Dutch Irises...

The colour of this Dutch Iris is AMAZING!
Every year it pops up in 'Mia Bella Gardens'...
With incredible purple blue blooms...
with a bold yellow stripe!

Dutch Iris Information:

Flowering period: June - July
Average plant height: 60 cm
Planting depth to base of bulb: 15 cm
Spacing between bulbs: 10
Light requirement: full sun
Landscape uses: beds, borders and as cut flowers
Dutch irises have never grown wild in the Netherlands. Instead, they are the product of hybridisation carried out by a Dutch plant breeding firm by the name of Tubergen. 

They are easy to grow but need a rich, well-drained soil. 
The flowers are 10 cm in diameter, and are fabulous to use as cut flowers. 

Here are some names for Dutch Iris in the blue/purple and white colour range:
‘Blue Diamond’: blue
‘Blue Magic’: deep purple-blue
‘Blue Ribbon’: (‘Professor Blaauw’): deep blue
‘Casablanca’: white
‘Hildegarde’: light blue
‘Ideal’: sky blue
‘Madonna’: white
‘Purple Sensation’: deep purple
‘Telstar’: deep blue
‘White Bridge’: pure white
‘White van Vliet’: pure white
‘White Wedgwood’: pure white




Colour, roses and a Parisian cushion...

 Colour...
What is your favourite?
I couldn't say...
for I LOVE them all!
 This is a beautiful and colourful selection of flowers
freshly picked from 'Mia Bella Gardens'.
 Canna lilies in the brightest orange...
 With the softest pastel roses...
 Don't you adore 'David Austin' roses?
They must be my most favourite roses variety.
Delicate noisettes of heaven scent.
 A vase full of flowers...
A perfect décor accent 
for my newest Parisian themed bird cushion!




The Soul Cannot Live Without Love...

I came across this quote on Pinterest the other day,
 and it really got me thinking...
Do you think it was the dramatic black background 
and white font that did this?
On our morning walk 
Around Mia Bella Gardens...
past the aviaries,
Gracie and I came upon the most beautiful rose...
In bud it was perfect...
with a given name that sings.
(The rosette shaped yellow rose is a David Austin called 'Symphony'.)
In flower it was lovely...
it's fragrance was from heaven,
and my soul sighed a sigh...
OF LOVE!
And I thought about that quote in dramatic black and white,
that I just had to 'pretty' up a little.
(Here is my version of this quote 
using a rose photograph from 'Mia Bella Gardens'...)
While I was titivating this wee creation for you my friends, 
many questions were running through my mind...
Where do people get LOVE fixes from?
Are you like me and discover 
LOVE
in many things...
Do you feel LOVE looking at a garden full of beauty?
Do you feel LOVE when a poem, story or film touches your heart?
Do you feel LOVE when your acts of kindness touch someone else's soul?
Or someone else's acts of kindness touch yours?
Do you feel LOVE when you create, bake or make something?
Do you feel love in laughter and smiles?
Do you feel LOVE when you spend time with family and friends?
Do you feel LOVE when you play and care 
for your furbaby, scaled or feathered pet friends?
Do you feel LOVE when at one with nature?
Next time you think your life is LOVELESS,
you just need to open your eyes 
LOVE is everywhere...
and it is BEAUTIFUL!

Homemade Coconut 'Bounty' Bars

When I have failures...
They seem to happen in two's or threes.
Thankfully by some miracle, 
I seem to be able to save the project at hand!
Remember the 'almost failure' with the French Look DIY pot? 
http://miabellapassion.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/mod-podge-creation-reveal.html
Well folks, here is an 'almost' EPIC FAIL
 I thought I would share with you...
I add the work EPIC as I was pretty sure 
this one at the time of making was definitely not save-able!
I found a delicious recipe for home made bounty bars
with SIMPLE picture instructions at 'Not Enough Cinnamon',
Home made bounty bars are
sometimes known as mounds...
and I thought "oh YUM, let the confectionery making begin!".
It all started off so well...
I gathered my ingredients...
 condensed milk, coconut, melting chocolate.

And into my bowl went...
one cup of condensed milk and three cups of coconut.
It was mixed together as instructed.
So far so good!
But then mistake number one occurred,
I added a bit more coconut as I thought the mixture was too wet!
 Mental note to self for the future...
'Do not over think things!'
Then I 'squeezed' the coconut mixture - using clean, wet hands into mounds...
Which of course was harder to do, 
because my mixture was now dryer than it should have been.
Second note to self...
'Do not adjust quantities - stick to recipe!'

The wee mounds were popped onto a tray lined with baking paper
and into the freezer for 20 minutes they went...
Near to the end of chilling time I melted the milk chocolate...
and this is where things went 
horribly, 
horribly 
wrong...
The first mound was dipped, and the coldness of it made the chocolate set FAST!
It looked OK, quite smooth, but a little thick, 
so thinking the chocolate needed to be thinner...
Mistake number two occurred... 
 I added a little bit of cream to it.
BIG MISTAKE!
IT WENT THICKER!!!
Needless to say I was grateful a chocolate cake was in the oven, 
and my chocolate concoction was now the ganache to ice it with!
Then melted dipping chocolate attempt number two began...
Dark chocolate this time...
Nicely melted, 

but I still struggled to dip my mounds nicely...
they did not look smoothly coated...
In fact mine most certainly resembled hedgehogs!
And worst still...
one got completely stuck to the fork,
But that was a terrific excuse to EAT it!
Quite clearly I need a few lessons on how to dip confectionery into melted chocolate.
(I am thinking I did not have my melted chocolate hot enough!)
But the good thing is...
they may not look like the perfect chocolate mounds 
created by 'not enough cinnamon' on their Blog... ...
BUT THEY DO TASTE DELICIOUS..

My home made coconut bounty bar mounds have a new name:
 'Coconut hedgehogs'!










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