Blessed, lovely season...
Sunny Pink Camellia
Well, well, well. Well-come to spring! Blessed, lovely season where older gardeners feel younger again and ridiculous new ideas become totally possible. Not that I have any...
Here's one of the silliest things I've ever read. It is claimed (by someone learned, in my local newspaper) that eighty percent (80%!!!) of a person's thoughts are negative. Well, that researcher obviously never included any gardeners, particularly spring ones, in the sample. What nonsense!
Wednesday 1st September
It's been a lovely, wonderful, magical day. The Moosey Under-Gardener (my hired help) has been busy spreading pea straw on the Driveway Garden and the new gardens in the Hump, while I've been building nearby paths, weeding, and digging out overhanging grasses. I've done four hours of what I call 'grasshopper gardening' - one does a bit of this then jumps over to that, and so on. And right at the end one lights the bonfire - strictly non-compostable rubbish, of course.
Yippee! Blue Sky, White Blossom...
What a day! The sun has been shining, and the spring flowers look so beautiful. Yippee for my Camellias, mostly anonymous shrubs, who are all in bloom now. The gardens look 'pretty' - even the perennial weedy forget-me-nots, with their fresh green leaves and tiny blue flowers. And there are lots of other colours to gaze upon - lemon primroses, tiny purple violets, white prunus blossom, red early rhododendrons, white and purple Honesty, pink Bergenia flowers... I know that 'pretty' is an overworked word, but sometimes it just fits.
+10My silly cats have been cautious of the strange human working in their garden, but my dog has had a splendid day with not one but two friends to check up on, in between barking at fantails and blackbirds. Country gardening dogs really have a great life! I must take some photographs to celebrate this the First Official Day of Spring. Lovely, lovely, lovely, gushes the Head Gardener.
Honesty
Some minor plant news - I've bought a whole bucketful of Elegia capensis for the pond edge. And three chunky hydrangeas called Masja, which look a pinky red in colour. Hope so! They're going in the Elm Tree Garden. Hee hee - these plants are advance self-birthday presents, but more on that topic tomorrow.
Wet Dog
Thursday 2nd September
My birthday week starts in earnest - only seven days to go to THE DAY! This is not the most terribly ancient of birthdays, either, but it is a prime number. Ha! Hopefully that's a good thing. Actually, if the number '1' is counted it's the nineteenth prime birthday I've ever had...
Good Dog!
Today has been another wonderful day. And anyone who thinks I just mention Rusty the dog for the fun of it, to lighten the journal, can think again. Rusty has been brilliant today. He really helps me.I've been digging out more large grasses on the water's edge of the water race. Rusty stands downstream, grabs the leaves in his mouth and pulls while I shovel and slice. When the clump comes free he grabs it in his mouth and drags it out of the water. Some of these clumps would have been really heavy for him, and the water would be far too cold for me. Brilliant dog!
Planting the Elm-Tree Garden
Garden Make-Over
In a flash, an instant - well, in a morning - I've given the Elm Tree Garden its make-over. Roses have been moved out to the edge (more sun, more sun), the ground cleared, and six mature hydrangeas are planted in place.
I am most excited about this new scheme of things, since I thought of it (and scribbled pages and pages) on a plane flying back from my holiday. Moosey thinks, Moosey writes, and then Moosey acts...
Tomorrow I play music then pick up my Elegia plants. There will be less gardening in my day. But this week has been amazingly garden-busy. Now the pink Prunus nigra tree near Pond Cottage is in blossom, and the first of the rhododendrons in the Dog-Path Garden is bursting out of its buds.
And the large pink Camellia shrubs - when did they grow so big, and fat? Amazing. Must be all that organic matter, and compost, and plant food and nurturing by the Head Gardener... Oops...
Big Pink Camellia Shrub
Friday 3rd September
Ah, spring. Of all the seasons, you seem to bring the most hope to gardeners. No hare-brained garden scheme seems too difficult, or too silly. All sorts of things seem to become possible.
Except gardening in a chilly southerly rainstorm - I'm back from town with a boot full of Elegia, there are bags of horse manure to spread, and frankly it's far too wet and unpleasant to go outside. I'm crossing fingers and toes that the ewes in the front paddock won't be choosing today to have their lambs. Hold on, woolly girls, hold on!
Anyway, I'm going to stay inside and do some web-work on the Garden Tour, maybe make a few lists, and plans for the great Birthday Week to come. Hee hee - what else can I buy myself?