Thugs and brutes...
Winter Water Race
So even the most intelligent of gardeners repeat their gardening mistakes - do they really? Oh yes. For the last week I've been digging out coarse green Carex grasses. I keep finding more and more of these big bullies throughout my garden. I planted them. Thugs and brutes, they are.
Monday 2nd June
Today we might take the dogs into the mountains - a trip in the mobile dog kennel, then a short walk to enjoy a grander scale of nature than my garden offers. I'm not sure that brown Escher has been to the mountains before. It's either that or another day spent digging out coarse green Carexes, the recording of which does make a gardening journal a bit tedious.
And so repetitive! Allow me to quote from my journal. Winter 2006 : 'What was I thinking, planting so many of them? This grass (which is a native, a type of coarse Carex) is now confined to pots only'.
There isn't much more to say, is there? Oh yes there is! The digging out of these 'wolf-in-sheep's-clothing' grasses seems to occur every fourth year. Winter 2010 : 'I've just been digging out Carex grasses. I keep finding more and more of them - this is definitely a gardening nightmare. I guess I've just popped them in everywhere over the years, then forgotten about them. I promise that I will never, ever do this sort of lazy planting again.'
And now it's 2014 and I'm at it again. A four-year cycle of Carex-blindness? How very, very odd.
A Bit Later...
We (Escher the young brown dog, Rusty the old white dog, and me) have dug out three more Carexes and carted one load of rubbish to the bonfire. But really, it's very frosty and rather too cold, so we have retreated back inside. Love that blue sky though!
Brown Dog and White Dog
+5 Tiger the tortoiseshell needs a special mention, and some bonus MVP (Most Valuable Pet) points. She is brown-dog-proof. Walk underneath his brown gangly legs? Why not? Check out the food bowl while his nose is intimately near? No problem. Well done, Tiger, you can also have a special treat of fresh pet meat for showing good dog-sense.
Flowering Now - John Clare and Tamora Roses
OK. Back outside we go. It is 11am, after all. Only two hundred and fifty three Carexes left to dig out. Just joking? Hmm...
WInter Bonfire
Much Later...
We took the dogs to an alpine lake and went for a wander up a tussock hill. Such fun for us all, poking around dodging the Matagouri. When we got home Non-Gardening Partner dug out the huge remaining Carex by the willow tree stump for me. He is a legend. I've just burnt it on the bonfire. The dogs pottered around following the wheelbarrow.
What a beautiful day. I guess a day is as beautiful as the people (and dogs and cats) in it can make it.
Tuesday 3rd June
Today I will continue to de-carex my garden - the Stumpy (AKA Willow Tree) Garden where the Othello rose grows. I'm thinking about the new sunniness of this garden. When those Carexes are removed, there may be space for roses. I will also be weeding.
The big brown dog has gone home, and ten minutes after 'his' car drove off last night all the house cats reappeared. How do they know? There's been a bit of cautious peeping around doors, but generally it's business as usual. They can 'feel' the difference. Cats are so sensitive. I don't reckon that Rusty even notices.
I Looooove You!
Five Hours Later...
Big Fluff-Fluff has been as close to a working gardener as it is possible for a cat to be. He loves me passionately now I am brown-dog-less. Actually, he has been a bit of a nuisance, squeaking pathetically whenever I've moved. 'Please don't leave me behind! I looooooove you!' Then when I've knelt down to weed he's sat on my calves. So heavy!
My dog Rusty and I had lunch on the Adirondack chair by the Stables. I tried to drink a hot coffee and read my book. Not easy - Fluff-Fluff found us. His cat-love is priceless.
I've been working my way along the water race, trimming the gardens on either side (the Birthday Rose Garden and the Stumpy Garden). Only one large Carex has been dug out today, but I've spied two more huge ones waiting. At least two, I fear. And I've burnt a barrowful that I'd dug out a week ago.
Minimus Loves Me Too
The Roses are Planted
Two of my recycled roses (which had been soaking in the bathtub behind the garage) are now planted near the big terracotta tree peony. I've seriously trimmed the honeysuckle, which I'd planted years ago to 'cover' a tree stump. Honeysuckles don't cover, they climb and sprawl, like Golden Hops. Things I didn't know, back then. But am I am ever so much wiser now? Am I?
Late afternoon I wandered past the glass-house to get a load of dry gum rubbish for the bonfire, and out popped Minimus. 'Oh brown-dog-less mother, I love you just as much as that fluffy one does. I loooooove you...'
If I could write this last sentence in tiny text I would. I've deliberately left a tiny Carex growing by the Willow Garden path, pretty little spiky green thing that it is. Honestly, when will some gardeners ever learn?
Little Green Carex