Off-Duty!
I've been off-duty for a few days, arranging new music for my jazz choir. During that time the hot, dry winds have flattened many of the foxgloves and most of the peonies. And what the wind hasn't brought down the big whooshy irrigation (running overnight) has. And up have come more and more weeds...
Wednesday November 30th
Earlier this morning, cooler and overcast, I wandered around overflowing with garden-guilt, my mood rather critical. Blast! And what did I see? An absolute mess of floppy things.
Foxglove - Oops
And what about the Allotment Garden? Desperately in need of watering (the irrigation doesn't reach in here), riddled with old forget-me-nots, weeds, sad irises who never saw the sun and therefore didn't flower... So here's the plan. I ditch the camera and get my gardening tools. Where are they? Aargh! See what happens when one is distracted by music writing?
Some Hours Later...
Well, well, well. Not a bad day's work - and the hoses are slowly being moved along the Allotment Garden's driest parts. I've pulled out a lot of weeds, Started trimming the Aquilegias, removed and divided up the sad irises, and still had the energy to take some photographs.
Floppy Foxgloves
And I've had some serious rose thoughts. Firstly, the white once-flowering rose on the rope swag is, I'm certain, Rambling Rector, and he is suddenly getting quite a rambling spurt on. Go, you lovely man! More modest roses re-homed in this garden (Rhapsody in Blue, Opulence, Friesia, to name a few) are doing really well.
New roses in the garden compartment nearest to the shipping container are puzzling me, though. I have recorded the two 'yellows' as Graham Thomases, rescued from a rose sale in March 2015 - I do try to keep accurate records, hee hee. To me the flowers seem to lack the egg-yolk yellow colour, the canes are much taller and floppier than I'd expect from GT, and the clusters have too many flowers/buds. Hmm... But wait! A friend who is an uber-expert has just checked them. Yes! She says they are the famous GT, and she is much rose-wiser than I'll ever be. She is wholly responsible for pruning to death (or so I thought) a row of shifted Sally Holmes. And wouldn't you know it - they are blooming brilliantly!
Floppy Peony
Yeay!
The Cornelias and the 'hedge' of Roseraie de l'Hay are extremely lovely. Everything needs watering, however, and that is my task over the next few days. A good soaking, well directed watering hoses, low to the ground. Yeay!
Thursday 1st December
Now here's a radical idea. How about two big gardening days in a row? Two can be a row? I'll do it. Firstly, the hoses go on the Allotment Garden, which is looking so much better - we always walk past it on the first dog-walk of the morning, before we go to the dog park. And then - gardening! Yeay!
Later...
There are wee piles of weeds all around the Birthday Rose Garden, testament to my paltry efforts. I also kept shifting the hoses (the Salvia uligosa loves me again), and even had time to start scoring a version of the classic 'Summertime'. And I 'put up' (excise the jargon, just showing off here) some rose photographs. I picked the floppy deep pink peonies, because they had nose-dived into the lawn - not that a gardener needs any excuse to pick her own peonies.
I think the garden looks wonderful, and that's that. Going slightly AWOL possibly makes me appreciate it even more, hee hee.