Winter weather...
Percy Cat on a Stump
The winter garden is alive and ever-growing - in my mind, that is. But the winter weather has taken a rather serious turn, which even a strong-minded four-seasons gardener cannot ignore. Four letters, beginning with 'S', bluish white in colour...
Tuesday 16th June
On serious winter days I play the piano more - I'm once again trying to play Albeniz. Aargh! The cross-your-hands-over and throw-in-some-double-flats-and-sharps composer whose piano music I adore. I sometimes wonder if his music is just too hard for me. Have I met my musical nemesis? Hmm...
Albeniz and Gardening...
Albeniz should be like gardening, though - if I just did a couple of hours practice each day, there'd be improvements - surely? Or maybe trying to play Albeniz is like searching for the meaning of life...
Today I am supposed to be hiking in the mountains. However there's a rather nasty cold front gurgling its way up the island from the deep south (Antarctica). Non-Gardening Partner, snug in his hot office all day, reckons I'll be sheltered in the bush - true, with respect to wind and sleet.
Conifer and Hebe
Too Wet
But the greenery will be dripping wet, the ground will be muddy, and it will be too cold to stop and enjoy the view. What view?
I do have some gardenish thoughts to process. Stumpy the cat, who left us six months ago, now needs a memorial tree - possibly a Malus? I'd like something with blossom. And I still need to buy a large stand-alone pot. I am also not having much success finding a nursery which sells Alliums - I wonder if some dodgy onion virus has caused New Zealand to exile these lovely bulby plants?
Eek! It's still only TWO degrees Celsius outside! Aargh! I do not want snow on my garden, and I am definitely not going to spend all day walking in it. I've put on my new bright pink slippers in a mild form of protest.
Wednesday 17th June
Ha - I scared the snow away (for now). Today I'm going walking around the cliffs on the peninsula. I will take my camera - it's a long time since I took any photographs of my ramblings, and who knows? This cliff walk may rival that along the coast of Cornwall (may not, too). For me, hee hee, it's a lot cheaper to get to!
An Albeniz Update...
Well, an update after only two days, but I am getting faster, and more accurate, and best of all I'm hearing lots more sneaky little things ('nuances' might be a more formal word). And, of course, this last bit is the essence of being a musician, even if only a gifted amateur... Meanwhile, back home in the garden...
Thursday 18th June
Back home in the garden it's a bright and beautiful winter's morning - blue sky, frost - definitely not a day for sulking inside. I'm waiting for more sun, which should create a big burst of gardening energy (it's only two degrees Celsius - too cold). Right, Minimus the kitten (sitting on my lap) - what do we do first? I have even put on my new gardening shirt - 2009's stylish winter gardener is wearing royal blue and white tartan, with a dash of green and yellow to symbolise spring's eagerly anticipated new growth.
My New Roses
Late Afternoon...
Ha! There's nothing like the heady mixture of garden shopping at a couple of nurseries, followed by three hours of serious gardening to lift the gloom. Not that I'm saying I was gloomy...
I've bought five new deep reddish-black Phormiums - three are coloured versions of Phormium Cookianum, a mountain flax which is a big fat weeper. I then had to rescue four six dollar bare-root roses and two pot-bound silver Astelias from a sale table. The roses are all creamy white - Elena (a hybrid tea) and the floribundas Auckland Metro and Anniversary.
- 'Dig a fifty dollar hole for a five dollar plant.'
- -Quote from Fine Gardening.
Using the advice in my latest Fine Gardening magazine I've planted the roses in the Koru Garden using (proportionally) the phrase 'Dig a fifty dollar hole for a five dollar plant'. The flaxes and Astelias are just over the path. I popped potting mix into all the planting holes.
Friends Who Donate Invasive Ephorbias...
I'm puzzled - why did my friend give me that smallish evergreen green Euphorbia? It's now spreading fast near the Koru sculpture, and pieces of it keep popping up here there and everywhere. Actually it has become really intrusive and annoying. Oops... Perhaps she doesn't like me very much...
The White Winter Garden Seats are Waiting...
Now I'd like to present my Albeniz report for today. I've played completely through three pieces from Iberia - namely Rondeau, Almeria, and Evocation. Albeniz and I have come to an arrangement - I'm allowed to play his hardest bars quite slowly, as long as they're beautifully phrased and chock-full of expression (I've promised not to miss out any accents or sforzandos). Phew!