Moosey News : October 2005

Dear Subscriber,

It's October already! How can this be? My garden-time is racing by. Either the hours in a day are shrinking, or I am slowing down in the spring garden! It must be all that weeding I'm doing...

This month's features

  1. Spring Blossom
  2. Rose Fruhlingsgold
  3. Snow in September!
  4. Water Tank Garden
  5. The MVP (Continued)

Regulars

  1. Plant of the Month : Pink Rhododendron
  2. Animal of the Month : Tiger the Cat
  3. Garden Quote : "It is actually quite easy!" (a comment about weeding)
  4. Garden Gallery : Daphne
  5. Forum Focus : Garden Touring
  6. Gardening Advice : Inspiration
  7. Searching for Moosey
  8. Coming up this month : Gardens of the Not Rich and Definitely Not Famous

This month's features

1. Spring Blossom

I used to be a little dismissive of spring blossoming trees - thinking their beauty would be fleeting, and just a puff of wind would ruin the effect. Ha! I am converted! No longer working full-time, I enjoy every day of blossom beauty.

2. Rose Fruhlingsgold

Single roses are almost as beautiful as blossom! Any day now the big lemon rose Fruhlingsgold will start to flower. The first late spring-flowering roses in my garden are all lemony yellows.

3. Snow in September!

The Moosey Garden is just not prepared for snow - yet every year it seems we get one (just one) snow dump. This year the snow blew in right in the middle of the daffodil season!

4. Water Tank Garden

After dithering and dithering I've finally spent my birthday nursery money - on New Zealand natives - for a new garden around the water tank. Yippee! That's the easy bit - Now I have to dig the soil and plant the plants!

5. The MVP (Continued)

Things are hotting up in the Most Valuable Pet Competition. Tiger the cat is making a charge and Rusty the puppy is threatening to knock the rooster off his perch. I know that my family members vote nearly every day - I hope you'll join in the fun, too!

Regulars

6. Plant of the Month : Pink Rhododendron

Pink perfection - the huge rhododendron which lives, breathes and flowers for weeks in Middle Garden. Under-planted with wine coloured Euphorbias, these lovely blooms are my late spring beauties.

7. Animal of the Month : Tiger the Cat

Dear little Tiger - she finally has graduated to full family membership, and takes her place in the Moosey Pet Hall of Fame. She now has her very own page in the cats and dogs section, proudly representing all fat-cats with short legs.

8. Garden Quote : "This is actually quite easy!" (a comment about weeding)

It jolly well should be easy, as I've been weeding every day for months now - I should be able to weed in my sleep! What could ever be difficult about weeding, anyway? All I ever seem to do is weeding!

9. Garden Gallery : Daphne

The picture of the month is my Daphne shrub in flower - its first ever photograph. Such a beautiful fragrance - how I wish I could share that with you!

10. Forum Focus : Garden Touring

Many gardeners will admit to spending a lot of their time, when on holiday away from their own gardens, admiring the local flora and visiting other gardens... Forum members have shared their holiday photos from around the world in the Garden Tours section. It's the perfect way to share a holiday with gardening friends!

11. Gardening Advice : Inspiration

It's OK to be inspired by your own garden! You don't always have to look at other gardens for inspiration. Anyway, the time you spend garden touring could probably be better spent weeding...

12. Searching for Moosey

From the search engines this month, I can't resist mentioning all the searches for fat cats - 'fat grey cat pics', 'fat tabby cat pics', and the all-encompassing 'fat house cat'. The Moosey cats are fat in moderation, anyway - our vet would have something to say if they were unhealthy in size (oops - our vet hasn't seen Tiger for a while!).

I can answer the search query 'What do hazel trees look like?' with a photograph of some rather small ones. I've been spending rather a lot of time pruning the Hazelnut trees lately...

And the question 'What is a pink Camellia?" has the loveliest of answers - a new close-up photograph in the Moosey Flower Picture Gallery of the pink camellia.

13. Coming up this month : Gardens of the Not Rich and Definitely Not Famous

Gardeners who fit the above criteria are never interviewed by the newspaper, nor are their gardens' photographed for glossy gardening magazines. Mooseys is giving these stalwarts their own chance - just a little one, mind you - to go virtually public. Watch out for this exciting new section!

I hope you'll enjoy the October newsletter. Sorry about going on and on about weeding, though...

Cheers,