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Nicole Court Design

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22.01.2022 TIGER MOTHS AND WOOLLY BEARS | Tiger Moth aeroplanes were developed as training aircraft in the 1930s and were named after Tiger Moths as their wings fold similar to a moth when in storage. Tiger moths are a large family of colourful moths of small to medium size with wingspans varying from 10 to 85 mm. In Australia there are about 280 species of Tiger Moths.The abdomens are usually striped hence the name Tiger Moth. Most moths fly at night but some species of Tiger Moth fl...y during the day, and there are several flying around my garden as I write this. Tiger Moths are not strong flyers. Eggs are laid on the host plants which can be several varieties of herbaceous plants or mosses and lichens. The food of the caterpillars is often poisonous so that the caterpillars themselves become toxic to predators. The moths retain some of the poison and their bright colours are also a warning that they are not good to eat. Caterpillars are quite hairy and are often called Woolly Bears. These hairs can cause minor irritation to the skin. When they pupate their hairs are used to spin a flimsy cocoon behind bark or in leaf mulch. Moths differ from butterflies in that when they land the butterfly generally holds its wings upright while the moth keeps its wings flat. Mouthparts of moths are a tube which is used for sucking and their wings are covered with scales. They belong to the insect order Lepidoptera from the Greek lepidos meaning scale and pteron meaning wing. #amata #tigermoth #woollybears #sydneygarden

18.01.2022 BUTTERFLIES AND BUDDLEIA 'BLACK KNIGHT' | This fast-growing shrub, aptly called Butterfly Bush, is covered with deeply purple, perfumed flower spikes from summer to autumn. It grows to 3 metres and can be hard pruned. Butterflies can't resist its flowers, and birds and bees will pay a visit to feed on the nectar, too. I watched a Teddy Bear bee, Blue Banded bee, Blue Hairy Flower wasp and this Yellow Admiral butterfly alight on just this one flower with a space of 2 minutes.... Yellow Admirals are native to both Australia and New Zealand this strong, fast flier is thought to survive wind-blown travel from Australia to New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea. I love its beautiful markings and that blue eye on the underside of its wings. #buddleia #buddleja #butterflybush #summerflowers #autumnflowers #purpleflower #yellowadmiral #butterfly

18.01.2022 Welcome to the Design Tour India - An Insiders Experience of India. 16th to 30th January, 2020. This is a "conscious luxury" exploration of the road less travelled in Calcutta and India's fascinating North-East. From the beating heart of India's most charming mega city, Calcutta, to forgotten palaces in the countryside, to beautiful tea plantations and the awe-inspiring Himalayan mountains, this promises to be a very special trip, hosted by two well-connected India experts, Nicky Court and Kinny Sandhu. www.nicolecourt.com.au has the itinerary and how to book. Please email me on [email protected] for a printable itinerary with all the details of the daily adventures and curated experiences included in the tour.

18.01.2022 HILLANDALE Hillandale Gardens is a beautiful 100 year old, six acre garden nestled in a valley surrounded by a Eucalyptus fastigata forest of ancient proportions. It has towering rhododendrons, a tree fern lined spring creek and over 50 grand old trees including magnificent oaks, cedars, maples, redwoods, spruce and liquidambers. Running along the eastern side of the garden is a 120 m long double perennial border, jam packed with over 300 species of rare and interesting herba...ceous plants such as salvia, dahlias, lupins, poppies, rudbeckia, echinacea and asters, plus masses of ornamental grasses. I have never seen so many happy bees in one place before. This border was designed to peak in summer and autumn so this unstructured, meandering style garden is at its peak from now until late April. Hillandale is just the kind of garden I like best. It is well worth the 2.5 hour drive from Sydney and is very do-able as a day trip. Check out Claire Takacs' dreamy photographs of this beaitiful garden in her book, #Dreamscapes, and start planning a visit. Fingers crossed they open the garden again next month. We went via Narrow Neck Plateau to see the mass flowering of pink flannel flowers in the #BlueMountains, and visited @highfield_gardens at #littlehartley on the way back to Sydney. A wonderful day. Thank you to Sarah and Andrew Ryan for opening their beautiful gardens so we can all experience the paradise they have created. @hillandalegardens #yetholme #centralwestnsw #opengarden #sydneydaytrip #daytrip #sydney #beautifulgarden #gardentour #happy #gardenvisitor

09.01.2022 LIFE AFTER FIRE | Standing on the Narrow Neck Plateau filled me with awe. A sacred landscape, haunting and mysterious. The misty early morning vistas over valleys, the sandstone escarpments, sparkling dewdrops, blackened banksias, and the calls of black cockatoos and lyrebirds make for an extraordinary landscape. And the colours, oh the colours . . . Narrow Neck is one of the most beautiful places in the Blue Mountains at any time of year. The mass flowering of the pink flan...nel flowers at the moment make it a not-to-be-missedl day trip from Sydney. #colourhunting #australianlandscape #narrowneck #bluemountainsnsw #sacredplace #lifeafter #fire #bushfire #ephemeral #pinkflannelflower #pink #flannelflower #actinotus #coloursofnature #nature #photography #misty #morning #naturephotography #bluemountains #daytrip #specialplace

05.01.2022 MAGICAL HILLANDALE | Charming and delightful are the two words I would use to best describe the garden and buildings of Hillandale. Its all in the details, as well as the broad strokes of this garden. A lovely collection of outbuildings and a house with brick chimneys. The greenhouse is one of the charming I have ever seen. And one of the best design decisions is evident in the 120 m long double perennial border walk - it is the entrance and width of the path. The curve of the low hedge and canopy of the entry tree above invite exploration into something you can't quite see. The narrow width of this entrance is a threshold into an intimate landscape of delight. A unstructured, wild garden of flowers and grasses awaits. @hillandalegardens #countrygarden #beeheaven

04.01.2022 HIGHFIELDS - BIG DAY OUT PART III We arrived at Highfields in the golden, hazy light of an autumn afternoon. It was our last stop before heading back to Sydney after visiting Narrow Neck and Hillandale earlier in the day. The beautiful bleached colour palette of the perennial garden, with views of the sandstone escarpements of the Blue Mountains beyond, was capped off with generous country hospitality from our hosts, David Kennedy and Andrew Dunshea. Sitting on their open air... terrace with a home made lemon cordial and a hot cup of tea was a perfect end to a wonderful day. I headed back to Sydney feeling a bit tired but very happy. @highfields #littlehartley #bluemountains #perennialgarden #opengardens #gardenvisit #gardentour

02.01.2022 NEW DATES Please join me on a "conscious luxury" Interior and Landscape Design Tour to Calcutta and the North East of India 10th to 24th January 2021. Travel with two designers who are India experts - me (Sydney based) and Kinny Sandhu (India based). Full details and lots of lustworthy pictures of where we are going on my website www.nicolecourt.com.au