Valley View Flower Farm & Garden

24/06/2026

🧅 It’s Onion Time! 🧅

There’s an old gardening saying that goes:

“Plant your onions on the shortest day and harvest them on the longest day.”

Now that we’ve just passed the winter solstice, you might think I’d spent the weekend planting out onion seedlings…

Well… not quite! 😄

I’m running a little behind this year. My onion seeds are happily germinating away in the greenhouse and will need another month or so before they’re ready to head out into the veggie patch.

The good news? There’s still plenty of time.

While the old saying is a wonderful guide, it doesn’t suit every onion variety. Here in our cool alpine climate, onion seedlings can be planted anytime from April through to September, depending on the variety you’re growing.

So why grow onions when they’re one of the cheapest vegetables at the supermarket?

🧅 They’re incredibly easy to grow.
🧅 They store beautifully for months after harvest.
🧅 You’ll use them in almost every meal.
🧅 And the flavour… nothing compares.

Homegrown onions have a sweetness and depth of flavour that supermarket onions simply can’t match. Ours have so much character they’d bring a tear to a glass eye! 😂

If growing onions has been sitting on your “one day” gardening list, take this as your sign to give them a go.

After all… the best vegetable gardens are built one season at a time. 🌱

📸 These are some of our homegrown onions from previous seasons… and yes, they really were that big!

17/06/2026

🌸 Peony Planting Season Has Begun! 🌸

The first of my peony roots have started to arrive! These are for my personal garden collection rather than the 300 roots I’ve ordered for wholesale. Probably just as well — we had a cow wandering through the paddock on Sunday, and she would have made very short work of a freshly planted peony patch! 🐄😅

If you’ve recently received peony roots, or already have established plants in your garden, here are a few of my favourite practical tips:

🌿 For Established Plants
✂️ Cut back and remove all old stems and foliage. Don’t leave debris sitting around the plant.
🌱 Apply a generous handful of lime and blood and bone around each clump as a slow-release feed.
🍂 Finish with a light mulch. I use sugar cane mulch, but keep it light and airy.

🌱 For New Peony Roots
✔️ Prepare the planting hole with lime and blood and bone.
✔️ Plant carefully, ensuring the eyes (the little pink or red buds) are only just covered with soil.

This is the most important tip of all.

Too deep, and your peonies may grow happily but produce very few flowers. Peonies like to be planted surprisingly shallow.

Once my wholesale order arrives, I’m happy to show anyone who’s interested exactly how I plant and care for them. No obligation to buy anything — just come out for a chat, see the roots, and watch the process. I’ll let everyone know as soon as they arrive.

Peonies are often called the Queen of Flowers, and for good reason. Their huge blooms, incredible longevity, and breathtaking beauty make them worth every bit of patience. We’re fortunate here in Oberon to have the winter chill they need to thrive.

The good news? They’re not difficult. Get the basics right, and you’ll be rewarded with spectacular blooms for years to come. 💕🌸


📸 ImageGateforth Peony Farm & Valley View Flower Farm & Garden

16/06/2026

Aww thanks for the nomination...🥰

🏆 Outstanding Visitor Experience – 2026 Oberon Business Awards 🏆

Congratulations to all nominees in the Outstanding Visitor Experience category!

From accommodation and attractions to events and unique experiences, these businesses and organisations help make Oberon a destination people love to visit.

📧 Nominees will receive an email from OBTA this week with information about the next steps and submission requirements.

If you do not receive an email, please contact:
✉️ [email protected]

Thank you for showcasing the very best of Oberon to our visitors.

Please note: We received a record number of nominations this year. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, there may be errors as nominations have been published exactly as submitted through the nomination forms.

15/06/2026

How good is this! Local acclimatised plants including natives…. Yay.

13/06/2026

This is hedgehog sage Coleus livingstonei ( or witches hat sage). It’s totally inappropriate for our climate, preferring a frost free life ☀️

However it seems happy ( so far) under the veranda. It’s totally neglected and only watered when I remember to wheel it out into the rain. Luckily Mike makes me pot stands on wheels so it’s easy to move these concrete pots.

It gets its name from the prickly seed heads it produces after flowering.

It’s easy to grow from cuttings.

What do you think?

10/06/2026

🌸 A Little Evening Flower Craft 🌸

One of my favourite winter jobs is preparing strawflowers for dried flower projects. These cheerful blooms are famous for holding their colour beautifully when dried, which makes them perfect for wreaths, arrangements, and all sorts of creative projects. 🌿✨

The challenge? Once dried, their stems become quite brittle and flimsy.

My solution is to wire them while they’re still fresh. I harvest the flower heads when they’re just beginning to open, leaving a short stem attached. Florist wire is carefully inserted into the flower head and secured with floral tape. As the flower dries, it naturally grips onto the wire, creating a strong stem that’s easy to work with.

💡 A little tip: Harvesting at the bud stage helps the flowers stay closed as they dry, hiding the wire and producing a neater result. Open flowers are more likely to shed petals once dried.

These wired blooms can be used in:
🌸 Wreaths
🌸 Dried arrangements
🌸 Floral crafts
🌸 Cake decorating (I once had a customer buy every single one for this purpose!)

The batch I’m working on now is destined for a wreath, and with proper care they’ll hold their beauty for years before gradually fading.

It’s one of those slow, satisfying jobs that reminds me why I love dried flowers so much. 💛

08/06/2026

Winter might be the slow season…but no one told Mike 🤫

A few rainy days stuck inside and suddenly I’m armed with wildly ambitious lists, grand plans, and “quick little projects” that will definitely be done before spring (according to me).

Of course, the workload is shared… in theory. In reality, I underestimate how long everything takes, and Mike just quietly gets on with it.

I’ve never received a flat-out “no”, just the occasional look that says he’s politely questioning my vision.

So here’s a shout-out to all the partners who don’t quite love gardening as much as we do… but still roll up their sleeves and muck in anyway.

Happy 50th birthday, Mike — you’re an absolute pearler 💛

06/06/2026

A beautiful frost, not huge, but happy to see it.

04/06/2026

Cold Hardy Planting in Oberon ❄️🌱

I hear it all the time this time of year:
“I can’t plant now, we’ve had a frost”
or
“I’ll wait until spring.”

But here in Oberon, frost is just part of the gardening cycle, it’s not a stop sign. Although, getting outside in winter sometimes takes some determination 😆🥶.

In fact, many plants prefer to be germinated / planted now. They need the cold to establish properly, build strong root systems, and perform at their best when spring arrives.

Our cold climate actually gives these plants an advantage, due to the long cool growth period, as it allows the plant to establish a strong root system. There is only one caveat: you need to choose the right varieties, and you need a spot with good drainage…. Cold is ok, but cold and soggy is not.

What I’m planting right now (and will continue through winter):
• Strawflowers ( still germinating)
• Billy Buttons ( still germinating) pictured
• Campanula (Canterbury Bells)
• Ranunculus seedlings ( planting out)
• Lupins ( planting out)
• Poppies ( germinating)
• Peonies ( planting)
• Lily bulbs ( planting)
• Snapdragons (germinating)
• Sweet Peas ( still germinating and planting).
• perennial Scabiosa (pictured- germinating now)

Have a look on line, there are lots of resources on cold hardy plant suggestions.

A good frost might knock them around a little up top, but below ground they’re doing exactly what they should be, establishing and preparing for a big spring show.

I am also germinating perennials at the moment to fill in gaps in my house garden. More on this in the next post. 🌱

03/06/2026

🌱🌸 Something Exciting Is Coming to Valley View… 🌸🌱

I’ve been quietly growing, dividing, potting up, and planning behind the scenes, and I’m excited to share that I’ll soon be holding a seedling and peony root sale here at Valley View Flower Farm!

Whether you’re looking to fill your garden with beautiful cut flowers, add some hardy perennials to your borders, or finally plant those dream peonies, there will be plenty of treasures available. 🌿

Some varieties will be in limited numbers, and I know there are already a few keen gardeners waiting for details!

✨ To make sure you don’t miss out, turn on Facebook/Instagram notifications for Valley View Flower Farm and keep an eye on the page. I’ll be announcing dates, varieties available, and all the details very soon.

The gardening season may be slowing down, but there’s still plenty to look forward to. 🌱💚