2011 Garden Awards
It's so 'last year' to have a Best of 2011 Awards List for the garden. But many wonderful things happen in my garden each single week. Summarising the whole year will be highly satisfying, personally, with reward and recognition for the lucky winners. Here goes.
The Best of 2011 Garden Awards
The 'Best Non-Gardening Partner' and 'Best Dog' awards are the easiest, since I only have one of each! Congratulations, to the one and only Non-Gardening Partner, and Rusty, the one and only Moosey dog. Well done you two. Please ignore that rather pushy big cat Fluff-Fluff, trying to steal the show.
Best Non-Gardening Partner and Best Dog 2011
Well, that was rather easy! Picking the winners for all the other garden awards might not be quite as straightforward...
Best Rose 2011
Best Rose of 2011
Oh alright. I'll try my very best to pick one, and only one rose, to get the supreme 2011 award. Let's think. It will probably be pink, possibly be a David Austin, almost certainly be fragrant, and definitely be memorable of colour. Oh, and it will have healthy foliage, and not be susceptible to rust. And the petals mustn't get blown off at the first puff of wind.
Then again, the best rose could be fragile, its beauty ephemeral. And maybe it's not pink - rather a soft yellow or lemon...
Best Cat of 2011
The contenders are the big six (the established adult Moosey cats), Kaya the black beauty (who lives elsewhere but is still part of the family), plus a new Christmas kitten. This award will be quite difficult to give.
Best Cat 2011
Little Mac the kitten is the cutest of the feline family - but kittens always are. Tiger the tortoiseshell is Senior Cat, and has the softest fur. Ginger Percy is the goofiest cat, Fluff-Fluff the most faithful in the garden, while young Minimus is my resident Pond Cottage cat. Lilli-Puss the grey is the most eccentric, and Histeria the tabby always sparkles with energy and life. Decisions, decisions...
Best Garden Idea of 2011
I do have a short short list for this award. Buying new roses, particularly recycled ones, was a brilliant idea. Of course there was room! Digging up other people's Agapanthus for one dollar and then mass planting it was my most sensible (and frugal) garden idea. Creating the brick koru courtyard out of earthquake-displaced bricks was the most cathartic. Relocating to Pond Cottage was my most self-affirming idea. Now I go to sleep and wake up pretty much in my garden. And I'm sure there've been many more garden ideas that I've forgotten about for the moment...
Best Garden Acquisition of 2011
Hmm.... The batch of garden gnomes I found at the council dump? What about the concrete cricketers playing their rather slow form of backyard cricket on the house back lawn? Or the two river pumps which came all the way from the USA to pump water into my wriggling Wattle Woods stream?
Best New Acquisition 2011
Eek. This is going to be difficult. Gnomes, pumps, cricketers - it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges...
Best Plant of 2011
OK. The usual contenders are obvious - the daylilies in January, the roses in November, the spring daffodils, the beautiful New Zealand Phormiums in the middle of winter. Oh - I almost forgot the rhododendrons. Shrubs are eligible, as are trees - the Dogwoods have been spectacular. And what about the smoky indigo big bearded irises? Such a stunning, dramatic flower. My goodness, I've got lots of plants to choose from. Perhaps some sub-categories for next year...
Best Garden Seat of 2011
Well, if I'm considering summer mornings then the patio seats are the winners hands down - or should that be bottoms down? Then again, the winter afternoon sun shines on the rustic garden benches in my sandy Shrubbery courtyard. The blue wooden seats by the water are just magical, the Adirondacks are THE most comfortable garden seats in the world, and the benches just look so divine it's impossible to walk by without flopping onto them. Oh dear...
Best Garden 2011
Best Garden of 2011
Phew! Finally an award which can be bestowed without dithering. The Moosey Garden wins! Yeay! Yippee! A runaway winner, a popular choice for 2011. Congratulations to the Head Gardener (me). Quite frankly, the competition wasn't up to much. What competition?