Tricky...
Today's gardening plans are slightly tricky, as they involve Non-Gardening Partner, who thinks he is on holiday. The Welcome Garden needs a manly clean-up - there's much mess, dead Tree Lucernes need chain-sawing down, and a trailerful of rubbish could be gathered up really quickly.
I (the gardener) will do all the fussy stuff, like weeding and trimming the plantings, and directing which trees get the chop. Hmm...
Is This Man On Holiday?
Sunday 3rd January
Then there's more weeding for me to do - the Wattle Woods path is covered with lush, green weeds. There are old forget-me-nots and Honesty plants messing up the garden. And the Hen House garden path is in similar disarray.
Bright Daylily
Lunchtime...
Well - the Welcome Garden is tidy. Now the nor-west has arrived, and my hands are quite achy - I've been pulling out weeds all year (hee hee). And I haven't started on those impassable paths. I found another path, too, which goes into the Hump to a clearing planted with Cordylines (planted about six months ago). So the weeds have had six months to germinate and grow, but poor things - much of the garden area is mulched. Ha! They've leapt upon the path with much weed gusto.
OK. I'm going back outside, but I'll limit myself to an hour. And I promise not to groan about my sore hands. In fact, I might apply some magical ointment when I return. Anyway, I love my garden so much that a few hand-aches are jolly well not going to stop me. Back soon.
Later...
The Wattle Woods are dry, and need watering. But the path is now clear. I have about twelve pots of Carex trifida, a variegated coarse carex grass, and I'm thinking of a mass planting in here, at the back of the Wattle Woods seat. But I will have to promise to water them until they get established...
I've found the stone that my pond frog sits on. Now I know exactly how to sneak up on - her? I'll try and get a photograph. It's exciting having a pond frog - common thinking is that the natural presence (or absence) of frogs indicates the health (or otherwise) of the country environment. I think she's a she because there's been no croaking. One year I had three silly males who used to croak madly when the chain-saw was going next-door. 'Over heeeere, darling...' Silly blokes!
Single Red Rose
Monday 4th January
Today we are going swimming and then to breakfast, which I will pay for because NGP has been so helpful. One cannot take one's NGP for granted. And then, full of food and good intentions, I am going to continue my weeding work. Weeding, weeding, weeding - it's all I've done this year!
Ha! For a bit of variety I still have my Cannas and two Grevillias to plant, plus lots of perennial cuttings which are ready to be planted or potted. Hurray for my glass-house propagating programme, which never produces enough of what I want, yet has rejects galore - like lettuce seedlings. Odd, that.
A word on my January photographs - obviously photographs of weeds are not at all exciting, so please forgive me if all images this week are totally unrelated to the text. You'll see new unknown roses, garden views, mid-shots of foliage - anything but weeds. Fair enough?
Later, Mid-Afternoon...
2010's weather is crazy - first hot and dry, then a roaring southerly change with rain, and now sunshine. It's been an extremely windy year, so far. Anyway the rain has chased me inside, after three and a half hours weeding in the Pond Paddock Gardens. I've also planted out some of my little home-grown perennials - white daisies and variegated Wallflowers. I'm watering the Wattle Woods in anticipation of planting in there tomorrow. I've scraped a lot of gum leaves up off the surface, and there are some spaces which would be perfect for the variegated Carexes.
David Austin Rose - But Which One?
I'm having a real problem with identifying some of my roses. There's a David Austin which I thought was Emanuel, but I seem to have Emanuel terribly mixed up with - Evelyn? Blast - I haven't recorded the rose's name, and searching for images doesn't help. Nor, oddly, does the David Austin website. And the internet is full of old sillies like me calling the wrong rose the wrong name. Then there's a single red which I'm sure is an old rose - it was dug up (with my first rugosas) from another garden years ago. Oh boy.
Tuesday 5th January
Right. I am up early to burn a giant pile of dry rubbish before any wind comes up. I hate burning, but there's so much gum tree rubbish - and no fire ban yet.
Ambridge Rose? :- The rose looks pale in this photograph, but everything matches the descriptions of the Ambridge Rose.
An extremely kind and helpful gardener (thanks so much, Wendy) has written to me about my unknown David Austin rose. She thinks it might be the Ambridge Rose. And I think she may be right! The blooms are cupped, but quite full of petals. If only I knew what myrrh smelt like...
Excesses in my vegetable garden - suddenly I have bags and bags of sugar-snap peas to consume (or give away). And finally the tomatoes have 'kicked in' - I'm sure it's a soil temperature thing, and here even in summer night-times are cool. Also the raspberry patch in the orchard is producing, and I have come to a delicate agreement with the birds. I'll eat the other half of what they don't. Non-Gardening Partner is going to put some posts in and maybe cover the row with bird netting.
Unknown White Rose
Look - I'm procrastinating, twittering on about all sorts of trivia. I've even dressed myself inappropriately in a fluttery lilac blouse and shorts. Daft - pity the fool who only fools herself. Where are my burning clothes? And sensible shoes?
Much, Much Later...
I am such a legend. First I spent three hours burning. I even raked up gum leaves from around the Sleep-Out and the back drive and plonked them on the fire. NGP helped a bit - he sawed down those deadish Cordyline trunks, and I burnt those as well. Then I put the hoses on and watered pots, groomed flaxes, and such. And then, later this afternoon, I returned to the garden and planted all five bags of Canna lilies. That took ages, but I've chosen a good spot low on the bank near the water. I sliced holes in the bank with a kitchen steak knife.