The garden wakes up...

I love daffodils.
Daffodils

Spring arrives, with daffodils and grape hyacinths and tulips. Gourmet potatoes and pots are planted. The garden wakes up.

Saturday 29th August

I have lost some months of diary - sorry about that! The pump went back on yesterday - this signifies the start of my new gardening year. I am attacking the Pond Border. I think I need more daffodils - I want to see more of them in spring. The only problem is the winds flattening them. Who stakes daffodils?

Saturday 5th September

I have some Jersey Benney spuds to plant. They are sold in the supermarket as 'gourmet potatoes'. I will be stylish in spud growing, as I am in lettuces. It rained last night, that totally vertical rain that gardeners love. Usually here the rain comes with the southerly which flattens things.

Dear Jeremy. She is the only cat to have a part of the garden named after her.
Jeremy the Fraidy Cat

Sunday 6th September

Today I attacked the pond again. I put stones around the water's edge and tried to get the weeds out. I suppose my trout are still there. I'm not sure what they do in winter (they can't exactly go anywhere). I've planted the small cabbage trees. They grow very quickly here. It's almost time to plant out the ageratum and daisy cuttings. Hope the frosts are over (the first year we were here there was a nasty frost in the middle of October).

Saturday 12th September

I wonder if Jeremy would like the Calamagrostis grass? Guess all she really noticed was the catmint. Have bought her a yellow rose, which should be cool.

Sunday 13th September

I have planted the stripy possibly Calamagrostis grass in the Jeremy border. I have noticed that the miniature daffodils seem to have a short flowering season. Maybe this is an illusion, because they're so small...

Saturday 19th September

Spring is cool. As long as the wind doesn't blow and flatten the daffodils. I have been planting out pansy plants.

I love the golden marjoram immediately behind the laundry seat.
Tulips

Sunday 20th September

Colourful things are happening! Blue grape hyacinths, and red tulips in odd places. Today I planted out the workhorse perennials. Am allowed to order some mail order plants, as a reward for working so hard.

Monday 28th September

Sorry for not writing in this diary. Today I sat with first cup of coffee on the stables seat in the early morning sun. Hope that the new stripy leucadendron will recover from frost burn. This is a great spot for leucadendrons, as long as they're close to the wall.

Thursday 1st October

Planted some mail order arrivals. There were Bergenias and some rather strange hostas that I haven't a clue about. Oh well. I don't have the slug and snail problem that my friend Astrid has, so hostas are easy to look after.

Assorted plants in these pots.
Patio Pots

Saturday 3rd October

Finished planting out glass-house stuff. Cats visited me and sprawled on the bench in the sun. Things like daisies are in pots to be put on the house patios.

Sunday 4th October

I like the tulips out by the laundry seat. Everything is so small and well behaved at this time of year. Is it time that I sprayed for aphids? I always forget until the new growth on the roses is seething with green bodies. The blue irises are out. Blue irises are in. Cool.

Saturday 24th October

This diary is rather spasmodic. Sorry. I want to write down the order that things I like turn up. This is so I can become a thoughtful gardener who is aware of the progressions and changes in her garden. Here goes...

Succession of things I like in the garden

  1. Daffodils
  2. Honesty (crazy purple)
  3. Forget-me-nots
  4. Tulips
  5. Bergenias
  6. Blue irises
  7. Clematis montata
  8. Purple mint bush
  9. Aquilegias
The tree in the background is a Wattle in flower.
Purple Flowering Honesty

What have I forgotten? Lots, probably.

Magenta

I have a strange relationship with the magenta - purple Honesty. I absolutely love the colour when it first appears. I'd never seen Honesty until I came to live here. I'd only seen pictures and I knew about the dried seedpods. Each year its first appearance reminds me of the emotions of those first amazing months.

Ha! This adoration of magenta - purple lasts 5 or 6 weeks. Then I start to get sick of this dominant colour, and plot its demise.

This usually happens very suddenly one weekend, and all the magenta - purple Honesty is uprooted and thrown on the Hump. Gardeners are fickle sometimes.....

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