SAD?
OK. I'm going gardening. But I don't want that moochy, muddly Ms Slow And Dreamy, like yesterday's version. I want Ms Sharp And Decisive! I want to sort out that narrow Driveway Garden strip. I want to move mountains - of horse manure, that is.
One of The Last Leafy Deciduous Trees
I want to shift out the sad roses (recycled Sally Holmes), put them in the sunny driveway corner with the Astelias, replant the Bergenias (wonderful edging plants, these), perhaps pop in some fresh young Anemanthele grasses. I want Ms Serious And Detailed! AKA Ms SAD? Oops.
Saturday 11th June
My goodness my dogs are sensitive. They are all snoozing in chairs, apres breakfast, while I sit in the kitchen tapping away on the computer. I stop and think out loud, saying the word 'Um.' Suddenly three attentive dogs are sitting at my feet. 'Here we are! We're ready! We're ready!'
Yellow Hot Pokers
Usually on a Saturday morning we go swimming, and the dogs, up at 7:30am, have 'bedtime for dogs' an hour later. 'Bedtime? But we haven't dunnnnnne anything yet!' This is their lucky Saturday - we are going to the dog park instead! A drastic change of routine. There will be different dogs there, too. The weekend dog tends to be slightly rougher, more lower class, though...
Later...
I've been zooming around with the wheelbarrrow, spreading manure, digging soil, and I've shifted four Sally Holmes roses. I have been super-busy and energetic. And a lovely surprise - a patch of yellow winter-flowering Kniphofias are - you guessed it - flowering! And I did plant them, in THE perfect spot. They are are very 'old school' perennial, large and slightly messy of foliage. Love them.
I know why it's been such a brilliant day. I did something for the dogs (dog park), something with my friends (morning tea), something for my garden (see above), and something for my musical soul (I'm just home from a madrigals practice).
+10
+10Tiddles the cat is her usual self again. Sulking and sore, she worried me yesterday, having been in a cat fight (I suspect Kaya might have escorted her out of the upstairs bedroom). Non-Gardening Partner has been practising flying his groovy new plane. There's an All Blacks versus Wales rugby test match on tonight. All in all, a very lovely day...
Dog's Lavender Garden
Go the All Blacks!
PS Go the All Blacks! Much Later... They went! That is, they won. Of course they won.
Sunday 12th June
Hmm... We got back from a morning visit to dog park and then the cold southerly rain came in. So I spent the rest of the day inside web-gardening. As one does. And I notice that the Jellybean Border Tour, web-wise, is looking pretty lame. And out there in the real garden it needs a jolly good clean-up and rationalisation. A reality-virtuality make-over! But I haven't finished spreading the horse manure down the Driveway Garden yet. One thing at a time? Blast! Ten things, more likely.
Monday 13th June
Here's the plan, hee hee. I continue my Driveway Garden sweep. I dig out anything for which this garden isn't sunny enough. I dig, I shovel, I trim, I spread. But here's the trick. At the same time I make a start in the Jellybean Border. Raked stuff goes straight to the bonfire. I am careful not to tread on any daffodil bulbs. Believe me?
Much Later, Dusk...
Blast. I couldn't do two things at once. And there's a jolly good reason. There I was, working my way up the driveway, when I came face to face with Mister Clematis Montana. He, a blokish thug, was having his way with all the nearby shrubs and trees - the pretty variegated yellow and green Corokias, stalwart Mexican Orange Blossoms, and stately green Phormiums and Astelias.
Cecile Brunner Roses
He had also moved into the delicate climbing rose Cecile Brunner, and two weeping pink-flowering cherry trees. These darlings were rudely covered in a thick tangle of Clematis vines.
Clematis Montana
The Monster Menace...
I stopped in my tracks, and I made an instant decision. He, a monster menace, would be chopped down at the ankles, and future growth would be bossed around by me, and trained neatly along the sheep fence.
This is what originally should have happened - I've seen Clematis montana grown this way and it looks gorgeous. So I will forego flowers next spring, and keep vigilant. Famous last words?
I did find two clumps of daylilies and one more Sally Holmes rose, which have all been dug up and replanted in the sun. Now there's just the Liriope and a sulking Parkdirektor Riggers to move, the Phormiums and Astelias to clean up, squillions of Prunus suckers to prune, Hebes to trim, and a mountain of horse manure to shovel in. Hmm...