The best birthday week of my life...
So far this week has been the best birthday week of my life. And today - great news for the Moosey birthday garden gnomes. Last night we had yet another birthday dinner, seated at the table with six gnomes as the centrepiece.
Today all six are having their first photo shoot, in location by the pond. Some gardeners seem to get more juvenile the older they get!
Off We Go - Gnomes Journey
Friday 11th September
Earlier this morning I lay snug in bed with Jerome my old grey cat purring in my ear and planned my morning. Here's the list:
- Cut down my grasses.
- Miscanthus and Calamagrostis need their old seed heads off.
- Weed around the big red rhododendron.
- It's Kaponga, in the middle of the Wattle Woods.
- Take more penstemon cuttings.
- Is this the right time? I imagine so.
And then I need to get more stones for my wall, and plant all my new hostas. Do you know - I just love being in my garden in spring. I love the fluffy, soft beauty of the pink blossom, the tiny blue flowers (like forget-me-nots, hyacinths and muscari), and all the green growth.
Tiger Tiger
Catmint
Soon the Angelica will be up and whorling, and fresh sprouting catmint will cover the house patio garden edges. Tiger the cat is already rolling all over and squashing the new growth. Aargh! A question - do I want to plant some swathes of catmint anywhere else? I easily could get divisions. Good point...
Right. Armed with six garden gnomes and my camera I'm off.
Lunchtime...
Hmm... A gnomish dilemma. Should all the lads be close together? Or should I spread them out a bit? This would be fun for an observant garden visitor... 'Ooo, look - there's a gnome.' Takes ten steps along pond path. 'Ooo, look - there's another one.' Guess it depends on their sense of family. After all, strong families can merely think things to each other - they don't have to be right alongside chattering. Hmm...
I will ponder this while munching bacon and leftovers, and drinking a hot cup of coffee. Tell you what, though. I am having some serious fun with these red-hatted chaps. It could be the first subtle sign of senility...
Later, Apres Gardening...
What a glorious day! I've planted the new hostas in the side Pond Paddock Garden, between the big Cordyline and the big pink rhododendron. I've built another meter of my stone wall, which I see is gaily wobbling in a rather crooked fashion. Tomorrow's job is to straighten the last bit out - easily done with the spade. The pond gardens are weeded, the gnomes are installed, and I've picked some fresh daffodils for the house. I've even burnt my rubbish. And I've taken squillions of photographs.
Just one 'oops', concerning that list above... For some random reason I didn't take any notice of it at all. I did peep in at the red rhododendron, though. Hebes growing nearby that I chopped down to the ankles look rather dead, but the Choisya Sundance is glowing with health. There are huge numbers of dandelions to dig out. Oh well - that's tomorrow's job as well.
The Lawns Need Mowing!
And while I think of it - the Moosey house lawns desperately need mowing. That's Non-Gardening Partner's first weekend job...
Saturday 12th September
Yippee! It's tomorrow already (that was quick!). Again I've been doing bed-gardening, thinking about the garden as a whole and sweeping mentally through each area. I'm seeing a lot of weeds! Because yesterday's list was such a non-event, I will refrain from any formal ordering of garden tasks.
Bright Yellow Flower
I can definitely do yesterday's forgotten list items, plus mundane things like bucketing water on new plants and burning dry rubbish. My official birthday fortnight ends tomorrow at 6pm. Today's festivities include lunch with some girlfriends and getting a trailer-load of birthday compost. Right. Off I go.
Euphorbia and Honesty
Later...
Oh boy - I am tired! But I'm pleased with my day's work - around about five hours of weeding and trimming the edge of the Hump. Then I bucketed water onto some of the newish roses, and the hostas, and said hello to the gnomes by the pond. Green, freshly mown lawns are a perfect complement for the yellows in their garden - the big Wattles in full flower, the Forsythia, Epimediums, Wallflowers, and of course the daffodils.
Yippee - my ladies' birthday lunch was lovely. I have a garden nursery voucher and a new David Austin rose called Ellen. She's fragrant!
Sunday 13th September
OK. I've woken up with a streaming head cold - where did that come from? Today I have to empty the trailer of compost, and this afternoon we go to dig out a Camellia, a rhododendron, some Agapanthus, Phormiums, and some variegated irises. I'm considering buying some - aargh - medication, and I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. Of course I wouldn't let such sentiments pervade my journal writing...
Much Later...
A bit of a write-off, today - I sent NGP to dig out the shrubs, though I have rallied on their return and have already planted them. A chunky pink Camellia and a largish President Roosevelt rhododendron are now in and watered. I'm going back to bed to sniff and sulk.