No more digging out other people's roses...
Dug-Out Roses
OK. I remember saying I wouldn't dig out any more roses from other people's gardens, because summer was well advanced, and I didn't need any more roses. Then I felt sorry for this pinky-salmon beauty, and it was only one dollar, and...
Thursday 8th December
Hee hee. And what's more it's already replanted in my garden, on the corner of the driveway where a large Phormium tenax used to flop. I wonder if this is a Sam McGredy rose - it came from an established older suburban garden, where his roses were much planted back in the day. I chopped the top half off, including all the flowers, which are in a vase. Aargh! My house is exceedlingly floriferous.
I've had a grand day - being back in the garden is so nice, and I really enjoy my new Freedom Gardening Style. I go where-ever the wind blows me, except that today there was no wind... All the forget-me-nots are now out from the Dog-Path Garden, and I've cleaned up the dead Cordyline leaves and timmed overhanging shrubs away from the tiny path to the water's edge. I'm amazed how quickly a garden area can look tidy and proper again - it hardly takes any time at all.
Plantings Along the Water Race
I've put some preliminary stakes around the edges of the patio tomatoes, and I've got two more bags of potting mix for my latest pots, which are getting red pelargoniums. My bonfire is partially burnt, and more Aquilegias and Lupins have been trimmed. And now - a list of things that I really like and mustn't forget about.
- The white foxgloves in the garden.
- The white daisies in pots on the patio.
- Mozart's Piano Concerto No 24 in C Minor, K491.
Hee hee. I never thought I'd ever find a Mozart piece I'd want to play, let alone a flashy concerto in a fabulous key. Oh well - hopfully there's always time in my life to change my mind...
Friday 9th December
- 'Don't sniff at Mozart when your fingers are young and fresh.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
What a beautiful morning! As part of my recent heady conversion to Mozart I'm now listening(enraptured) to concerto No 9 in E flat Major, K271. The aging arthritic finger joints will never allow me to play such a work. Blast! I've left this too late in my life. Advice to self-opinionated pianists - don't sniff at Mozart when your fingers are young and fresh, hee hee.
Westerland Roses
Right. I'm off to trim more lupins and aquilegias and pick more drooping flowers for the house. My Westerland roses are particularly floppy in the rain - the downstairs bathroom is filled with them, but there's room for more.
Stony Stream
Much Later...
I've been in the shade of the Wattle Woods, experimenting with the little stream that the river pumps feed. I've laid some stream-sized strips of plastic, roughly covered them with stones of all sizes, and things look pretty good.
Now I need some finer gravel to cover the bottom properly. I've been trying to casually throw the stones in, rather than over-thinking their positions. I think it will work well.
All day I've been feeding the bonfire, poking at the rubbish there-on, and topping it up with loads of dry pine branches from the interior of The Hump. I've decided to burn all the Alkanet. I don't trust my composting method not to simply spread its seedlings around.
The cricket test has been on the radio and has made dreadfully gloomy listening. Australia is decimating our team. My silly group of backyard concrete cricketers could show out team a thing or two...
Climbing Masquerade Roses
Saturday 10th December
This afternoon has seen more tinkering with the wiggling stream through the Wattle Woods. After deep analysis of the terrain (and prodding at the undergrowth) I decided to end the stream half-way down, and dug a preliminary pond there. But on reflection this seemed too limited for the easy, continuous flow of water from the river pumps.
So I'm now going to run the stream right through the woods to the very 'bottom', where my original pond still exists, overgrown with foliage.
Have I Got 'It' Right?
I'm glad I sorted the 'design' out first, before committing with the scissors. It all feels terribly serious, and I hope I've got 'it' right! I've bought some heavy duty black polythene to line the stream and the pond, and I've raked out the proposed route. Only one path has to be re-routed (not a problem) and some Agapanthus plants shifted. I will need a lot more stones, which is not a problem either.
This is my young grey cat Minimus's garden area and she's been scooting up and down eucalyptus trees, squeaking 'Look at me!' The running water has been fascinating her, too. She will enjoy having her own little watery pond. I have buckets of variegated iris and wasabi to plant by the water overflow (if there is any).
Two of My Cricketers
Non-Gardening Partner
Do I ever complain about Non-Gardening Partner in this journal? Shame on me if I ever do again.
NGP is a Canadian, an absolute non-follower of cricket, in fact a well-practiced cricket-scoffer. But he has bought some wood to make cricket stumps for my concrete cricketers, without me even asking.
I love this chap! And I'd like to say that we (New Zealand) did a little better in the actual cricket today. But these are nervous times, particularly when we play test cricket against Australia. Ouch...