How Tasmanian Seasons Shape the Way We Live

There’s something uniquely Tasmanian about how the seasons unfold, especially here in Hobart and across our beautiful island. Down here, we get the chance to really feel each season, like a series of gentle chapters that shape our homes, gardens and even our daily rhythms.

Summer in Tasmania feels alive. It’s often warm (in a good season!), people are always out and about, and the sun is very generous with long, light filled days. We make time for dinners with friends that stretch long into dusk, for picnics on shady lawns and slow afternoons with a book and a cold drink. In the garden, fruit trees bear heavy boughs and herbs release their scent into the evening breeze. It’s during this season that we truly get to see and experience the value of outdoor spaces — patios become rooms of their own, pots and plants double as décor, and family gatherings seem to happen more often in the garden than at inside tables. Here at Verde, we feel like a summer home is one that interacts with nature more than any other time, whether that’s through fresh new outdoor dining utensils, new cotton botanical napkins, wooden platters, woven baskets filled with throws for snuggling up of an evening as the temperature drops slightly or filling the house with a few simple vases overflowing with fresh flowers.

Autumn brings its own magic. The days are a little cooler, the light softens, and the colours of the landscape shift. It’s a time for reflection and preparation — tidying gardens, picking the last of the fruit, mulching beds, final cold ocean swims and taking stock of what’s the summer brought. In Tassie, you can still catch warmth on a good afternoon, but there’s a tangible shift toward cooler day comfort. Indoors begin to shift to softer textures, candles that smell like a fresh breeze, new cushions that invite cuddling on slower evenings and favourite lamps come on during the early evening. Gardens begin to rest, leaf colours start to change, soil rejuvenates, we may even get a little rain and even the deciduous trees remind us that letting go is part of the cycle.

As winter settles in — sometimes slow and gentle, other times crisp and dramatic -it’s a time for gardeners to pause, to prune, to plan and to appreciate the bones of the landscape. And for those of us who love interiors, it’s a season to layer warmth and texture: throws, woollen socks, new mugs that feels like a hug in your hands. The cooler months in Tassie bring us amazing coloured skies, wanting to stay closer to home, to cosy nights in, roaring fires and to small cosy rituals that make life rich.

In spring, the outdoor world of greenery and blossom explodes. After cool, wet months, deciduous trees wake, flowers bloom and the birds return with song. It’s a time when gardeners refill pots, sow seeds and rediscover the joy of mud beneath their nails. In these months we find ourselves outside longer, chatting with neighbours on walks, and dreaming of summer dinners on warmer nights. There’s a renewed energy — a desire to create and nurture — that seeps into our homes too. Suddenly it feels like the perfect moment to brighten our interiors with fluffy new towels, fresh ceramics, the perfect new lamp, or some beautiful new garden lights to make the outside sparkle.

At Verde, we’re inspired by these rhythms. My background in garden design and agricultural science taught me that landscapes and gardens grow with and through the seasons, not in spite of them — and the same is true for how we live in our homes. Seasonal living invites us to slow down, to observe, to harmonise with nature instead of resisting it. Whether that’s choosing objects that bring warmth and texture, selecting garden pieces suited for cooler Tasmanian winters and warm summer days, or simply allowing the change of light to influence a room’s mood or colour, our lives are shaped beautifully by this island’s unique climate, big skies and changing colours.

I like to let the seasons inform and guide my days and it's almost impossible not to when our seasons are so distinct and have personalities all of their own. Let them guide what you plant & grow, what you bring into your home to make it beautiful, the colours and textures you choose and how you find joy in the everyday. Because living with the seasons — that’s a Tasmanian gift worth celebrating all year round.

Shop for every season: Verde Store.