More Agapanthus!
Oh dear, dear, dear me. I have eleven clumps of (free) Agapanthus to dig out. So more Agapanthus plants are coming to be planted in the Moosey country garden. And none of my gardening friends will understand why. It's so obvious to me, as a compulsive recycler.
Gunnera and Blue Aquilegias
Wednesday 11th November
Last night I couldn't sleep for worrying about the two new huge Agaves, which were to be planted by the roadside. Would I be capable of digging large enough holes big in the stony ground - pick-axe, anyone? Aargh! Indecision at three in the morning, followed by a great idea at four.
My Agave Solution
The bigger one could go into my half wine barrel in the Welcome Garden (its pelargoniums to be evicted). The other could be crammed into a large pot, which I could purchase for not much money. Silly to lose sleep about such a thing, but I was desperately trying to visualise the two-tone spiky cactus leaves in assorted various garden positions. These Agaves are HUGE, and I've never grown them before. Sun - yes. Shelter from frost? I expect so.
Two Agapanthus Clumps
Right. I'll grab my gumboots and my shovels, and I'm off on my Agapanthus digging mission. I might add that it's drizzling and I do not really feel like digging out anything.
Later, Mid-Afternoon...
Well, well, well. I've dug out eight large clumps, stuffed them (with accompanying soil) in my little car, driven home in a sea of greenery, and instantly planted absolutely everything. And all of this before even coming in the house for a coffee or a cup of tea, which I am about to enjoy. Whew! I am sooooo tired, but it's a good tired.
My New Agave
Dusk...
Yippee! Son of Moosey has lifted the bigger Agave into the half wine barrel. I love it. It fits. I will photograph it tomorrow.
Thursday 12th November
And now it is tomorrow, and I slept well - so there's no excuse for falling asleep on the TV couch in the middle of the afternoon. I'm off Agapanthus digging, and then I'm collecting some red Phormiums from a garden which has oxalis. They're going into quarantine (in other words, into pots on the patio).
None of this should be excessively tiring. I am furious with myself for losing the gardening plot yesterday afternoon.
But a stern word to myself - no more buying plants for one dollar which I then have to drive for miles to meet, greet, and dig up. No more soil messes in my car (I vacuumed it out last night - it took ages). No more buying plants, perhaps? Make the most of what I've got? No more grovelling to Non-Gardening Partner about needing his trailer and his muscle to get monster cabbage trees and/or garden benches in the weekend? I will be a reformed gardener!
Stables Garden Roses - 2009
Now there's a novel idea - I could finish the day with a couple of hours of good garden maintenance. How about clearing the Frisbee Lawn grass, raking up more hedge trimmings, trimming the edges in the Pond Paddock, watering the deciduous Azaleas which are flowering beautifully in the shady Driveway Garden...
Rusty the dog :- Rusty is a red Border Collie dog - and he loves gardening. I know he does...
It's now mid-afternoon, and this newly reformed gardener is about to go outside with her dog Rusty the Trusty. There is to be no aggressive barking at the bellbirds, who tend to hang around overhead.
I have loads of white Agapanthus plant pieces - the digging was difficult, so I had to break the clumps up. I have the best intentions of making this afternoon a complete success. Let's see what I manage to achieve, shall we? No pressure...
Even Later...
Ha! Words fail me - no they don't! I am a wonderfully good gardener, for I have planted all today's Agapanthus pieces - six huge feed bags full. I've watered everything, and even cleaned up. The new Phormiums are planted in pots, also the new Agave shoots, and I've also sawn off the low tree branches near the new cabbage trees. Look - I could have come home from digging and decided to loll around. But I didn't!
Bantry Bay Rose
I've taken some colourful photographs, too, and sprayed some of the rusty roses. I am extremely pleased with my super-day. Apart from finding my choir folder adjacent to the bags of horse manure (oops) all is extremely well. Yippee!
Friday 13th November
It's a holiday here, so that means only one thing - Non-Gardening Partner needs organising before the southerly cold front arrives. At least I don't have any new garden benches (or giant cabbage trees) for him to pick up. So I'm going outside now to start lopping and sawing up the hedge trimmings in the Hazelnut orchard. NGP is very good at doing things like operating the shredder. And he has more stamina than me (probably because he doesn't drink coffee or tea).
Three Archway Roses
My archway roses need checking for flowers - and for rust. Ha! I have a small puffer bottle from the supermarket called 'Fungus Gun' up my sleeve. Well, in my hand, more like...
Bob the New Gnome
Late Morning...
Aargh! After an hour the sky on the horizon turned dark grey, and then from stillness the edge of the cold wind arrived. The temperature dropped eight degrees (Celsius) in half an hour. Now it's spitting with rain, and NGP and I have retired inside to re-evaluate. I've only weeded three rose arches, and the wood chips haven't yet been spread. Some rose canes had come loose and were bouncing around - I need to restrain them.
Blooming
A lot of the archway roses are blooming, though - Etoile de Hollande is looking big and brilliant for the first time. The final rose in the middle of the orchard is Souvenir de la Malmaison, and she looks gorgeous (from a distance). My Madame Caroline Testouts look OK - perhaps their leaves are slightly black-spotted.
Great news - my newest gnome has just been painted by my Female House Guest and he looks wonderful. He has a positive, intelligent face and he looks really healthy. The red hat, of course, is mandatory, but the lime yellow shirt is super-stylish, a great contrast to the work-colour brown of his trousers. Now all he needs is a name... How about Robert?