Another week...
Another week of bonfiring beckons. Time for some silly fire quotes. So the burning question is : Will I get all fired up today? Rekindle that old flame? Hopefully I won't get my fingers burnt... Groan. In a desperate Google search for bonfire humour to lighten my gardening mood, I found this :
You don't burn out from going too fast. You burn out from going too slow and getting bored.-Cliff Burton, Metallica's second bass guitarist.
A comment which has little to do with gardening. Sorry about this. I'm simply putting off thinking about that darned smoky flaming thing in the back lawn near the water race. And how much stuff is lurking on fence-lines waiting to be barrowed to it and burnt.
Much Later...
I compromised! First I spent two hours in the water race clearing more Gunnera and trimming dead leaves off Phormiums. Also clearing out tree rubbish that some upstream property owner has kindly allowed to float down to me. Grr. Then I sorted the mess out and threw the appropriate stuff onto the bonfire. This reignited at its leisure, whereupon I added gum branches and gum bark collected from behind the pond. Easy as!
Then I went through my photographs, taken earlier when Pebbles the dog and I went for a garden walk. Some parts of my garden look absolutely beautiful. And it's me that has (sort of) created and 'styled' them. I am reminded of several little (but important) things.
- Tussock grasses - well worth planting, together in one area.
- Garden seats and benches - these look wonderful in a photograph.
- Paths winding out of sight - yes! Paths are great value.
- Edging plants like Stachys and Bergenia. So textural. Five ticks out of five.
And there's much more, like the lovely greenery - shrubs, trees, grasses. And the red dahlias! Yeay for green greenery and red dahlias in a country garden. They are simply magnificent.
Fantail
Fantail
And yeay for the lovely flittering, squeaking fantail who kept me company, swooping around me, almost landing on my head.
Finally, to add to the (long) list of things I didn't know, but probably should have - Penstemons provide pollen for honey bees.
Friday 2nd March
Oh dear. Winnie has an upset tummy, and I suspect she's eaten something feral and foul. A challenge for the country dog - or the country dog owner, in this case. Especially when a) I can't find the offending tasty treat and b) I get to clean up the mess (kennel and dog) with lashings of soapy water and shampoo.
Today it's drizzling, so I won't be burning. Phew! It's a 'ladies who lunch' day, too, and I'm going to do something different - go for a walk in the local Botanic, or should that be Botanical, Gardens to take some photographs of their plants and trees. The jigsaw could benefit with some afternoon work, and then a glass of the house Merlot should finish things off rather nicely.
Later...
The 'Bot Gardens' (affectionate nick-name) visit was really fun. I saw the fattest fuchsias, and lots of beautiful late summer perennials still filled the herbaceous border with flowers. I found out the name of one of my useful little plants - Prunella grandiflora - and took lots of photographs of trees and roses. As one does.
Looking back on my week, I've worked hard, only forgetting one thing on my list. I reckon that's pretty good. And I haven't burnt out. Far from it!