A mini make-over
Oh dear. The gardens around the house back lawns all need mini-makeovers - particularly the perennials garden around the Herb Spiral, and last year's (failed) potato patch. It's soooooo much easier doing a mind-make-over : shifting this and that, digging out something else, organising the plants - without actually doing anything. What a great idea!
The end of the Pergola Garden
I've started by weeding and thinking, seeing plants which need shifting, including roses. Daylilies and Hostas need dividing and replanting. Orange species Crocosmias need digging out and dumping on the fence-line (a friend gave me the bulbs, calling them Watsonias, which they are not).
Not the right time...
It's not quite the right time of year to shift things willy nilly, but I am preparing for it. I've cleared out older Campion and Euphorbias, and trimmed the huge Yellow Wave Phormium. Cut down ten heavy flower stalks. No wonder my flaxes break apart! Collected a bucketful of rogue spuds from underneath. The shifting and replanting will be minimal - just across a path, from the shady side to the sunny. So easy in the mind! But it will take me ages (she said gloomily).
Straight Path
Two days later...
I am still 'on task', so to speak, having spent two rather full days by the Pergola. The more I clean up the more I see the possibilities for change. The only digging has been to remove an ungainly clump of Iris foetida. And I have lots more potatoes. Pulling out Orlaya late this afternoon, I saw how this self-seeding annual could be a real nuisance. Some seeds got stuck in my hair. Ouch! Am thinking about dog and cat fur.
Slightly immediate action?
The plan is for slightly immediate action - whatever that is! If I wait until mid-March my mind and body will have wandered off elsewhere. These gardens are sunny, and they get watered well. So the roses, when shifted, should be OK. The daylilies and hostas will be easy to divide and replant. And surely the pergola could accommodate a couple more rose climbers (sourced from the orchard). What a good idea...
Personal stuff : I am sooooooooo proud of my efforts! My gardening soul is shimmering with pride. And what does pride come before? Argh!
Saturday 17th February
Almost ready for the big shift. Now I've dug out all the Ligularias - I have enough of them growing (and multiplying) in other borders. I've straightened the path to the Herb Spiral, and weeded all the gaps where the roses and the daylilies are shifting into.
Maroon Red Daylilies
Am leaving the Aquilegias and perennial Cornflowers where they are. Have trimmed the Viburnum (which I bought for one dollar and planted in the silliest of places, as one does).
Surely I can get this replanting done. Focus! Mustn't forget to shift all the summer flowering Phloxes. Mustn't wander off and find something else somewhere else to do. Argh! Wish me luck.