The final countdown...
It's the final countdown to the Garden Club visit - six full days of gardening are possible, weather permitting. I have a slight problem with some of my Lychnis plants - they've finished flowering, and just don't make the grade. Eek!
Garden Seat in the Shrubbery
I guess there are bigger things in life than wondering when to trim back the Lychnis. Actually, when to pull it out - enough of this perennial self-seeds to fill up the gaps in my summer borders. And how about dead-heading the dahlias and grooming the daylilies? Hmm...
Dianthus Flower
Official Visitors
A garden clean-up for official visitors is a bit of a worry. Fresh eyes, new people - some will see large-scale things, others will notice the tiniest details (like the prettiest Dianthus on the Shrubbery's stone wall which has one cute little flower).
Thursday 4th February
It's like when the Head Gardener and Photographer (me) wanders around taking pictures. There are long shots, mid-shots, close-ups - landscapes, borders, plant groupings, individual flowers or leaves.
And all those random elements which I love taking photographs of - old coffee cups sitting on fence-posts, the green wheelbarrow full of rubbish, cats doing cat things...
Aargh! Today it's too hot to garden, and I've decided to have most of the day off. Only a supremely confident gardener can do this six days before opening her garden to hoards of country women...
It's Shasta Daisy Time!
But before I go and get my book, I am now the proud owner of a second white cane seat, exactly like the first one which is in the depths of the Hump. I've shifted them to lean together in front of the rough pine trees. I do like white things in the garden - plants and flowers too!
White Cane Chair :- The cane chair has been shifted now to a better place, and it has a partner chair for company.
An interesting seat fact - one chair by itself in the depths of the garden looks a bit silly, as if it's been left outside by mistake. Two seats, side by side, look deliberate and inviting, and suggest that the Head Gardener has friends with which she can sit down and take tea. Hee hee...
Right. I'm going outside now to do some weeding and trimming along the water race (old Euphorbia flower heads need to be removed). I'll even clean up my rubbish. And then I should sew my new red material up into outdoor cushions. They are for my new white wire seat, and can live in the Pump House in inclement weather (if I remember to shift them).
A Perfectly Clear Path
Friday 5th February
Only an hour's garden work was done yesterday - today I must do better. Phew! I found the sturdiest gorse bush hidden in a Berberis, growing up oh so nicely. I needed the bow saw to cut it down out of sight. Nasty plant - so prickly to handle. And such a pesty weed in New Zealand...
Wilting!
I also discovered my little collection of deciduous Azaleas suffering and wilting - the big irrigation must just miss them. So they got a little hose on them for six hours. Phew again. Wilting Azaleas are not a good woodland look.
Today I need to rake the paths in the Hump and, thinking ahead, put on the irrigation for the orchard roses. I have a list of real garden things to finish - the digging at the corner of the Frisbee Lawn, the digging behind the pond, path edging behind the pond - I think that's all. There's a lot of mulching to do, too, particularly on the old fashioned rose garden. Piles of shreddings are going to waste underneath the hedge (not strictly correct - I guess they're quietly composting). They'd be better off on the garden snuffing out some weeds. Right. I know exactly what to do. Sorry to be boring.
Four Hours Later...
I have been semi-productive. The patio is tidier and the corner of the Frisbee lawn is slightly finished. Now just wait a minute - what on earth does 'slightly finished' mean? Who am I trying to fool? Me! Hmm... My bonfire has been pretty huge and whooshy, which must mean something...