Overflowing with wind...
My garden is overflowing with wind. So I've been partially gardening, sneaking back inside when the big trees become too noisy. But the garden still looks beautiful in its summer colours.
The Allotment Garden
Pink and green. Red and green, and apricot and green. Anything and green, I guess! And, of course, green and green, possibly the nicest combination of all.
I've been for lots more photo-shoots in the Wattle Woods (which I probably should rename the 'Eucalyptus Woods'). Each morning before going swimming I wander around doing some grooming (picking up gum bark), and put the hoses are on. A decision - if I love and appreciate the Pittosporums so much, then they can have their share of the watering hose, plus the removal of all pieces of bark caught up in their leafy branches. Seems only fair - some personal grooming for these subtle stars.
The Eucalyptus Woods?
And as for the Wattle trees themselves - pah! Only four gnarly old Acacia gentlemen left now - they are impressive or ugly, depending on your old-tree point of view. The gum trees tend to dominate.
As far as staying outside goes, some days the wind is absolutely awful - hot, noisy, aggressive. So apart from shifting the hoses, clicking the camera, and throwing balls and sticks into the pond for the hot dogs, these have been stay-inside days. It's just been too windy to garden, without either worrying or over-heating, neither of which is pleasant!
Winnie Waiting by the Pond
But some good, hot summer news. Breaking, or make that 'non-breaking' news, if you like. I have proved it! It is possible for roses to be shifted on mid-summer's day, replanted, watered lots, and yet survive their rude relocation. Munstead Wood and friends (ex-Pond cottage Garden, now in the sunny Allotment Garden) are forming fresh new shoots. They are alive! Phew!
Large Yellow-Brown Daylily
Ch-ch-changes
And the nicest thing has happened. While I've been hiding inside, or holding my hat firmly while shifting the hoses, the garden has been changing (stating the obvious, so sorry about this). Roses that I dead-headed (yeay!) are now re-blooming, more and more Queen Anne's Lace is flowering, as is the Echinacea, so beloved by the bumble bees, and the summer phlox.
Oops
A small design error here - last autumn I pulled the phlox roots apart and replanted all the bits. I thought I'd tidied things up and chosen the perfect place. But a) I didn't dig them all out and b) I got the colours mixed up. So at the moment the Perennials Garden is a bit of a patchwork mess. Clumps of huge yellow and brown daylilies (which always flower late) completely dominate the location, and the different pink phloxes look silly alongside these unsubtle retro kitchen colours. Oh well.
Shasta Daisies
I love the simple summer-flowering white Shasta daisies, too, many of which are planted along the edge of the back lawn. But my love is conditional on them resisting all temptation to blow over in the wind. Don't even think of it!