Growing up, I absolutely loved gardening — if my parents couldn’t find me in the house, there was a good chance I was in our backyard, digging through the dirt, sifting for worms or checking on my little crops (pumpkin, watermelon, and corn were my favorites!).

Since I’ve been employed with Green Wedding Shoes, I’ve developed a major love of florals. Through each post that I write, I’ve been introduced to so many different flower varietals — ones with crazy textures, seasonal picks, and those that are absolutely enchanting. The more bouquets and floral arches I see, the more I’m entranced by their beauty.

Upon my arrival in Hobart, this blossoming love affair has grown ten-fold — with all the lush greenery and colorful blooms that line the streets and dot front yards. I’ve found a new delight in identifying local flowers, doing what I like to call ‘urban gardening‘ (essentially walking about and finding pretty wild blooms to make bouquets with — my fiancé actually gifted me a beautiful pair of gardening sheers for my birthday a few weeks ago, just for this!), and learning if they have any medicinal uses or properties — a little history about each flower. I’m fascinated to learn more about the secret language of flowers that developed in the Victorian era…

Did you know that there are ‘birth flowers’? Similar to a birth stone, each month of the year has a prescribed flower of the month! I wrote a whole series about this for Green Wedding Shoes, actually.

Anyway, the past couple weeks of exploring in New Zealand and New South Wales (Australia), have led to some extremely giddy moments… Particularly when I stroll into a botanical garden and find all the blooming flowers. These are snapshots from the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden and the Dunedin Botanic Garden (New Zealand). Enjoy!