Preparation is everything...
Finally, all the rescued shrubs are planted. It didn't take me very long, but I'd planned all the locations, and the garden areas were cleared and ready to receive. Ha! Preparation is everything, apparently.
Lucky Jelly Bean Border!
The interior of the Jelly Bean Border has been empty, manured and mulched, for weeks now. So I planted all the Azaleas in there. I love the look, and the scale of this planting - the shrubs are low and bushy, the trees are tall, the light streams in the middle. Nice! Now they'd better all survive and thrive!
Azaleas in the Jelly-Bean Border
The Dianthus are in pots on the patio. Pretty pinks, to colour up my house entrance. All the roses and dahlias are pruned and planted in the Hump, and the bare soil patches are covered up with forget-me-not mulch. Some of these plants look rather shocked and sad, but I've promised them the watering hose. That's all I can do now.
Rose detective work
One rose still had an ancient label, the word 'Rhinelander' faintly visible. Google didn't know it as a rose, so I wrote to the National Rose Society and got an email promptly back (thanks so much). There used to be a nursery in Christchurch called Rhinelander Roses. Ha! Great rose detective work...
Sad rhododendron
Wednesday 13th November
Walking the dogs around the garden this morning I spied two struggling little rhododendrons with minimal flowers. Aha! I'm jolly well going to shift them into the Jelly Bean Border to keep the Azaleas company. Today! Just watch me!
And there's more - there's always more. I'm going to release an Azalea from its pot on the patio and plant it with them (poor darling, it never flowered this year). I'll put the hoses on, chant, sing soothing fertility songs - everything it takes to make the shift as painless as possible.
Later, Lunchtime...
All done. And old forget-me-nots make the prettiest mulch! I found three rhododendrons to shift, all pink-cream coloured, fading to off-white. Virginia Richards or Percy Wiseman? Bought a few of these back in the day - I keep on finding references in the journals and labels in the kitchen drawers. Percy has a bit more creamy yellow muddled into his pinks. Impossible to say, really.
Lots of other shrubs and flowers are blooming beautifully. But all shrubs deserve the best chance in garden life here. Poor rhododendrons, being transplanted this close to summer. There's a song : It's the wrong time...and the wrong place...but it's alright with meeeeee...