Hello summer?
Summer Shasta Daisy
Summer? Helloooooo? It's ten degrees Celsius. Average summer daytime temperature here is twenty two degrees. The log burner is going again, and I'm wearing three layers - two merino, then a top layer of woolly possum.
Sunday 5th January
NYR2025 Update : Have brushed my hair. Non-Gardening Partner and I have talked about a non-gardening topic - the cats. Have cut up the remains of the roast lamb for a treat for Pebbles. Have braved the cold wind and collected one barrowful of rose and lupin trimmings. Have dumped my mess.
Indoors, I've worked rather well on the summer (ha ha) jigsaw, and also succumbed to an online shopping impulse. Oops. This time it's not socks - it's two women's shirts covered with cat and dog faces. Pretty silly!
Monday 6th January
The rain (blessed rain, love that rain) has stopped, but it's still unseasonably cold outside. Today's gardening plan is to keep it simple, try and keep warm, sit down if tired.
The Back Lawn
Trim lots of things, for example the lawn edges, make an impression. Forget what time it is, just work on and on.
Four hours later...
Did just that. Have been clearing the gardens over the water race. Decided that the huge patch of Iris confusa can stay for now.
Iris Confusa Chengdu
Conversation with myself : 'Suppose I dig it all out (which will take ages and ages and I probably won't finish and I will get super tired and my hands will ache). What will I plant in its place?' Didn't have an answer.
Cerise Dahlia
Explanation...
The Iris confusa got more confused than usual in late winter. It thought the frosts were heavier than usual (they weren't), so its top leaves turned ugly brown, and there were absolutely no flowers.
One more hour?
Do I have another hour left? I need to rescue a tomato whose pot isn't draining, plant it by the woodshed, and pull out some nearby Queen Anne's Lace.
Done!
Done! Uncovered the two new Flower Carpet roses which were (phew) still alive, decided that Queen Anne's Lace (a self-seeder) will not be over-protected when next year's seedlings appear. Just a few - nice. A thicket - not so.