Home Alone...
Yippee! Today I'm going hiking - all day, up the Rakaia Gorge with my oldest and dearest friend. So I'm leaving my garden 'home alone' for one whole day. Oooh - I hope all my plants behave while I'm gone. I don't expect anything untoward - I run a well-disciplined establishment here at Mooseys.
Rambling on about my Garden and Life...
My dear hiking friend always allows me to ramble on about my garden, even though she is one of the 'unconverted'. And she listens to my theories about 'Life' (note the upper case 'L') without ever showing any signs of fatigue! Naturally there will be no signs of fatigue in our hiking, either. We will stride out, womanfully, praising our legs, adoring our boots and gushing superlatives about our special socks. Hiking does have strong connections with the basics.
The Rakaia Gorge Walkway
I'm taking a tiny camera that fits perfectly in my pocket, and weighs less than one of my water bottles. This seems rather sensible, and I've promised myself to take lots of photographs.
Astelia on the Track
Later...
Our day out was really lovely. The track we hiked is only 9 km long, with no particularly difficult ups or downs - it follows the Rakaia river high above the gorge, then drops down to a river beach.
The vegetation above the gorge is a real mixture. The river terraces have mostly been turned into pasture. Lots of common garden weeds like cow parsley and foxgloves have colonised the gullies, intermingling with native evergreen shrubs and trees.
Mature Cordylines and green Astelias line the track, and there's a fair splattering of gorse in fragrant bright yellow flower. This shrub, introduced in colonial days, is a pest - but such a pretty coloured pest!
Back Home...
OK. So I'm back home. I've been away from my garden for one day, just one day. I'm back feeling really refreshed, and I've just wandered slowly down the driveway with my dog. Everything looks so beautiful, and I notice that the big flowering cherry tree has dropped three quarters of its blossom. Hey, that was quick! While another of the weeping cherries is now in blossom, to retain equilibrium.
Driveway Garden Rhododendron
In the border I've spied two palish pink rhododendrons, newly flowering, plus a third at bud-burst. When did all this start happening? Aargh! My rhododendrons have taken advantage of my absence to have a blooming party!
Kerria
Where's My Camera?
But there's more! The Kerria in the Shrubbery by the sheep fence is flowering. Where's my camera? I haven't even welcomed this shrub into the garden yet.
Bright Yellow
I should be able to see this shrub from my cottage, too. Aargh! It's bright yellow, just like that dreadful gorse. How can I have missed it? Simply because I've forgotten to look? Hmm...
I don't know - one day away and my garden has completely got away from me. Or was it me that got away from my garden? Oops.