SPRING FRAGRANCES AT GROATIEBURN COTTAGE.

We brought the name "Groatieburn" to the small cottage we purchased in  Stratford in 2001.
 To our home in Coromandel, we had given this name and Paul had a lovely swing sign made with the name and the small bird, the waxeye on it.( see my entry for July 6th) which we had brought with us when we made the move.

 The original name "Groatieburn" my Great grandfather had given to his home built in the 1870's in Ashburton in NZ. Donald Williamson was of Scotish origin (Caithness)and the "groat" I took it being the small 4d coin and that the property took all he had down to the last small coin to purchase it, the "burn" in his case a forks of the Ashbuton River. Today's Groatieburn, our cottage was built about 20 years later.
 Visitors to the cottage come through the gate from the drive and in spring are greeted by the lovely fragrances, first of Daphne bholua,  followed by daphne ordora 'rubra' and 'alba' and still to come Daphne burkwoodii, but missing this year has been the gentle fragrance of the Australian bush,Boronia megastigma.

Our bush faded out during the last year, although short lived they are well worth growing for their fragrances. We now have a new plant waiting for the weather to lift and to be abled to be planted.

 I have meanwhile picked sprigs of the lovely scented blooms from it and placed them around the house, near my computor and by my stitching chair. Boronia flowers keep their scent long after they have been dried.