Totally intrepid?
August Puddles
Hello, august August! You are most welcome to enter the Moosey garden. You'll witness an even harder-working winter gardener than July did. I am inspired and determined to be totally intrepid - and weather-proof.
Friday 1st August
It's been raining heavily. According to the Moosey rain gauge we've had 70mm of rain in the last three days. In fact, a quarter of our average yearly rainfall has dropped in the last two weeks! There's been no flooding here, though - just very squishy lawns, lots of puddles, and a slightly house-bound Head Gardener, without even a winter seed catalogue for distraction.
But today - yes, absolutely - I am emerging from my comfortable cocoon, to get my physical gardening hours up to par with my mental.
In my mind I've already done the following:
- Spread two loads of rotted horse manure.
- Shifted a tree out of the new Glass-house Garden, and into the Shrubbery.
- Planted a wine red flax in its place.
Right. I need my dog, my gloves, and my thermal underwear. Fresh clean clothes will be laid at the back door. And about that tree - it's my Esk Sunset No. 2 (already shifted once) which I'd unimaginatively planted right smack in the middle of the Glass-House garden. Far too hot and windy - the leaves (variegated salmon pink and green) got scorched, and the tree had to be watered desperately all summer.
Esk Sunset Tree
- 'Don't necessarily plant a lone tree right in the middle of a garden shape.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
Design memo to self - don't necessarily plant a lone tree right in the middle of a garden shape. Consider for example the ellipse, which has two foci! And my Glass-House Garden, which backs onto the water race, needs to become part of (symbolically at least) the foliage garden directly over the - one garden area, with a stream flowing gently through. Hmm...
Two Hours Later...
Ha! Personal clothing items of an extremely delicate nature are completely wet through! I'm soaked. The tree is happily shifted, though - I placed it by a steel warratah which had been left in the Shrubbery garden. Perfect! I shifted Hebes and a Carex trifida around to fill the gap, and planted another rose near the Glasshouse garden's edge.
Warm Winter Cat
I gardened until water started dripping down the back of my neck. I think this is a fair point at which to retire. None of my cats were silly enough to join me outside.
Saturday 2nd August - Sunshine!
Yippee! Six days to go until the 2008 Olympics start. I am so looking forward to going apres gardening on the couch with Olympic TV. And another loud, joyous 'yippee' for the sun! After 140mm of rain in the last week and a half the sun is shining. Oh happy day!
Today is going to be very, very simple. Enjoy the sunshine, lay more garden mulch, lay path mulch for network of Shrubbery paths (which are looking extremely beautiful), get more river stones, pick up more bags of horse manure, and weed another orchard rose arch. And perhaps - just perhaps - pop into garden shed kitset place with Non-Gardening Partner. Then, with extremely innocent, nonchalant look on face, mention the Moosey September birthday. Emphasise how tirelessly the Head Gardener works, how she never gets bored, and doesn't need to be taken on expensive Mediterranean cruises...
Baby Pink Camellia
I've just peeped outside - water (ex-rain) is dripping from all the vegetation, making the trees and shrubs sparkle and shine. Wow. The birds are twittering (it must be a relief for them to have dry wings). Something small, yet meaningful I must do today - while mulching I must dig up all self-sown pansy seedlings for replanting.
Much, Much Later...
Hee hee! My gardening life took a rather random turn, after all those carefully laid early morning plans. You see, on the way to feed the chooks I saw a Camellia in full bloom - it was a huge surprise to look up and see pink flowers.
Miscanthus Zebrinus :- I grow several clumps of Miscanthus Zebrinus in the garden. I love the autumn and winter seedheads.
So I had to celebrate, by gardening nearby. I cleared the paths behind the glass-house, said hello to the two small Graham rhododendrons (looking cheerfully 'buddy'), and trimmed the big rugosa roses, the Miscanthus Zebrinus, the Buddleia, and the Cotinus. Phew! That's lots of trimmings.
Six solid hours work, though it doesn't sound like much. Fluff-Fluff my ginger monster-cat helped, though a pair of Mallard ducks on the nearby pond didn't enjoy his proximity.
The First Spring Camellia
Thank You Camellia
A huge 'thank you' to the pink Camellia for being so generous and inspiring! And congratulations to the Moosey lilac cosmos, whose picture is featured as this months' special flower on my Niagara friend's website. I'm so proud!
Sunday 3rd August
Today my gardening has been mundane maintenance. All I've done is weed and mulch two more orchard archways. However, I should mention that until about 3:00 pm it was drizzling. And we (the All Blacks) finally won a rugby game - that was last night - so my peripheral thoughts have been rather pleasant...
There's still more colour to enjoy - the big Wattle trees are in bilious yellow bloom, and a little Camellia (who has never spent enough time in one place to flower) by the Driveway is blooming - a deep cherry-pink. Shush... I think that spring is slowly sneaking into my garden.