HELLO!

I’m Thia, a first time mum, photographer and maker. I grow cut flowers in my small backyard on the South Coast of NSW. Much of what I create is inspired by the garden, the gentle rhythm of the seasons and the beauty of everyday life.

FIELD NOTES

Our Small Backyard Garden for Cut Flowers and Family Life

August 2026: Garden Notes

First time parents walking together in shallow lake water during a maternity photoshoot

Gardening, Motherhood, and Creative Life in a New Season

GROW . GATHER . CREATE

From soil to vase, I love sharing what I’m learning and showing just how much beauty can bloom in a small space.

This year, I’m embracing new skills, messy projects and figuring things out alongside the chaos of motherhood. Thank you for coming along.

Happy Spring!

First little posy from the garden 😊🥳

Please send me photos of what’s growing in yours!

#australianflowergrowers #cutflowergarden #snapdragons #backyardcutflowers

A little late winter garden update!

Spring is almost here and the garden is slowly waking up. I’m sharing what’s flowering, what’s growing, a few successes (and failures), plus what I’m planning for the month ahead.

And maybe the biggest change of all: learning that I don’t just want a garden to cut from. I want one we can live amongst too.

The full garden diary is now on the blog. Link in my bio.

Picking flowers while baby naps 😴

Sharing my backyard turned into a cut flower garden, grown slowly, intentionally, and in the little pockets of time.

#cutflowergarden
#backyardflowers
#growyourownflowers
#gardeningmumsclub
#suburbangarden

My heart really needed this today.

I found this video in my drafts. I’m sure I was planning to chop it up and make it more “Instagram ready,” but seeing it now with clearer eyes, I’m just grateful to have it exactly as it is.

Motherhood started off bumpy for me. There was so much fear and anxiety about the unknown. I felt like I was failing at something that had no clear benchmark. Even with incredible support from Matt, my family, and friends, I still felt deeply alone and scared in those early days.

Looking at this video, I was surprised to feel that intense joy. The kind that post-partum overwhelm had blurred at the time. In those hardest moments I kept repeating to myself that I was scared of missing it but it seems now that I didn’t.

If you’re a new mum feeling this way, keep taking the videos and the photos. Let yourself feel both the highs and the lows. It’s okay if you don’t always feel fully present in the moment. Sometimes you get to experience it again later through these little memories.

#newmum
#fourthtrimester
#postpartumjourney
#inthecluster
#motherhoodmoments

Hello to 300 flower friends 🥰

Thank you for being part of this little corner of the internet.

If love growing cut flowers, creative projects, and mum life in all its seasons, I hope this space feels like a good place to linger.

#flowerfriends
#cutflowergarden
#creativelife
#mumlife
#gardencommunity

Can you guess which cut flower seeds I’m collecting here???

Hint: it’s a biennial and it smells wonderful.

These will be available on the website soon! 🌱

#seedsaving #gardenlove #seedstarting #soilblocks

I’ve written something new.
About gardening, motherhood, creativity, and a season of change.

I used to blog years ago, and recently I came across a post I’d written back then. It was strangely comforting to meet that version of myself again, to see what I cared about and how I saw the world at the time. Writing feels familiar in the best way.

It feels like the right moment to start writing things down again. If you’d like to give it a read or just to see pretty photos of flowers the link is on my bio ☺️
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#slowliving #motherhoodseason #cutflowergarden #creativelife #writingagain

Happy First Christmas Amelia 🥹 feeling so blessed for this little life of ours. I hope you can fill your tiny house with the same magic you bring to our home. 🥰

The most beautiful light in the nursery today. Trying to enjoy pre-crawling playtime with Amelia where she’s just content flipping through a book and rolling around 😍🥹 #7months #inthecluster

Can you spot the 🐛 👀

Nigella Seeds from @thediggersclub @diggersadelaide

#australianflowergrowers #nswdahlias #dahlia #cottagegardens #nigella #loveinamist #sweetpeas #seedsaving #spring2025 #cutflowergarden #homegrownflowers #catepillar #nospraygarden #dahliaseason

Around this time last year we found out we were expecting a little witch 😜

Looking forward to our first Halloween together tomorrow 🎃

#halloween #halloween2025🎃👻🕷️ #firsthalloween🎃

Did you know snapdragons are scented??

Not all do but I have a few growing this season that smells a little sweet! It’s a familiar sweet smell but I can’t quite put my finger on it 🤔

A beautiful little arrangement using the ceramic basket I bought from Vinnies for $3!

#australianflowergrowers #nswdahlias #dahlia #snapdragons #cottagegardens #spring2025🌸 #basketarrangement #ceramic #flowerfrog #nigella #roses #davidaustinenglishroses #soulsisterrose #rosegrower

Snapdragons, Dahlias and a Nigella 😍

My favourite picks so far. Sundays spent gardening at home 🪏

#nswdahlias #australianflowergrowers #snapdragons #seedsaving #dahlia #cottagegardens #spring2025🌸 #dahliaseason #dahliasofinstagram #dahlias

Spring in a Vase 😍

The roses are showing off this year! The little compost top up and pruning did wonders to their bloom size, petal counts and stem length! I counted 9 buds before cutting these two off! Beautiful Lady of Shallot Rose.

#Roses #englishrose #davidaustinroses #ladyofshallot #ladyofshallotrose #ranunculus #poppies #geraniums #icebergrose #spring2025🌸 #snapdragons #stockflower

Dahlia Nugget, please come back🤞🏻

Such a beautiful producer with beautiful and deep red colour 😍

#dahlia #nswdahliasociety #nswdahlias #australiandahlias

Happy First Father’s Day @terentisaurus_mex we are so grateful to have you in our lives. Thank you for being the calm amongst the chaos. It’s been so heartwarming seeing how you bond with Amelia and to see your playful side come out! We appreciate you so much! 🥰

1. Blossoms at Apple Pie Day
2. Amelia was very excited and woke super early to give you presents for Father’s Day
3. Porch shoot for today
4. The 3 of us today
5. Dad mode - how I see you everyday at least once a day since the day we got home from the hospital
6. Your very first cuddle with Amelia back in the hospital

Not long until…

I’ve introduced a lot of new colours into the cutting garden this year, mainly through chaos gardening, unsure what will come up and which seedlings to thin I plan to just let nature take its course.

I’ve been looking through my old photos and these were cut mid-season in October 😍

So so excited!

The First Ranunculus of 2025 🥹

After years of trying to grow them and having issues with leggy plants and thin stems, I figured out tall planters, good soil, early planting without pre-sprouting and most importantly lack of time (hence no opportunity to overwater) is the thing to do 😂

I soaked the corms for 2 hours and planted these out on the 17th of March this year. I saw my first full bloom on 17th of August - 5 months of waiting and it was so worth it!!!

Let’s see how many flowers we’ll get this year!!! 😍

#Ranunculus #ranunculuslove #growingranunculus #howtogrowranunculus #southcoastnsw #flowergrower #backyardflowers #australianflowergrowers #spring2025

Bittersweet is the flavor of motherhood.
Each morning, I meet a new version of Amelia,
Ever changing by the quiet magic of passing days.
I wonder who she’ll be as a toddler, a teenager and what shape our bond will take when she is grown.

Still, I find myself holding my breath,
wanting to stretch these minutes into forever.
Some days I look ahead.
Some days I wish to stay.
Tomorrow can wait because right now is everything.

#firsttimemom #ftm #bittersweet #motherhood #motherhoodmoments

14 . 07 . 25 ~ same day, different year 🥹 I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we learnt about you 🥰

#pregnancy #ftm #stayathomemum #mylittleone #oneyearlater

Behind the Maker’s Mark 👇

Being Nap-Trapped and a daydreamer is a fun combination… I’ve been dreaming up some whimsical, nature inspired pieces.

Had some fun with clay during one of Amelia’s naps and tried out my maker’s mark from @calliegifts 😍

The daffodil was chosen way before Amelia was born but it also happens to be her birth flower. 🌸 A symbol of hope, rebirth, growth and enlightenment. A fitting representation of my new chapter in life. 🥰

#makersmark #pottery #handbuilding #handbuilt #natureinspiration #wheelthrowing

🍂 Autumn Chaos Gardening 🧑‍🌾

Lately I’ve had to fit in little chunks of life admin which includes gardening during nap times and I get may get a good 30-45 minutes when Amelia would sleep in the bassinet.

I am hoping for a spring filled with flowers to show the little one and I have a tonne of seeds that I’ve accumulated over the years so over the next few days, I am doing some chaos gardening where I will haphazardly throw seeds around and hope that something comes up. I have “weeded” most of the beds so… here is hoping 🤞🏻 I have been seeing a lot of things germinate this last week or so, hopefully I am not too late with these hardy annuals.

In this bed there will be Poppies, Snapdragons and Cornflowers.

Can’t wait to see the result in spring 😜

#australianflowergrowers #chaosgardening #seedsowing #autumnseedsowing #autumngrown #hardyannuals #seedsaving

8 WEEKS

I love her wake windows 🥰 Amelia sometimes wake up showing off a new skill or discovering a new sound.

8 weeks in and she is enjoying cuddles, mirror and face to face time, using her voice and floor time!

#postpartum #wakewindows #activitiesforbabies #ftm #inthecluster

Slowing down and creating a cozy space to be homebodies ☺️

#nesting #newchapter #spotthedifference

2025 Feels Like…

Made this vision board (see 2) at the beginning of the year but I didn’t want to call it a resolution yet until I could see myself falling into the habits of someone who embodies the things I hoped for here.

So many things will change this year and I’m feeling more ready everyday.

The last month have been filled with decluttering both my surroundings and my mental load. My never ending to-do list is slowly getting shorter. I cannot wait to see what will unfold in my 2025 chapter 🫠 I hope it’s a sweet one. 🍯

#2025 #growingthings #newyearsresolutions #changing #visionboards

Come and enjoy a peaceful morning at the lake with me 🐟

Such a beautiful morning with blue skies and a clear mind ☺️ with the end of year scramble starting, I really cherish mornings like this. I hope to enjoy more mindful moments like this one in the near future.

#summerday #lake

Last Year’s Blooms 😍

The patch self-seeded so I didn’t bother starting any in 2023 but after rotating the beds, I’ve had to start some from seeds this year and I started and planted them in a little late… this year’s varieties are new to me and I can’t wait to see what they look like 😍

#snapdragons #pinkflowers #snapdragoninsiders #costasnapdragon #potomacsnapdragons #seedstarting #germinatingseed

3 Lessons from the past 3 years

1. Soil is everything. It sustains the life of each plant that grows in it. I am working on my soil health for the next year and utilising no-dig methods to ensure l have good biodiversity in my soil. I will also be regularly feeding the soil and the plants to ensure there is enough nutrients for the entire season. If you have some science based recommendations to improve soil health or routines that have worked for you, please send it through! I’d love to read all about it.

2. Less is more. I think in past years I’ve gone into the growing season thinking I can handle more and more but what I don’t consider is the amount of time each plant requires at different stages of their growth. I am narrowing down the variety as well as number of plants that I am growing this year so I can take care of them well. Instead of sowing a whole tray of one variety of seeds and taking care of multiple trays until they’re ready to be planted out, I’ve only sowed 4 cells of each variety and utilising 2 trays to grow my seedlings. Much easier to take care of! I am hoping to have 2-4 healthy plants to cut from. I do this because… (read lesson #3)

3. The generous gardener has the most flowers. Most of my annuals that I am growing are cut and come again. Cutting the flowers encourage the plant to continue producing more and more blooms. In an ideal setting, I could harvest 20-40 flowers from each plant (more or less for some varieties) So I really don’t need 10 of each plant to have a steady stream of flowers. This next year I will also be exploring succession planting which I hope will prolong my growing season.

I can’t wait to see what this next year brings. Hope this was helpful to other newbie gardeners like me who wants to grow for yourself or for gifting to friends and family. Save this post for the next time you’re sowing seeds!

#australianflowergrowers #nswdahlias #cottagegardens #seedsaving #cutflowergarden #cutflowersfrommygarden #flowerlesson #summerflowers #southernhemispheregardening #newbiegardener #gardeninyourthirties

My first loves 🥹 did you start with these too?

Went back through my gallery in anticipation for the blooming season and found photos of some of my first loves.

I am really considering planting more open Dahlias from seeing this photo. This was grown early in my gardening journey from seeds but I was unable to save the tuber due to lack of knowledge 😅

I am growing the cupcake cosmos again this year and I cannot wait to see them again! It’s like seeing old friends… is that weird?

Of course the flower that got me in the garden, the Hellebore which I planted over Panda’s 🪦 🥹 this year they were a little neglected but still alive. Let’s see how we go next winter!

#newbiegardener #seedsaving #australianflowergrowers #temperateregions #summerflowers #winterflowers #cottagegardens

Blissful existence in Delulu Land…

Just sowed 2 trays of seeds… and I’ve run out space to plant them once they start to germinate. I’m a hopeful optimist that I’ll get more beds in before they emerge but let’s be honest… I’ve always had record germination duration (I once germinated dahlias in under 4 hours…) but lack the organisational skills to get them in before they get leggy due to not having the beds prepped before sowing 😅

Maybe things will be different this season 😂 here is hoping!

#nswdahlias #zinnia #flowergrams #summersowing #sowingforthefuture

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@bloomedeverafter