A-Buzz with Bumble Bees
I love my new mass planting of dahlias. They are still blooming, and almost every flower has a bumble bee either snoozing or visiting. Such joyous, buzzy activity to listen to and marvel at. All the dahlias except the pink spiky ones are covered in bees. This is something I hadn't really thought much about before. Dahlias and bees, that is.
Bumble Bee on Dahlia
The roses in the Hump are flowering again too, and several need to be shifted - I'll do that closer to autumn. Many were donated to me, names unknown, growth habits unknown too. So squat little miniatures have ended up squashed in the middle of the border, when they should be on the edge.
Two Cecile Brunners (not the climbing sort) came complete with some rather nasty grass, and I need to uproot them both and clean up their roots. They are both rather over-shadowed by dahlias, anyway.
Calla Lily
Misunderstood lilies...
Other issues in the Hump Garden : I misunderstood the planting needs of Calla lilies. Oops. I've hardly had any flowering, because they're all hidden underneath the dahlias, getting absolutely no sun. A rugosa I let loose from a pot is, I think, Corylus - exuberant, horribly vigorous, and has turned into a suckering nuisance. But it's soooooo healthy! I love it.
Troubled paths...
The paths are in trouble. Huge Nicotianas are blocking the main path - but they just keep on and on flowering, and I don't want to pull them out just yet. Rose canes are sprawling, ready to scratch anyone passing by. The Anamenthele grasses have their feathery seed plumes falling everywhere.
Should I mention the weeds? The California thistles, rather nasty things, have been weed-killed, but I'be found some that I missed in the middle of the path lower down. Blast!
+10And Tiger the cat's grave is again completely covered with sprawling dahlias, Campion and Lychnis. She's under there somewhere, dear cat! So when I want to talk to her I just talk to the vegetation. Are you still there, lovely Tiger? I miss you lots. But I don't miss you pee-ing in my pantry...
Friday 7th February
Today the water race flow was right down (the river Waimakariri must be in flood). So I grabbed the serrated bread knife (oops) and hopped in to trim some of the Phormiums. I rebuilt some stone edges where dogs had knocked stones into the water.
Pebbles By The Water
Found some juvenile Gunnera seedlings growing where I don't want them growing - sliced them out. Such beautiful waterside perennials, beautiful huge, textured leaves, but slightly naughty. It's colder today, a woolly sweater day. A feeling of autumn, really early? Just a randomly odd day, rather. A rather minimal gardening day, I'm afraid. I've dug out some potatoes and pulled some weeds out of the Hump Garden. Checked out the thistles turning brown - goodie goodie!
Snoozing Bees
Noticed lots of bumble bees snoozing in the orange Ligularia flowers. There are more bumbles snoozing than flying around. Hope they are all OK. I guess bees feel the cold in summer?