A great weekend...
I've just had the best spring gardening weekend ever. The reasons are simple - loads of personal energy, and great garden help from Non-Gardening Partner. Plus two (not one, but two) new gardening projects, both of which have the potential for new plant spending sprees! Hee hee.
Primroses in the Patio Garden
Monday 15th September
There's yellowness everywhere in the garden. It's the pine pollen season, so house patios, garden seats, and shrubs are covered in fine yellow powder. My daffodils are in full bloom now - everywhere I look I see yellow flowers. One thousand new bulbs went in last autumn - the roadside fence-line plantings are a little bit too dense. My new lemon primroses (instant flower colour from the nursery) are looking good in the patio gardens.
Petunias and Pansies
Some purple petunias with small blooms have seeded in one of my house pots, too - I'm looking forward to them flowering. And how about some pansies to pop into the new patio pots? My two standard 'Brides' could do with some instant frills around their ankles, and the Moosey-grown seeds won't be ready for weeks.
Self-Sown Pansies
Right. Today I go to the gym, where I will plot and plan replacement plants for the driveway garden make-over. More rhododendrons? The huge Locust tree now takes pride of place, and I'm thinking about some low-stature shrubs to clump around its base. The danger of doing garden redevelopments in spring is that I fixate on rhododendrons, small spreading maples, specimen blossom trees and the like. Maples - now there's a good idea...
Mid-Afternoon...
I've bought a few goodies for the new driveway garden - a spreading-sideways Japanese maple will be the centrepoint, and filler Hebes can join the lemonwood Pittosporums I've left in (all other 'Pitts' have been pulled out). I have a red Azalea and four unknown but hopefully uncomplicated ground covers for the driveway edge. And I might ask NGP to help me shift in a white Camellia, planted in the nearby lawn.
Room for Rhododendrons
There's still room for a couple of rhododendrons - nice! But not late-flowering ones - by November this is a sunny place and two late pink rhododendrons in this same bed get sadly wilted flowers.
The New Driveway Border
All the time I've been working I've heard rooster and various hens in the distance making a dreadful racket - either there is mass egg-laying and poultry-bonding happening, or some horrible chook-demons have invaded my hen house. After many such experiences with chook noise I've adopted the 'cry wolf' (oops) philosophy. In the past, when I've gone to check, absolutely nothing has been going on (not even an egg). Oh well - now that I've mentioned them I'd better go make sure. Back soon...
Henworld :- Have a look at Henworld, a garden area dedicated to my chooks.
I'm back, I'm tired, and I'm going to call it a day. Only three and a half hours work - and three more eggs to add to the two I collected this morning. Who would have thought that laying a large egg could be so exciting? Hmm... Best to drop this subject, before I have all my earth-mother readers complaining or explaining...
Tuesday 16th September
Yippee! I've hit the jackpot, spam-wise. Actually several lotteries, which will guarantee my happiness, and reassure all those other kind mailers who are worrying about my debts. Good news - I'm not fat or (ahem) droopy this week. Seriously - I'm glad that none of the mail-bots knows anything about gardening. 'Send just five hundred dollars now for a lifetime of free weeding labour...'
+5Animal Report
Stumpy my old grey cat is definitely better for taking her thyroid pills. She's livelier, putting on weight, and much more interested in Moosey life. As I write she's sitting on my lap purring and smooching. Good cat, Stumpy. Some more Most Valuable Pet Competition points for you, old girl.
Botanic Magnolias :- It's a pity - I don't grow any Magnolias in my garden.
Right. I'm going swimming, before meeting a friend to walk around the Botanic Gardens to check out the Magnolias. It's their time of year, and the old trees in the Gardens look so beautiful.
When I return I'll start improving the soil in my new driveway garden. The new shrubs are laid out, but I'm not ready to plant yet.
Late-Afternoon...
Blast. I had big plans to burn my rubbish, I started it off and whoosh! Up came the wind. Blessed are those wise gardeners who have water and a bucket at the ready! Anyway, now it's calm, the end of a glorious spring day, and I'm going to try again. Then I'll pick some daffodils for the house. Nice.
Apricot Daffodil
The Botanic Gardens were full of grey-permed-hair ladies wearing sensible cross-trainer shoes. Like me? Well, sort of (no perm, silver-gold)... The Magnolias in ridiculously blousy full bloom, the modern rose garden, green shoots sprouting, getting fragrantly mulched. Tiny Gunnera leaves just starting to rebuild themselves into monsters around the ponds. Ponds which are more botanic and much bigger than mine and take much longer to walk around. Hmm...