2007 New Year's Honours List

The Moosey New Year's Honours List for 2007 is finally out. There are some new faces in this year's line up, while a couple of old garden friends climb the ladder towards their knighthoods.

A rose rubs shoulders with the stickiest plant in the garden, while a beautiful white cat gets recognised for his devotion to the Head Gardener.

A Serious List!

Honours Lists are a serious business, so I've decided to adopt a most formal style. Here are the 2007 recipients for honours in the The Moosey Order of Merit. Moosey has been pleased, on the occasion of the celebration of the New Year, to make the following appointments to The Moosey Order of Merit:

Distinguished Companions of the Moosey Order of Merit

The following people and/or dogs are to be made Distinguished Companions of the said Order:

Stephen :

Distinguished Companion of The Moosey Order of Merit

Stephen, the resident engineer, who did buy the Head Gardener a Shredder for Christmas.

For services to garden maintenance and machinery, pumps, irrigation, lawns and fence repairs. And for allowing himself to be conned into painting the new blue garden seats.

Rusty :

Distinguished Companion of The Moosey Order of Merit

Rusty, the red Border Collie gardening dog, finally maturing into a sensible adult canine, Stephen's faithful companion.

For services to general gardening and bicycle riding, for being excellent dog-company at all times, for keeping Moosey airspace free from flying things such as jet planes and passing pigeons.

Companions of the Moosey Order of Merit

The following animals are to be made Companions of the said Order:

B-Puss :

Companion of The Moosey Order of Merit

B-Puss, beautiful blue-eyed white gardening cat, loved to bits by the Head Gardener and pictured in every imaginable cat-pose, from dorky to sublime.

For services to general gardening and cat photography - for example, the cat in the catmint picture.

Fluff-Fluff :

Companion of The Moosey Order of Merit

Fluff-Fluff, fluffy, floppy ginger boy cat, with the squeakiest cat miaow, and the scruffiest cat-tummy, always covered in forget-me-not seeds.

For services to general gardening and bed-warming, for being the fluffiest fluffy cat, the friendliest and the most fearless.

Officers of the Moosey Order of Merit

The following relatives of Moosey are to be made Officers of the said Order:

Older Son :

Officer of The Moosey Order of Merit

Older Son of Moosey

For services both practical and creative to the Moosey web-site and for his patience in teaching an older lady gardener (his mother) how to use Skype.

Younger Son :

Officer of The Moosey Order of Merit

Younger Son of Moosey

For services to music in the Moosey garden, for hand drum and guitar noises, and for deep philosophical discussion about the balance of garden border shapes.

Daughter :

Officer of The Moosey Order of Merit

Daughter of Moosey

For services to the world's water supplies, for gourmet vegetarian cookery, and for being genuinely pleased to get a new Rose Garden as a birthday present.

Members of the Moosey Order of Merit

The following garden plants are to be made Members of the said Order:

Nicotiana Sylvestris :

Member of The Moosey Order of Merit

Nicotiana Sylvestris

For perennial services to the late summer garden, and for self seeding in the cutest places. For having the nerve to be sticky, and for smelling nice in the evenings.

Rhapsody in Blue :

Member of The Moosey Order of Merit

Rose Rhapsody in Blue

For services to beauty in the rose garden, and for having the cleanest greenest foliage of all the Moosey roses, both past and present. And for the most musical name.

Moosey's Service Order

Moosey has been pleased, on the occasion of the celebration of the New Year, to make the award of The Moosey Service Medal to the Green Wheelbarrow, for services to weeding, raking, burning and carting of firewood.

There! No surprises, were there?