Good morning to my garden, cats, and my dog...
Green Phormium and Birdbath
Good morning to my garden, my cats, and my dog, happily chewing on the remains of last night's meal. It was memorial (if industrial strength) roast lamb, in honour (dubious) of Stu Lamb, the thickest pet lamb I have ever raised. No, no! It wasn't roast Stu...
Friday 4th May
Much loved and dearly departed, Stu lies intact underneath a Golden Queen peach tree, an interloper in my Cats' Memorial Row. And today I'm going to dig the grass around those memorial trees. I will say a tiny, sad hello to darling B-Puss under his Cornus, Eddies White wonder. Ah, memories. Of all the cats I've known, B-Puss lives on in technicolour white, with just a few caramel stripes, and I will never forget his shy, peeping cat-face in my garden.
Reality! My car is full of horse manure bags, and it might be an idea to remove and spread those first. Such a continuum of smells that a gardener experiences in a day - from the pervasively rotten and stinky to the divine (for example Sharifa Asma, David Austin's super-fragrant rose, which I've just wandered past).
Stu Lamb :- Stu Lamb was born hours after our big local earthquake.
Right. Enough pet lamb and cat reminiscing. Tartan autumn/winter gardening shirt on, and my 'good' gardening jeans, and out I go.
And in I come, four hours later. Out of respect I cleared the grass around the memorial trees in chronological order, so I've 'done' Smoocher and B-Puss. Both cats were far too young when they left us. Sorry, Stu, your tree will have to wait.
Little Mac, High-Viz Kitten
Sorry, Dahlias
I've also cleared the garden border around the bay window. Sorry, dahlias, but your last possible flowers were blooming, and the first proper frost would have done you in anyway. I've cut down another Pittosporum, trimmed Prunus suckers, and raked up gum leaves, gum leaves, and more gum leaves.
So what would my garden and lawns look like if I just left them? Aargh! Nothing would grow. There'd certainly be less green! Who would have thought that the Moosey Garden had so many gum leaves in it?
Little Mac the kitten has been with me, excitedly hiding behind plants and leaping out as the wheelbarrow trundled by. I don't like to spoil her fun, but never, ever has there been a less camouflaged cat. Her black and white fur glares and shines in the sun. This cat is high-viz, and cannot hide in the garden successfully. Ever!
Saturday 5th May
It's a subdued autumn day, light-wise - no sun, but no wind or wet stuff. I'll be enjoying some subdued autumn gardening - collecting firewood and pine-cones, raking leaves into bags, and clearing more gum tree rubbish for the bonfire.
Autumn Pond Reflections
Colour notes - another anonymous recycled rose is finally blooming - it's a hybrid tea, of the richest pink. For me, pink is one of the most beautiful colours for a rose. It always looks right. And I think I've found a Handel climbing rose, growing by the side of the house, and finally flowering. That took rather a long time to get noticed! Aargh! No, it's not Handel. Blast!
Garden Gnomes and Maple
Colour Echoes
And two wee ornamental maples in the Pond Paddock side garden are exactly the same autumn shades as the hats and coats of the nearby garden gnomes - deep red and mustard. I've taken a photograph, but sometimes these colour echoes are so subtle, hee hee... Remind me again why I never get interviewed by reputable gardening magazines?
Afternoon Tea...
Before I light up the bonfire, I am pleased to report that all green branches have been shredded. All the other rubbish is riddled with gum tree leaves. My whole gardening life is riddled with gum tree leaves. Sometimes - just sometimes - I wonder about getting the gums all cut down. Non-Gardening Partner always makes himself scarce at such times.
A Rosy Issue
A rosy issue will be clouding the Moosey mind later this evening - the possible purchase of nine new David Austin roses, to be ordered online. Each one would cost as much as a reasonably 'proper' bottle of wine, and since I never, ever spend money on wine... But do I deserve them? Will I honestly look after them properly? Will I remember their names, and choose really good garden positions for them? Ha?
- 'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
- -Marcus Tullius Cicero.
I must be one of the luckiest gardeners in the world. Not only do I have a wonderful garden to work in, I also sleep in my garden, in a garden cottage absolutely crammed full of books. Aha! As Marcus Tullius Cicero once said: 'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.' So if you have your library in the garden...
Random Climbing Rose
Hmm... There's a question I haven't asked myself. Can I afford those nine new David Austin roses? Oops...