Welcome to the Wisteria...

 I wish you could smell the perfume too!
Wisteria

I'd like to welcome the Wisteria on the patio pergola - you beautiful fragrant thing, you! I can't even begin to describe the scent - it's so subtle and fresh. Sitting on the patio is a real treat.

Friday 15th October

And the flowering rose Canary Bird with delightful ferny leaves and lovely shaped lemon flowers... You are just the perfect size and colour for late spring... Lovely rose! Welcome!

Ah spring! I'm back in the garden to enjoy more of you, after two whole days (two days!) away. I'm going to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

First of all I'll spread the last of the pea straw in the back of the Shrubbery - I have ordered two more big bales. The hoses can go on the old fashioned roses in here, too. Then I'll do all the house garden edges and see if I can find more of those little 'October weeds'. That's enough pre-planning.

 Dear lamb!
Stu the Pet Merino Lamb

I'm going to gather up the gardening Ipod and Stu the pet lamb, who is coming out to follow me around. He seems to nibble more grass that way. Cats, naturally, are most welcome, as is my dog - as long as he doesn't bark at the birds.

Lunchtime...

I'm really sorry about this, but the garden is so beautiful that I keep stopping and grabbing my camera. And then I gaze and smile and want to rush inside to write about it all. All of which is fairly non-productive, gardenwise. And terribly self-indulgent. Oh well...

 The Shrubbery sits behind the stone wall.
House Lawns and Gardens

Stu the lamb has been with me, but he seems to prefer eating hay, or my pea straw, or grass clippings, rather than the real thing. Odd lamb. I've taken rather a lot of photographs and some videos of him. He starts off in the distance, making a beautiful picture against some springy bit of garden. Then I call him, expecting a gambolling, bouncing lamb to come cutely towards the camera. Hmm.... He doesn't move. The pea straw on my garden is more interesting...

Canary Bird :
Canary Bird, my first rose to flower each year, has its own page in the roses section.

I promise to return to the garden to do some serious work after lunch. I have been spreading mulch and weeding in the back of the Shrubbery, by the way - it hasn't been all mushy gushing. I'm pleased, too - the old fashioned roses I planted last summer seem to be doing fine. And of course Canary Bird is just gorgeous (in fact, I've got two of them).

Later, Apres Gardening...

Blast! It didn't take long for the euphoria of the morning to slither away. Some time spent raking grass clippings in the hot sun, some rather too close-up weeding, and pulling a squillion pea plants out of the pea straw (should I even bother?) in the perennial garden is all it took. Oh, and digging out thirty five dandelions which weren't there last week.

'Gardeners need balance in their lives - and in their garden seats and benches.'
-Moosey Words of Wisdom

I need to get back to enjoying my spring garden again. So, clean and thirsty, I'm off outside with a cup of tea and my latest book. Gardeners need balance in their lives (and on their garden seats and benches), so I'm going to balance myself on the rustic garden bench in the Shrubbery's tiny courtyard, hee hee...

Saturday 16th October

Eek! October is half gone - that was quick! Today I have been working very hard in the Pond Paddock, in sight of the beautiful flowering cherry trees. I've had brilliant ginger cat company. I've cleared the paths in the Wattle Woods, and carefully replanted forget-me-nots and clumps of Anemanthele grass.

 Ginger Percy.
Cat in the Flowering Cherry Tree

Meanwhile Non-Gardening Partner has been finishing off the interior of Pond Cottage, dragging large slabs of insulation around and complaining about how fiddly it all is. Rusty the dog and Percy the ginger cat have also been with us. Cats, a dog and a pet lamb, and two busy best-friends people - really nice!

 That's Fluff-Fluff the cat, Rusty the dog, and Stu lamb.
Gardener, Cat, Dog, and Lamb

You're A Nice Lamb, Stu...

I am very pleased with Stu the lamb's grass eating progress - he seems to have finally got the idea. He's a really nice lamb - not too pushy, and quite a little character. Phew - Stu is a merino, a wool producer, not destined for anyone's roasting dish.

We are having gourmet sausages and blueberry pancakes for our evening meal, which will be served on the outdoor dining table by the pond. Perhaps even a small glass of wine would complete a most enjoyable day.

Do you know - I do rather like gardening with animals, but it's really nice having another human pottering away somewhere - not too close, not too far away... Someone who doesn't criticise and ask me why on earth I'm trimming this or bothering to weed that. Someone who doesn't particularly notice what I'm doing. Yippee for NGP!!