Le Seed Catalogue and le Tour...
Me multi-tasking on an early winter's morning: I am couch-cycling (le Tour) towards the Pyrenees with a pot of tea and my ginger cat (purring Percy) on my lap. And - here's the best thing - peeping at the new season's seed catalogue, which already has a lot of suspicious ticks on it. Hee hee hee...
Wednesday 10th July
Oh joy! My helicopter whizzes me up to and around an amazing old stone castle (le Chateau de Puilaurens), Percy stretches out his beautiful ginger paws, and I'm only up to E. That's 'E for Echium' - it's time I grew some of these bee-beloved annual blue flowers again. And what about some white Echinacea?
Percy and Minimus - Cottage Cats
Alas, this dreamy morning tableau cannot last. I've got Lilli-Puss in the hay barn to visit and feed, Rusty the dog to take for a walk, and then some serious gardening to do. No burning today - there's a keen southerly wind. Southerly = Antarctica. Brr... C'mon, sun, get those joules rising!
Much Later...
No luck on the garden front, I'm afraid - it was just too cold, even for intrepid me! All I did was wander around and take some photographs of the early Camellias. Best I get back to the cycling with my seed catalogue - I am already some days behind the chaps in France.
PInk Camellia
Thursday 12th July
Oh... My... Goodness... I've just spent a quiet hour web-gardening. I thought I'd 'tidy up' the rhododendron section. That involves seeing if any text was (ouch) painfully out-of-date, and maybe finding some more recent, better quality photographs. Well...
Wrongly Named Rhododendron
Oops...
Oops. I... Am... So... Embarrassed... It appears that way back in the year 2000 I 'invented' a rhododendron hybrid, and called it Whitney's Apricot. Apparently I saw it in another garden, and then I was given such a shrub (with label) from my friend at the rhododendron nursery. Whitney's Imaginary Apricot! It doesn't exist. There is no such plant.
OK. My Whitney's Imaginary Apricot has lived in the back of Middle Garden since 2000, and, what's more, its flowers have always been a creamy lemon colour. Now that is a bit of a give-away, don't you think?
Once more, my integrity as a web-gardener is under a rather fat, grey cloud, and this mis-information has been 'out there' for the last thirteen years. Never automatically believe what you read on the internet, especially if it's been written by me! Aargh! I have found a Whitney's White - and Whitney's Orange does have apricot tones, obviously the variety that got me all mixed up.
Black Cat :- So sorry, dear cat.
It's been a sad day. First thing this morning I had to take the stray black cat to my vet. Decision made. He's now buried in the rose garden underneath a pot of tulips, and I've laid pea-straw all around. He's at rest in a lovely garden place, surrounded by newly planted Roseraie de l'Hay rugosas.
Then I took my dog for a rather tearful, sniffy walk in the wonderful winter sunshine. No wind, blue skies, and Rusty zig-zagging around smelling all the smells. It's OK to feel sad, and I did my very best. I must remember to give thanks, every day, for special cat-friendships. And give thanks for dogs, too - sorry, Rusty!
Ginger Percy
+10My ginger cat Percy is living with FIV, but he's a younger cat, and his general health is OK at the moment. Hugs and tickles and some fresh pet meat for you, my lovely boy. But please don't spend ages just licking it! Those two house-cat fatties (Fluff-Fluff and Tiger) are standing by, ready to help you out.
Friday 12th July
Ooh - frost! It's mid-morning, and still zero degrees outside. I am not inspired to do any digging or weeding just yet, though a few frost photographs might make a nice change. I've just fed Lilli-Puss, snug in her cat lounge in the hay barn, and broken the ice on her water bowl. Brr...
Frost on Rose Leaves
My seed list (mark three) is ready - early this morning I went back through it looking at all the 'new' offerings. There's something so lovely about an old-school glossy seed catalogue and a pen. Tick here, tick there, then change my mind and turn it into a cross. I also want to get some 'black' flowers to plant in a pot for the not-so-lucky black cat. Violas and Dianthus might be nice.
Later...
Seed order done, ordered, paid for, and now - the excitement of waiting for the arrival of all those little packets! There are quite a few. Ooh goodie...