feel like a weight has been lifted, and we are exactly where we are meant to be.

Most of you will know that our decision to leave our friends and family in the UK (especially Jess and Ollie and David’s parents) was the hardest decision we have ever made. The months, and probably years, leading up to our move were overshadowed by fear and doubt of making the right choice. Now we are here, I feel so much more settled, less waiting and more doing. Our focus for the time we spend with our British and our Australian family is on quality over quantity. Although it is by no means easy being so far from everyone, I am proud that we both had the courage to follow our dreams. We are both happy in our work and our life and have so much to look forward to. I hope if anything it inspires our children, (who are now young adults) to always follow their dreams and make sure they strive for the best opportunities to live happy and content lives.

New Publication

I want to leave you with the very exciting news, that I wrote and article for a US magazine In Her Garden and I just received my copy in the mail today. I have been interviewed and written for magazines in the past, however this I my first published piece of writing that I have been paid for! The magazine is beautiful and there are so many wonderful contributors, I feel very proud to be a part of this. My article is titled Investing Time Not Money in to a Rented Garden. A topic I am very passionate about. I know so many of you likeminded souls would love the magazine so I will share a link below:

I hope you enjoyed my little update, apologies for any typos, my chief proof reader is away for a few weeks with work and so I had to do it myself! I promise to write more often.

Much love, Lauren xx

Thanks so much for joining us and reading our seasonal journal. I’d love you to join in the conversation in the comments field below. How you are feeling this month, and what is bringing you joy in your garden?

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to receive our journal entry straight to your inbox. You can also join us on Instagram to see more daily content.