Bridal plan?
Phyllis Bide Rose
Right. This weekend I am making up for four whole days of distraction from my garden. This is so not like me! So here's the plan - it's a bit bridal. I'll do something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue...
Saturday March 13th
Something new - I'm going to clear yet more land for the new garden and organise the seedling pine trees to be chain-sawed down. I will supervise the sawing of piles of logs in the front paddock for firewood, and use any appropriate pieces for path edges.
Archway Roses
Now to the old - if I fancy a change of scenery to something more colourful, there's weeding to be done underneath the orchard archway roses. Some are repeating now, and the autumn flower colours are richer than expected. I'm thrilled, yet again, with Coconut Ice. This climber may have a fluffy, dithery, old-fashioned look, but it's tough and reliable - the perfect country garden rose. Phyllis Bide on her archway is going well, as is the David Austin Crown Princess Marguerite - she's not a huge rose, but she knows her place.
The Water Race
Downside - Lady Hillingdon is hopeless, and that silly Parkdirektor Riggers insists on producing dead straight military stiff canes. He should never have been planted over a curved archway... Oops...
More Rose News
More rose news - the ram has been nibbling the ends of rose I planted before Christmas. Blast. I knew he would. That'll teach me for planting things on the edge of the ram paddock without protection. I just hoped they'd be too thorny for his taste...
Right. I'm inspired, so I'll start by doing the orchard roses. Brr... Maybe this is the first truly autumn day. It's a bit nippy.
Lunchtime...
I've been working underneath the roses, with young Minimus for company. We are far away from the house and Min's upstairs bedroom, so she is very squeaky - just checking that I'm still there. There's a lot of nasty grass with runny roots to clear - I do wonder about using a bit of subtle weed-killer. Nobody would know, and I could use a code, calling it 'WK'... Enough of this. I'll get a cup of coffee and return to finish what I've started - what a novel idea!
Later...
Ha! A job completed and well done - and I've taken to Souvenir de la Malmaison, removing some of her oldest canes. Etoile de Hollande (beautifully fragrant) is flowering spasmodically, and Adam (I'm sure it's Adam) is looking particularly fruity, showing off his splendid petals. He was newly planted last spring, and seems to like it out here in the fresh air. Good boy!
Adam Rose?
Sunday March 14th
Continuing the bridal theme for the weekend, today I tackle the 'new' garden, then find something 'borrowed' to do. But I will substitute 'recycled', and spread my horse manure and bonfire ash around on the new garden. Then the 'something blue' is actually going to be 'something yellow'. I'm starting to plant my new daffodil bulbs. There. Tenuous connections, but never-the-less inspiring me to do a balanced, thoughtful weekend's gardening.
Lilli-Puss :- Lilli-Puss, Lilli-Puss - where have you been? Where do you go? Hmm...
A quiet note, not wanting to tempt fate, about Lilli-Puss my random, often absent, grey cat, who has now slept on my pillow for three nights in a row. She is my autumn weather indicator - so the evenings are getting cooler, are they? Cats are odd. Well, some of the Moosey cats definitely are...
Right. Non-gardening Partner, Wielder of the Chain-Saw (and Fixer of the Dishwasher) is almost ready to be organised. I hope he's enjoying his busy weekend. I've just got time for a cup of coffee.
Lunchtime...
Hmm... I've worked for three hours, but with woman bow-saw-power only (NGP escaped). I've come to a fairly ghastly bit of land with heaps of accumulated rubbish - old branches, etc. So here I will stop until the mess can be wheelbarrowed out, dumped into the trailer, and burnt (the fire ban is back on). After lunch I'm planting daffodils along the water race edge where I can see them (and the flowers will point the 'right way' for once).
Great Lawns!
- 'No point in having seats in the garden if they're not sat on.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
It's later, time for another cup of coffee (the third on this page, my goodness) and a short reading session on a garden seat. No point in having seats in the garden if they're not sat on. I've planted three clumps of daffodils. Just three - but I've started, very carefully, digging proper planting holes. The plan is to have a big, slow daffodil day tomorrow. I love spring daffodils, though with the summer garden still madly blooming it's hard to be thinking two seasons ahead.