I am not a boring, predictable person!
I am not a boring, predictable person! Today I do things in a different order - piano first, then breakfast, then gardening. I might even finish my digging project later this afternoon, when the sun has sunk a bit.
Coral Peony Flower Bud
Thursday 5th November
Parts of my garden now enter their subtle-colour phase. All the fruit salad coloured rhododendrons in the Stumpy (AKA Willow Tree) Garden are in full bloom - and the coral peonies nearby are bursting out of their buds (I've been checking every day). These rhododendrons came to me in bulk as anonymous sale table shrubs, so it's amazing that they all flower late, and that none is pink or lilac or red.
Fruit Salad Coloured Rhododendron
I've also noticed my blue Lupins flowering by the dog-path. Most of the foxgloves are that pale magenta colour. Ha! I have trayfuls of stylish apricot seedlings which I'll pop into the garden later this summer. The Aquilegias are a wonderful mixture this year, though many have blown over. I have every shade and combination of purple, pink, and blue. They are such pretty flowers with really beautiful, intricate design features.
- 'Starting a project is easy - it's the continuing that marks a good gardener.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
Some smoke is wafting over my house from a neighbouring rubbish fire. I should continue cleaning up the hedge trimmings - perhaps having my own small bonfire of the scrappy bits later today. And I have glass-house work - more annual seeds to prick out. Starting a project is easy - it's the continuing that marks a good gardener. Continuing care and attention. Oops.
Lunchtime...
Aargh! My garden is already in spring-summer transition, and I am simply not ready for some of this. It's time to pull out the Honesty, the large blue weedy Forget-Me-Not (Alkanet?) and lots of the little forget-me-nots as well.
Self-Sown Blue Cornflower
Armies of Annuals?
It's time to plant things in the spaces thus created - but what? Where are my armies of annuals? They're still too small - the basil is smaller than my little fingernail. The Gazanias and the Petunias are cute and small, and my pansies are sort of half-sized.
Anyway, I've been in the glass-house potting up Pelargonium cuttings, building pots of lettuces for the patio, and pricking out more seeds. The tall blue cornflowers are ready to be plonked in the garden, though - at least that's something. I guess I should have started these off last autumn...
Weeding and Planting
Right. Session Two. I weed and plant in the house garden. Then (eek - clean fingernails!) I have to go in to my old work for a couple of hours. When I return I'll do some digging.
My gardening days will have to be broken up more - just an hour or two on any one task, returning after coffee breaks. And no TV couch-flops until at least four thirty...
A few gardening notes before I relaunch myself:
- That unknown 'Most Beautiful Camellia in the World' just might be the sasanqua Plantation Pink.
- Did I know that the best time to take cuttings of Penstemons is autumn?
- I've seen a dwarf iris called Chocolate Fish - it looks gorgeous!
Much Later...
Oops. I'm all clean, ready to go to work, and my car has a flat battery. Blast! I'll make a cup of tea, flounce around the garden in my fancy gear, and rethink the afternoon's possibilities. Trouble is, I don't really feel like getting grubby again. And it took me ten minutes to scrub my fingers!
Friday 6th November
Well, I've put the hoses on - but I have THE most pathetic excuse for having a day off from the garden. I've bought some groovy new apple-green summer sandals (Keens) and they are so comfortable I don't want to take them off. Nor am I allowed to wear them stomping around in the dirt. So I've been playing the piano for hours. A quirky piece by Ravel called the Valley of the Clocks really sets my bellbird off - he's been whistling and flying around near the open glass doors. He thinks he's a chiming cuckoo clock?
Rugosa Roses by the Glass-House
Now I'm off to have a look at the three monster Cordylines that NGP and I are digging out tomorrow. I hope I haven't over-reached myself... I can always work hard in the garden tomorrow as penance...
Saturday 7th November
Right. It's the weekend. Non-Gardening Partner is being evasive about helping dig out the new Cabbage trees. 'What about cleaning up the back of the hedge?' is his response. So I'm going outside now to start lopping and burning some hedge scraps. I will be semi-sulking, nothing too serious. I need his chain-saw to tidy up dead wood from an Ake Ake, and the lawns mowed - a friend is visiting the garden tomorrow. 'What about cleaning up the back of the hedge?' he repeats. Aargh! It is going to be one of those days...
Mid-Morning...
I have broken my loppers. I am not pleased. I am about to burn the hedge rubbish I've raked up. but it's already too hot for burning. I think I am a bit cross...
The Cabbage Trees Are Planted!
Mid-Afternoon...
No I'm not! NGP has dug out the Cabbage trees, and he has totally helped me plant them, doing most of the work. And now he is mowing the lawns, and I've been trying to trim the edges with blunt shears. So I'll have to get him to sharpen my garden tools (it would help if I didn't leave them out lying in the long grass). I need all my edges trimmed before my friend comes tomorrow, and I'm going back outside to do a bit of hedge clearing in the Hazelnut Orchard. Thus I can say thank you to NGP in the best possible way!
Much Later...
I'm cross again - I've been chased inside (a slight exaggeration) by a swarm of buzzy things, seemingly fascinated by the smoke from my rubbish fire. I hope they are not wasps.
A white Clematis is flowering on a rose arch in the orchard. I bought it for two dollars a couple of years ago. It's absolutely beautiful, and I must get a picture. This is a first - the first groovy Clematis in the Moosey Garden. And the coral peony flowers have opened. But - aargh! They fall to pieces quite quickly, so I must take their photograph.