Roses, roses, and more roses...
Patio Rose Arch
New Zealand loses the rugby world cup. Roses, roses, roses, and more roses. New Dawn is struck down by rust. Paths get stone-edged...
Saturday 6th November
It is now - six? days since we lost the rugby world cup. My garden has gone very bouffy, with rain and drizzle all week. The roses are starting! I seem to spend my life clipping edges - this seems somehow symbolic? And I have new gumboots - this is a good thing. I will now go outside and put them on.
Later that day...
Ha! My new gumboots are cool. I did great things in them, including digging the edges of the Frisbee Border. Now it is BIGGER. Tomorrow I will weed the new Rugosa border and I might dig it a bit bigger. Might not too.
Hen House Border
Sunday 7th November
We are still hopeless at rugby. Aussie kicked butt in the final. There is a cool deep dark pink rugosa flowering. I am an idiot, I didn't write down any of their names when I got them.
The tall aquilegias have gone all floppy. Clair Matin rose seems early this year, so does Fruhlingsmorgen. Lots of roses are out now.
Saturday 13th November
Stephen and I went on a garden visit to Lyddington. Wow! I like the idea of enclosed areas where you end up on a seat. None of my seats have any sense of enclosure, or feeling of secrecy or isolation. My philosophy of paths needs re-thinking. I have to stop just putting them where the dog goes. I wonder what Middle Border will look like when the trees are bigger.
Sunday 14th November
Today I went out to the Rugosa border and decided to dig out the path and edge it with river stones. Then I ran out of oomph after about two hours. Hopeless! The roses are looking quite amazing - this spring has been rather rainy and so everything is growing fast. Cecile Brunner up the driveway has gone so crazy. But I have a CRISIS!!! New Dawn is UGLY with rust and leaves are dropping off (when did that start to happen?) A bald New Dawn is not a very nice sight near my front doors. Ugly Baldy Rusty New Dawn rose - in November - bah! Tomorrow I will get Stephen to round-up the NASTY GRASS.
Saturday 20th November
I am getting very disheartened by the NASTY GRASS, I keep poking at it with my hand trowel. And I have to start digging and weeding Middle Border.
Shall I edge all the new paths with Waimakariri River stones? I could plant lots of Iris confusa.
Unknown Spikey Plant
Sunday 21st November
Paths with stone edging have been affirmed. Stephen and I visited Stonehaven in Mid-Canterbury. I liked the paths that went nowhere. There were lots of dead-ends. And foxgloves and silly spiky pineapple plants. Paths where you lost your sense of direction. Paths with stone edges. Ha!!!
Tuesday 23rd November
Hee hee!! I am in Auckland in a wee hotel. Tomorrow I am off to the Ellerslie Flower show with my friend Astrid. Don't know what to expect, but it's pretty exciting - an old lady's adventure...
Stumped in Middle Border
Back Home Next Evening...
I wasn't inspired to write much about Ellerslie. The displays were silly - they used small juvenile sized plants (like 6-inch gunnera in a small pot - BAH!) in the designs - small grade plants crammed into unrealistic planting situations. The plant stalls were cool, but all I bought was a cotton night-dress. The advertising blurb claims I will now be able to 'dead-head decently'...
Saturday 27th November
I did edges. That's all I did. My cool and groovy plan for expansive lawns over the water race has forgotten one small thing - 24 large gum stumps. Hmmm... Explosives?
Sunday 28th November
Wow! I have had an amazing day. I had 1 hour of wet stone shifting, then Stephen and I went on a garden tour. When we got home I cleared NASTY GRASS. I have another design dilemma besides the gum stumps - the rugosa rose side of the Hen House Garden is too small.