Full of rhododendrons...
Hmm... More spring-cleaning of the Moosey Garden Tour pages is keeping me from the real garden out there. Ha! I've tidied up the Septic Tank Gardens and the Apple tree Gardens - on the website, that is! Now the pages, like my gardens, are full of rhododendrons in flower.
Rhododendron by the Water
Monday 20th October
It's time for morning coffee, and a list. But before I start listing, I want to say that I am a mulching heroine. yesterday, in the time it took Non-Gardening Partner to take Rusty the dog for a late afternoon cycle ride, I dumped and spread a whole trailer-load of pea-straw mulch all over the new Driveway Garden, having firstly laid out newspaper and dampened it with the hose. For the first time in ages I've had a trailerful of something and I've used it all up in one session. Legend.
Crowing Rooster :- Rooster with his gang of hens is supposed to free range (out of earshot) in the Orchard.
Oops. I can hear my bossy rooster crowing. Yesterday the farmer where we picked up the mulch had a beautiful Barred Rock rooster, calm and gentle, a lovely bird. I wondered if I could swap him for mine - switch the birds over in the dead of night. My rooster is so noisy, and with two of the black hens going broody he's very pecky. Hmm... Young hormones, I guess.
What should I do first today in my lovely spring garden, with rhododendrons bursting into flower, and the Choisya still in blossom, and the roses starting to flower? Wander back to Duck Lawn with saw and shears to clear all the mess along the water's edge? Yes - that'll do for starters.
Rhododendron at the Back of the Garage
Or I could start in the circular garden I call Henworld, next to the Hen House. It's a disgrace, my cricket radio is broken, and I will certainly get crowed at. Cricket - aargh! We are hopeless, and probably will be beaten by Bangladesh. No comment - my garden can be therapy for this latest national sports disappointment.
Listless!
See - I don't even need to write that list! But I do need to make that coffee and to change out of my pristine pale blue striped shirt... And I need to organise some decent cat-company. C'mon, Percy...
Percy Cat on the Bridge
Later...
I started off in the shade weeding Henworld with three cats having play-fights. This little circular garden with bricks and hen statues is looking really good. Hebes have grown, and even the brown tussocks don't look too bad (from a distance). Rooster was far too noisy, and a bunch of the silliest women could never compete with the ridiculous sounds that my hens make. Sorry, sisters...
Path of Pink
On a more serious sisterhood note, a web-friend runs a website called Path of Pink (dealing with lots of bits and pieces connected with breast cancer). Today I have taken photographs my very own path of pink - the cherry blossom in the Driveway has all been blown down. I have forbidden Non-Gardening Partner to drive over it.
Down the Driveway - Spring 2008
And on a serious gardening note I've decided that Lavenders (treated as easy-come easy-go shrubs) would look really nice in the gaps in the Hen House Gardens.
Tuesday 21st October
Yippee! I'm off to buy seven Lavenders (why only seven?) for the Hen House Gardens, and three green Choisyas - I love these blossoming beauties, so I'm planting some in the Wilderness by the ram paddock fence.
But first - morning coffee on the house patio with Rusty the Faithful, two Brides and the Green Goddess. Ha! I sound like a fantasy fiction nut (which I am, though more of a fantasy nutlet). But they're only two standard shrubs and a fat-leafed Cordyline in a big green pot. And Rusty is my constant gardening companion, a red Border Collie dog. Fooled you? Maybe not...
Apres Nursery...
Oops. My car is full of the following shrubs and trees:
- One purple Cotinus.
- One red spreading Maple.
- Three Weigela appleblossoms.
- Two Mahonias.
- Two Coprosmas called Stumpy (like my old grey cat).
- One budget Phebalium.
- Three Photinias.
Even the most eagle-eyed will have trouble finding the names of the plants I went out to buy - Lavenders and Choisyas. What was I thinking? Where are all these non-lavender and non-choisya shrubs and trees going anyway?
New Driveway Plants :- You can see my latest alterations to the Driveway Garden in the Moosey Garden Tour.
Right. I'm off to turn the hoses on and continue my weeding work in the Hen House Gardens. Then, much later in the day, when the sun is less strong, and after some sensible thinking, I'll plant my new things. I guess they could all jam into the new Driveway Garden. Wait a moment - that's not a good garden design attitude...
Much Later...
The two Stumpy Coprosmas are safely planted in the Hen House Garden, natives-only section. I've done some weeding and trimming, clearing paths and trying to pull the grass out of the clump of iris confusa. Dark red rugosa roses here are ready to flower, and so is the once-flowering Fruhlingsmorgen.
Tomorrow I am staying home to do my garden and some food shopping and vacuuming. My lovely relatives are arriving from Paris. Phew - I'm glad I cleaned out the pantry.