Beyond the call of musical duty?
Here's the plan. Photograph the latest roses and irises. Play chamber music with my flautist friend. Then con her into helping me dig out some more Agapanthus. This may be beyond the call of musical duty.
Bright Yellow Iris
Tuesday 15th November
I still have nine huge Agapanthus clumps to remove from a friend's hillside garden. They are to be cut into pieces and planted in the Hump, underneath the pine and gum trees. Some can go in the dry garden behind the pond. All will be extremely useful, and they are free. Never look a gift Agapanthus in the mouth, I say...
What is it? :- Some sort of water pump? Anyway, I thought a small thumbnail would preserve the family-friendly decorum of this journal page, hee hee.
My super-secret surprise present has arrived, it's sitting in the trailer, and it has to be some sort of water pump. It looks rather rude - Non-Gardening Partner got some funny looks driving through town yesterday with it. I have Googled the Archimedes Screw (also called an Archimedes Snail) pump, since this is all I can think of.
What a hoot! NGP is being all coy, even saying that there are two of the secret things present. Watch this space...
Messy Flowers
Silly Lilli-Puss is a lucky cat. She got shut in the Stables, and because she has a history of disappearing, I just assumed she'd gone 'safely' AWOL for two days. It was very alarming to hear her rather muffled miaowing this morning - imagine if I'd not heard her? I feel rather subdued about this. Phew!
Sit On Us...
Bamboozled...
Right. Not only subdued, but bamboozled by the possibility of two Archimedes screw pumps (I don't think they can be) sitting in the trailer, I'm off. I must not lose energy today. I will be sensible and dig the Agapanthus slowly.
Later...
Brilliant - my friend helped me and three more Agapanthus clumps are out, dug and transported. Semi-hard work is so much nicer with cheerful, helpful company. I've already planted one barrowful up behind the pond. Time for a rest on a garden seat, I reckon! I hope NGP will tell me tonight what that strange thing in the trailer actually is.
Wednesday 16th November
I have two bright orange 'sling pumps', otherwise known as 'river pumps', and they have come from Pennsylvania in the USA. The big orange thing sits on the surface of the water (in my water race), has a propeller attachment, and uses the water flow to pump water up a hose. Yippee!
New River Pump
Couldn't Sleep...
I didn't sleep at all well last night, thinking about the pumps. So I can run water through my garden in two places - two little wriggling streams, maybe a little pond somewhere. I feel totally overwhelmed and distracted. What a surprise! I was not prepared for this...
Much Later...
Earlier this morning I planted another barrowful of Agapanthus behind the pond, then zoomed off and dug the last of the plants out. Yippee for my flautist friend who agreed to help me for the second time.
I still feel overwhelmed by the arrival of the two river pumps. One will go by Rooster Bridge and will hopefully feed my existing little wiggling stream (which has been waterless for a while). Can I wisely choose where the other will go? A totally new water feature can be created, possibly requiring some serious garden design. And this I am not good at - I am better at adapting and working with what's already there.
Sunny irises and Aquilegias
With this new pump I could plan, for example, to start a cascading waterfall by Rusty's dog kennel. Eek! Can I do this? And what about that second pond in the hollow of the Frisbee Lawn? It's all so scary! I need to talk more to NGP, to get my confidence back. Might be a good time to go apres gardening and peep at Downton Abbey and America's Next Top Model (both recorded, a decidedly odd combination) to 'unfluster' myself.
Thursday 17th November
Today I make my last visit to the Agapanthus place, simply to do a clean-up. The plants have come off a hillside, and my considered opinion is not to dig the roots completely out, because this might affect the stability of the slope, hee hee. Anyone who has tried to dig old Agapanthus roots out will definitely agree with me. My aim is to Agapanthus-free by the end of the week (that means they're all planted out).
Late Pink Rhododendron
Much Later...
It's time to make mention of some lovely flowering events in my garden. Several late-flowering rhododendrons are looking wonderful. And more of the big bearded irises are out. I have such a selection of colours, too - papery whites, oh so subtle brown and yellows, and the inky, dripping midnight blues and purples.
Agapanthus :- It is, however, the perfect foliage evergreen plant to grow underneath pine and gum trees. So I should be jolly thankful, right?
No more Agapanthus! I am over Agapanthus. I've finished the dig, and planted one more huge barrowful behind the pond, getting a bit grumpy, as I was not in a mass-planting mood. Now I've fallen asleep over my afternoon tea book on the patio table, surrounded by the sweet, heady fragrance of Othello roses. I am so sick of handling Agapanthus. The A-word is now banned from this journal.
As far as the new water feature, I'm leaning to a new trickling little stream down the side of the Frisbee Lawn past Rusty's dog kennel. NGP has sound advice - I am to remember that water will not flow uphill. Point taken.