Moosey News : August 2006

Dear Subscriber,

My winter garden has perked up - the sun is definitely trying harder to warm up the plants (and the Head Gardener). There's still not much colour, though - I long to see some little spring flowering treasures! So I've tried to make the August newsletter as colourful as possible...

This month's features :

1. Gardening Cats
2. Goodbye, Yellow Wave Flax
3. A Sunny Shrub - Choisya Sundance
4. The Seed catalogue
5. The Year of the Dog

Regulars :

6. Plant of the Month : Sparrieshoop Rose
7. Animal of the Month : Montgomery, from South Africa
8. Garden Quote : From Pink Panther, a New Moosey Flax
9. Garden Gallery : Blossom
10. Forum Focus : Nature's Gardens
11. Gardening Advice : Successful Spam
12. Searching for Moosey : Fashion and the All Blacks?
13. Coming up this month : Tropical foliage - and temperatures - in Savai'i, Samoa

This month's features

1. Gardening Cats

Meet the two latest Moosey cats with the silly names (Fluff-Fluff and Beige Puss) who have both been busy earning their gardening stripes...

2. Goodbye, Yellow Wave Flax

More and more oversized flaxes are getting chopped into wee pieces. In a moment of reflective guilt I've written a special wee piece for them all - especially Yellow Wave.

3. A Sunny Shrub - Choisya Sundance

I've hosted this lovely four-seasons shrub for years now. Finally it gets the recognition it so richly deserves.

4. The Seed Catalogue

As usual the arrival of the big, definitive mail-order seed catalogue provides much amusement. Again I am resolved to be a responsible seed grower - we'll see about that, this coming spring...

5. The Year of the Dog

According to some calendars 2006 is the Year of the Dog. So, on behalf of all gardening dogs, here is my small tribute.

Regulars

6. Plant of the Month : Sparrieshoop Rose

I've just spent hours clearing the garden in front of my pink flowering Sparrieshoop roses, and training them lovingly along the fence. Now this coming summer I'll be able to see their lovely flowers! Touch wood!

7. Animal of the Month : Montgomery the Dog

It's time a dog-friend from another garden took this award. And it is the Year of the Dog, so please meet Montgomery, from South Africa. You can admire his - ahem - legs, and read about his - ahem - latest exploits.

8. Garden Quote : From Pink Panther, a New Moosey Flax

Ha! This month I am going to quote from the plant label of one of my new flaxes, thus shaming it publicly into modest, appropriate growth habits. That's the theory!

9. Garden Gallery : Blossom

In my mind, and on the Moosey pages, I can see swathes of fresh, soft pink blossom flowers, heralding the beginning of spring. Now I'd like to see some in my real garden, please!

10. Forum Focus : Nature's Gardens

Who thinks that the best gardens are those found in nature? See what the forum friends have to say.

11. Gardening Advice : How to Successful Spam a Gardener

I could be dicing with danger here, but I've been thinking about e-mail spam. How to successfully spam a gardener, fresh at the computer after a hard day's earthy toil? Hmm... I have a few ideas...

12. Searching for Moosey : Fashion and the All Blacks

Garden Fashion

Someone obviously thinks they can find fashionable gardening clothing on the Moosey web-site - the very best of luck to them! I wrote the following article about Garden Fashion back in the year 2000. I'm sad to say that, apart from discovering stretch denim, nothing's changed!

All Black plants

The search for 'All Black plants' is fair enough, since this is a New Zealand garden, and rugby football is our national sport. Alas - I don't have any photographs or stories about the mighty All Blacks, though I often mention them in my journal when they win... Settle for a wee peep at some Black Mondo grass?

13. Coming up this month : Tropical foliage - and temperatures - in Savai'i, Samoa

We have a week on in Savai'i, the big island of Samoa. I might fall in love with the tropical vegetation, and want to bring it home! Back home I want to spend my next garden month planting pots and pots of new plants in well-though-out, sensible places. And I want some spring flowers to enjoy. Please!

Cheers,