Welcome to the vibrant world of Sow ‘n Sow! Explore our blog as we delve into the art and joy of gardening, sustainable living and the beauty of nurturing seeds to bloom. Discover insightful tips and inspiring stories that celebrate the journey towards a greener, more vibrant world.
Here’s a cool little rooftop garden created by Melbourne designer Ben Osborn-Macpherson. Ben always wanted a rooftop garden but only has a 1x3m balcony, so he made this mini version out of one of his stencils. It looks great doesn’t it! Mainly I think because the stencil is really good, so you have a great
We’re really proud of these custom designed Gifts of Seeds for a few reasons. Firstly because they are part of a fabulous program which celebrates sustainable living and ‘growing your own’, and secondly because we had the opportunity to work with The City of Sydney! We were delighted to hear that the council’s Sustainability
We’ve just completed a custom design for a new Bed and Breakfast on the Mornington Peninsular called The Guest Room Mt Martha. The owner Pauline Eather wanted to have a personalised message printed onto the back of the existing Forget-me-not packets, so that she could leave one on the pillow for guests as a take
On Saturday I dressed up like a lady and set out for High Tea at the Windsor Hotel to celebrate a friends impending elopement! There I met the lovely florist Petra from Pomp and Splendour whose work is far too beautiful not to share with you here! Petra does flamboyant floristry for events, photo shoots and
I’ve been a big fan of this kind of artwork since starting Sow ‘n Sow and discovering the book Natural Architecture by Alessandro Rocca. And I have previously featured the amazing work of Mikael Hansen, one of the other artists featured in the book. But here’s some more incredible works, this time by Patrick Dougherty. Patrick weaves
My sister Maddie has a very nice blog going on and it is updated daily with design inspiration from around the world. Although Maddie, like me, was born and raised in Australia with no German heritage to speak of, unlike me, she thinks she is part German. She’s been living in Germany for the past
We were delighted to custom design a range of Gifts of Seeds for Blue Illusion, the Australian owned chain of women’s fashion boutiques. Produced especially for Mothers day, the Blue Illusion selection features Basil, Poppy and Sunflower with French poems and Blue Illusion styling. Available now in Blue Illusion stores Australia-wide, they make a gorgeous
I may be just a little bit obsessed with figs at the moment. Ask any of my friends and they will all have heard of the fig enterprise I had planned for the weekend. It all started when I heard that my friend Chelsea’s (the one who grew the amazing giant Russian sunflowers!) massive fig
This is the breathtakingly stunning wedding of my dear friend Josephine to her husband Joshua, held in the picturesque McLaren Vale wine region of South Australia on April the 14th 2012. Words cannot describe how enchanted this event was, and it was such an honour to provide custom Gifts of Seeds for the occasion. Designed
These terrariums are ‘oh so cool’, I feel like taking a soldering workshop! Made by ‘Score + Solder’ on Pender Island, Canada, they are available to purchase online with worldwide shipping. I attempted terrarium making for a while and I have a few around my house which aren’t really looking very cool. Though I haven’t mastered
On a lovely, cool late summer’s day my parents, partner and I visited the historic Diggers Club Garden of St Erth in Blackwood, Victoria. These gardens had been on my to-do list for years and as a Diggers Club member I’d heard a lot about it. It was also St Erth’s Autumn Festival so we enjoyed
We just received these professional photos from South Bank in Brisbane, taken during Regional Flavours last year. That’s me (Michelle) at the top in our stall during the event, then Maddie, then a closeup shot of one of our pallet garden beds, and the Junior Masterchef contestants sitting beside a pallet garden. They are such
…how does your garden grow? Here are some pics from my garden, all items grown from Sow ‘n Sow seed of course! The marigolds have taken over our veggie patch and have been in full bloom since December. The oregano is lovely and bushy and a bunch of healthy new seedlings appeared recently. We have
My collection of gardening books is growing and I’m starting to spending more time with them now that it’s too hot to be in the garden! They mostly consist of second hand finds, especially those with gorgeous vintage stylings which serve as references and inspirations for our products, have gorgeous illustrations and look very cute
Last year we developed a beautifully illustrated flyer with help from our designers, which serves as an info sheet and in-store display poster for our stockists. I just realised that we’ve never shared this through our website! So here it is, the gorgeous Sow ‘n Sow flyer. It’s double sided and folds in a concertina
Our Plant Labels made from repurposed hand-stamped spoons were featured in the February issue of House & Garden magazine! It caught us a little off-guard as we were out of stock after Christmas and the magazine was released before we had returned from holidays, but we’ve managed a quick re-stock and they are now
Looking back through our photo shoot with the wonderful stylist and photographer Emily Jade Barr, I found some lovely shots which had near been forgotten! Wishing everyone a happy Christmas/ New Year break. We will be back on board on the 10th of January and are looking forward to a full year of sowing goodness!
Christmas is fast approaching and we’ve been flat-out with orders – it is wonderful to know that our Gifts of Seeds will be bringing joy to many households this Christmas. We’ve also finally added our Children’s Garden Gift Sets to our online shop which make a gorgeous little set for budding young green thumbs. They
I discovered Angus & Celeste at Life Instyle and was gob smacked by their gorgeous vases and hanging planters. I’m not usually into porcelain objects or vases, but these really caught my attention. They are artistic and timeless with unique botanical illustrations that have a distinctly Australian feel. I also love the choice of plants
My partner and I took a road trip to Sydney (from Melbourne) via the NSW south coast a few weeks ago which took us right past two of our regional NSW stockists. I was excited to visit The Tree House Connection in Ulladulla as I’d met the owners Emily and Rosie at Life Instyle and
My list of favourite artists is growing and I am really excited to have discovered the work of Sydney based Janet Laurence. She has an impressive list of exhibitions behind her including a fascinating installation at the 2010 Sydney Biennale ‘Waiting, A Medicinal Garden for Ailing Plants’ which is featured in many of the pictures
The stylish staff at culture mag couldn’t resist our Forget-me-not Gifts of Seeds for their Eco Chic spread in the October/ November issue. I rarely indulge in purchasing magazines but all the press we’ve been getting has given me a fantastic excuse to discover everything I’ve been missing! The article reads “With the festive season
We’ve just jumped in and joined Instagram and I have to say I’m a little bit addicted! Now I have a great excuse to take photos of pretty flower pots, woollen tea cosies and kittens while I’m out and about. Instagram is a free iphone app that allows you to filter images into cool styles. If
Some more wonderful publicity has come our way, this time we’re featured on page 113 of the latest Country Home Ideas magazine. Exciting times for Sow ‘n Sow!
I discovered Lord Butler via Elk at Life Instyle – they had decorated their stand with striking floral arrangements which really caught my eye. After drooling over their beautiful new clothing and leather goods, I asked one of the lovely Elk ladies about the installations and she gave me Lord Butler’s flyer. Lord Butler is an eco friendly
Our Gifts of Seeds are on page 30 of the latest ‘The Outdoor Room’ magazine! I have to say, this is a really beautiful mag – it’s full of gorgeous photography, styling and dreamy gardens. Very refreshing in the world of gardening magazines. Check out page 30!!
Gorgeous hand stamped plant labels made out of re-purposed spoons by Alister and Jane of Kabwares. Alister is a tool maker by trade and when he was retrenched Kabwares was created with KAB standing for Keeping Alister Busy. Aren’t they sweet!
It’s always lovely to get a bit of press! ‘My Basil’ is featured in the October issue of House & Garden magazine.
Pretty little forget-me-not flowers We went to Kyneton on the weekend to see some open gardens which were a part of the Kyneton Daffodil and Arts Festival. Corinella Country House is about 10 mins from the centre of town and had a most magical garden filled with daffodils and bursting with Forget-me-nots! They also had the
It is with much excitement that I introduce two new Gifts of Seeds to the Sow ‘n Sow range, ‘Baby Sweet Pea’ and ‘Thank-you Marigold’. Designed by my very talented sister Madeleine Brady, the Thank-you Gift of Seeds have been kept beautifully simple and elegant to suit any occasion or gift giving opportunity. With gorgeous,
Super cute creatures for your desk! These little ‘Domsai’ are designed and produced by Matteo Cibic Studio in Nove Italy. Each has its own personality with little cactus inside; I want them all.
‘Slim Jim’ table by by Roland Graf for Fredericia Furniture Source: Daily Tonic
Since being back in Melbourne we have continued working at a million miles per hour with Life Instyle which started just 2 days after we arrived home. It was wonderful being there in the beautiful old Royal Exhibition Building and we met lots of wonderful people including a lot of new stockists and the very
We had a wonderful weekend at Regional Flavours. After months of work designing and installing the pallet gardens and hanging installations, we were able to see and hear the public admiring our creations. The response was incredibly overwhelming… just about everyone who walked past the pallet gardens stopped to have a look and the comments
As part of our creative theming for South Bank’s Regional Flavours event, Sow ‘n Sow created hanging installations for the beautiful bougainvillea Arbour. Colourful, edible planters made out of hessian hang in 4 different sections of the Arbour alongside hanging herbs.
Here’s a few photos of the completed edible pallet gardens, on-site at South Bank in the lead up to Regional Flavours.
As promised, here are more photos of the creation of the ‘pallet gardens’, designed by Sow ‘n Sow for South Bank’s signature food and sustainability event, Regional Flavours. While building and planting in the glorious Brisbane sunshine continued, stencilling commenced and the first of the completed stacks were fork lifted into South Bank Parklands. All
For the past few months team Sow ‘n Sow has been busy designing and delivering creative theming elements for South Bank’s signature food and sustainability event, Regional Flavours, which celebrates all things regional. Our brief was to design and implement several eye catching installations which would enhance the experience of visitors to South Bank and
Sow ‘n Sow has a little mention in the July edition of Shop Til You Drop magazine! And what a small world it is, we are on the same page as Foxes of Fancy’s Tex and Joe vegetable bags! We are a part of the ‘Green House’ feature – all things earth-friendly for tree huggers,
With a long weekend approaching I can’t help but dream of a get away and the place I want to be this weekend is Perth. We have a fabulous new stockist there, Foxes of Fancy in Mosman Park and I have a friend over there who I rarely get to see! Foxes of Fancy looks
It is sooo lovely when we receive positive feedback about our our Gifts of Seeds such as stockist enquiries from lovely shops, but the most exciting of all is when people send us photos of their garden joy! Here are a few recent garden progress reports. We love love receiving photos, send us pics of
Some more of Paula Hayes amazing work. These are serious, professional terrariums! The glass vases are amazing. Photographers: Eva Heyd, Sherry Griffin
I have discovered another incredibly inspiring artist who is right up my alley.. stylish, modern objects of plant based genius. The only problem is that Paula Hayes does so many cool things that I don’t know where to start, so I have decided to save some of her other work for blog posts to come.
This great street art comes from Unurth, a very cool resource. I’ve picked some of the pieces which incorporate nature, but there are all kinds over on the Unurth website.
Some dreamy inspiration to ease us into the weekend. This amazing installation is called ‘Falling Garden’ by Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger in the San Staë church on the Canale Grande, 50th Biennial of Venice, 2003. Wouldn’t it be a treat to be lying on that bed?
I have just had the very difficult task of going through hundreds of beautiful stylised product photos and trying to choose just a few to feature on our website. No easy job! How is one to choose when there are so many stunning images? The wonderful photographer is Emily Jade Barr, a very creative friend
Happy Easter! We have a glorious 5 day long weekend ahead, bliss! Here’s some pretty inspirations to keep you dreaming.
I had a lovely time yesterday at the North Melbourne Market with my tiny little stall featuring terrariums, seed bombs and Gifts of Seeds. The experimental marigold seed bombs were given away to a handful of lucky guerilla-gardeners-to-be, I’m looking forward to hearing how they go. Thanks to everyone who came down and had a chat!
