Two things...
If I could ask for one thing : please can I have cooler daytime temperatures? Oh - can I make that two things? Can I also please become re-energised and recharged, thus able to work tirelessly for long hours, recreating the serene, restful garden I used to have. These two requests are somewhat inter-related.
Summer Shrubs
Aargh! It's super-hot again. Have been out to shift the hoses. See that the Fuchsias in their pots are still in direct sun - have shifted them further back into patio shade. I've never had Fuchsias with fancy names before.
Bumble Bee on a Dahlia
Next day...
It's not fair. They promised! THEY (whoever these people might be) promised cooler temperatures today. Nice! I have been to Chamber Music - we are now piano, flute, and cello, and playing the most gorgeous music. The cello makes us sound rather lovely! Got home on a high, full of optimism, and went straight into the garden with scissors and wheelbarrow.
Cooler?
Cooler, was it indeed? Within half an hour I had the reddest face and the drippiest brow. Only two barrowfuls of mess collected, and none of the digging I intended to do even started. OK. I slunk back inside and put on the air-conditioning.
So the temperature is only twenty four degrees, but apparently that's still too hot for me. Pretty hopeless? I reckon.
The Path Past the Cercis Tree
Friday 10th February
Finally! Today has been sort of OK, and the night times are much cooler. I am back sleeping in the cottage with Minimus my super-smoochy cottage cat(she's missed me).
Yeay!
Yeay! Today I shifted that path in the Hump garden - it was pretty easy to do. I just did it. Sometimes one just needs to trust one's eye and take action - over-thinking a garden design issue can be a waste of time and energy. One can worry too much about changing things in a garden. Gardens change anyway, so the gardener making changes is no big deal. Right? Right!
I've shifted and replanted the miniature Agapanthus, and have lots of uprooted Aquilegias soaking in a bucket of water. Had to dig out an annoying rambler ground-cover red rose which I thought I'd removed five years ago.
Also freed up the irrigation sprinkler, stuck fast with pieces of ornamental grass wound around it, stopping it rotating. No wonder the middle of the Hump Garden has been so dry.
Double Delight Rose