Lovely spring things...
Lovely spring things are taking over the garden, and I've made a pledge to keep up with them all. The first Prunus blossom, the full flush of mid-season Camellias, rhododendrons in bud ready to bloom - it's quite astonishing how many new things appear each day.
Prunus nigra Blossom
- ‘Maintenance has to keep pace with marvelling.’
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
What shall I do today in my garden? First of all, I'm going to zoom around checking for anything new. So I'll probably see lots of work that needs to be done, but after seventeen years my garden should be the right size and fit for me, right? Maintenance has to keep pace with marvelling. I'll be back much later with squillions of photographs of newly-spied spring treasures.
LIlli-Puss
Tuesday 13th August
Right. Before I present my grunty list of today's accomplishments I'm taking my dog for a walk. He's been such good company today. Yesterday I kept on and on telling him he was a disappointing dog, hours after he'd been disappointing. Give a dog a bad name!
Of course we've already walked down to the hay barn to see Lilli-Puss and check the sheep. We do this every morning - I love this simple walk so much it's scary. How would I start my day if I didn't have my lovely property with cats, a dog, paddocks, and a garden? Read the morning paper and go all negative because the world is such a nasty place? Aargh! Save me!
Anyway, I have lots of lovely photographs, and so much to say and show you. Dear reader! Prepare for much spring gushing. Because this wonderful season of new growth, lighter days, and bluer skies always makes me feel good about myself as a gardener. I feel amazed and inspired by everything that's happening. Oh yes - this is definitely my season of new hope. Those changes and improvements I've made over the last months will work. My garden will look beautifully better. And I'm not going to miss the tiniest spring thing.
Oops...
Oops. I've just remembered. I missed the little patch of snowdrops with the blue-green leaves. Oh well. If that's the only tiny spring treasure that isn't 'oohed' and 'aahed' over and duly photographed, I haven't done too badly!
So what have I done today? Oh yes, yes, yes...
Green Cordylines
Tidying and Trimming
I've been tidying along the top edge of the house lawn. It's been multi-level work - weeding and planting Amaryllis and Eucomis bulbs down low, sawing down tree branches high above, and trimming any Pittosporums which crowd over the paths and tickle my face.
All the shrubs in the depths of this garden are doing well. The Viburnum tinus has white flowers in tiny clusters, and the yellow Genista is almost ready to bloom. In the Shrubbery the greenery looks so pretty, from the fat-leafed Cordylines down to the Periwinkle. What pretty blue flowers!
Nothing has been wasted. Self-sown Forget-Me-Nots and Lychnis have been dug out of the paths and planted in the gardens alongside.
White Daphne :- This is the first photograph! Sorry it's so tiny.
Great excitement! This year, for the first time, the white Daphne is flowering. It's led a rather rakish life - bought as a standard, it flopped completely over in one of the first windy weeks, and I didn't notice for ages. Luckily my neglect has paid off, and it's happy now as a down-to-earth shrub. A standard white Daphne - really! Rather pretentious for my robust garden.
I reckon I've dumped more than eight wheelbarrow loads of rubbish along the side fence. It's been a little too breezy to load up the bonfire and burn. Now as dusk turns to darkness I'm going to have a glass of Larry's home-made wine and look at my photographs. Spring! Lovely spring! You deserve better creative writing than I seem to be able to come up with.
Wednesday 14th August
OK, so why isn't appointing' the opposite of 'disappointing'? Silly English language. 'C'mon, Rusty, non-disappointing dog, we have to feed Lilli-Puss. Yes, I've got your dog biscuit. And then we have to check the new red rhododendron to see if its properly flowering. What? That's worth another dog biscuit?'
The First Red Rhododendron
And yes, it is flowering properly, and another of the Camellias (a large fluffy pink) has started. This will be the pink and red colour corner of the Wattle Woods for a while yet. Sometimes, just sometimes, the pink and red combination will make me screw up my nose. But for now it's just lovely, lovely, lovely.
Miniature Daffodil
'Lovely' is the Word...
It's another lovely spring day in my garden. The light is lovely. In fact, the word of the week seems to be 'lovely'. Sorry about that! I'm going outside now to finish tidying the Driveway Borders (lovely pretty spring blossom) and the Shrubbery (lovely greenery). Enjoy? Oh yes, I will!
Five Hours Later...
There's been a nice balance of scale to my day - little things (like planting the little primroses in pots) interspersed with bigger tasks, like raking. I've moved a green Phormium from a pot into the edge of the Hump, and done more trimming and tidying. And all of this underneath the largest Prunus tree, which is covered in white blossom. And now I've come in to enjoy the afternoon spring sunshine. The cats have all turned up, naturally, and my thumpy Brahms piano sonatas are pounding away on the gardening Ipod. It's been another lovely spring day. There's that word again!