Gardening Articles 2005
In 2005 I start to seriously wonder if I have said everything there is to say about my garden. But there are always new flights of gardening fancy, new gardening dreams and schemes...
I guess that I will stop writing when I stop gardening. And when will that be? Never!
Like the tasks a responsible gardener must do every week, garden stories can easily become repetitive. I haven't written many articles yet this year - but don't be fooled - like the weeds in the garden there will always be more stories germinating...
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Still Too Many Roses?...
- Roses, roses, roses... It's early summer, and all the Moosey roses are blooming. Again the vexed question pops up, and needs answering - can a garden have too many roses? Too much of a good thing? Too many of these beautiful shrubs?
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Rhododendrons...
- My new rhododendrons are flowering! They came to Mooseys as an anonymous gang of reject shrubs, given away by the local rhododendron nursery.
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Garden Visitors...
- Garden visitors should have a positive effect on a head-gardener who is used to contemplating sweeping vistas and grand views with four cats and a dog for company. Great excitement! The Moosey Garden is to be officially visited by a group of ladies.
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Beautiful Blossom...
- The blossom in the Moosey Spring garden is, yet again, absolutely beautiful. There's been no wind yet to shake the flowers off the big flowering cherry tree. Smaller pink blossom trees, though smothered with Clematis, are blooming bravely.
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A Host of Golden Daffodils...
- September is the month of the Moosey daffodils. Many colour combinations of yellow, cream, orange, brick red, salmon, peach, lemon, off-white can be found lurking in the grass, or peeping out of the winter-mulched garden borders.
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Stars of Spring 2005...
- Spring is here! The Head-Gardener races out twice daily to check if the spiky red Camellia has started flowering. It's a teasing, catch-me-if-you-can time - I leave the garden home-alone for a couple of days and suddenly a host of new plants are flowering.
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The Moosey House Guest Writes......
- The Australian Moosey House Guest has allowed himself to be mentioned, often rudely, in odd pages of the journal. He cooks, he lifts heavy things, he takes puppy for runs, and he takes photographs. Here is his debut as a Moosey guest writer.
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The Colours of Winter...
- Winter weeks in the garden at Mooseys are spent weeding in the gloom and wistfully imagining the shining colours of summer. It's a bland time of the year for gardening eyes and camera, and I long for bright blues, rich purples, fire engine reds...
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Winter Roses...
- It's the perfect time to think and write about winter roses. But this is not an article about humble Hellebores. It's about new summer rose catalogues, read in the wintry June gloom in front of the log-burner.
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New Zealand Flaxes...
- New Zealand flaxes come in all shapes and sizes, with subtle coloured striped leaves. The Moosey garden is full to overflowing with different hybrids - and some of the large species as well. This is a flax festival garden!
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Getting Organised...
- 'Organise' vt. - to give definite structure, arrange, put into working order... Humph. The word I use the most in my garden journals is the verb 'organise'. I am always needing to organise either myself, or the garden, or both.
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Autumn Trees...
- As the autumn of 2005 slowly shows itself I've been reminiscing about the new deciduous trees I planted in the garden some years ago. Choosing them was so stressful...
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Autumn Flower Colour...
- Mention autumn colour and people immediately think of autumn leaves - the deep golds and fiery reds of leaves ready to fall. Autumn in the Moosey garden can be very leafy, but this year I'm taking special notice of the autumn flower colours.
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The Family Portrait...
- 'I'd like to take some photographs of you - in your garden' said the Moosey House Guest the other day. My heart fluttered - my old lady-gardener face, lines and wrinkles like the leaf textures of my favourite plants, was required for a portrait.
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Dahlias in Fashion...
- 'Dahlias are back in fashion' the weekend newspaper gardening article twitters at me. I am red in the face from the first great autumn rubbish burn-up, and have retired inside, despondent, for a cup of tea.
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Private Garden Visiting...
- I've been thinking about doing some private garden visiting - specifically, writing wee stories about visits to other people's (possibly friends') private gardens. It should be fun. But I'll have to be really careful what I say!
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New Zealand Native Plants...
- After a serious flirtation with rhododendrons and camellias I am back on track. 2005 is going to be the Year of the New Zealand Native. No more pulling out Pittosporum seedlings or ignoring sale-price Hebes...