Desire for lilies et al

‘O Tiger-lily,’ said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, ‘I wish you could talk!’ ‘We can talk,’ said the Tiger-lily: ‘when there’s anybody worth talking to’ (Lewis Carroll)

Didn’t talk to them for long; just asked newly-purchased bulbs (and those being transplanted) to enjoy their new beds and willed them to grow, flower and multiply!

My desire for lilies is fairly recent; being swept away by the perfume of a stargazer the summer before last.  Christmas lilies; adore now having them in the garden!  ’Time Out’ is a dreamy-looking creamy- white, painted with yellow along the midribs. ‘Shocking’, shades of yellow brushed with red sits alongside  the more virginal  white ‘Alma Arta’, as a second companion. Adjacent are ‘Muscadet’ white, dotted with pink and just a touch of a blush, ‘Exotica’ promises to be of a more adventurous nature with her pink-on-white-on lemony centre, and as for ‘Nymph’, well, her names speaks for itself with her palest of lemon petals, crimson brushed hearts (worn on her sleeve for all to see and admire!) with a dash of lime green in the centre.  Never again will I buy a bag of ‘mixed’ colours, knowing what I do now, that they’ll be (mostly) unadventurous orange. They’ve been moved to bed with almost but-not-quite-white day lilies , ruby red Fountain Cordyline and Lavender Dentata replacing a large, beautifully waving-in-the-wind grass which has taken centre stage for long enough having grown much too big for  its position. The drizzling rain, persistent all day should be helping it to settle in a new location.

Thankful for the previous two days of sunshine and almost as much time at home in the garden, other plantings have also been completed; white Nicotiana and violet Trachelium have joined gardenias, roses and heliotrope alongside the verandah. Oriental poppies  and a new lavender hybrid ‘With Love’ mingle with David Austin’s Charlotte and ‘Glamis Castle’.

As I wander, once the work is done, a glimpse of Spring appears, the first tulip bud (in July!!), magnolia denudata buds are throwing off their furry jackets and the mid-season camellias are in bloom. The children have phoned,  a dear friend’s dad has been laid to rest and after a few fractious days, we’ll all cope with our little life- challenges; our gardens  supporting us more than we sometimes realise…

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.  (Abram L. Urban)

All’s well with our world.

 

My Jewel Garden

If I close my eyes when I’m standing at the west-facing sittingroom window and look outside, in my mind’s eye I see an old shed. it’s on a bit of a lean; there are weeds growing all over the roof and not in a good way, they’re weighing it down somewhat, contributing to the lean. There’s a window, cobwebbed with time, frames rotted more than just a little bit. It stands under a grand old Kahikatea, white pine, up which is scrambling the wild and weedy  but sweet smelling jasmine. It’s rampant and great knots of stem root wherever they touch ground, adding to numerous other invaders whose time is up. Inside the shed, out of view, are piles of old junk, those who no longer dwell here chose to leave behind. Kind of them Not.  Doesn’t feel too safe inside, the walls wobble and the roof is low. Nothing to salvage here. The longdrop alongside adds a touch of whimsy, if you like that sort of thing.

I open my eyes, glance out. The Kahikatea stands majestic, old shed, long gone. In its place grow a myriad of plants, some about to relocate to a new home, others just arrived. It’s approaching mid-winter, an optimum time to plant perennials. Where carrot weed, kikuya, onion weed  and twitch once ruled, new plantings of penstemon varieties nod  in the breeze. And to be honest, tonight, in the rain. Their companions, poppies, roses, veronica  and valerian await Spring so they may begin their show of splendour; at their feet evolvulus and cerinthe wait to spread. Roses, Wild Eve and Glamis Castle are neighbours ‘over the way’  not too far from Ballerina; they’re all about to take their rest, though persistent buds abound.

Come Spring and Summer, they will become a garden of jewels. Penstemon will provide garnets, white opals and pink sapphires galore. Amythests will twinkle amongst them and pink onyx will trade places with armeria. Ceylonese sapphires will stand proud and the odd diamond or two will surely be present.

This is the stuff of dreams. And while the wind and rain now persist; with patience, the beauty of these little plants will endure.

 

In praise of warmth!

I succumbed last night and lit the wood burner. And what a luxury it was to curl up in a cosy armchair, with flames licking around the pine-cones, wind whistling through the trees, hail bouncing off the roof more often than not! A fire! Early May at that!

So, no gardening today? We’ll see! A hint of blue peeps through the clouds, a glimmer of hope that this weekend will not be totally in vain for an intrepid gardener who just wants to get back out there. More bulbs await planting! Baby native trees anxious to settle on that oh-so steep front bank. Now that the ground is damp it may be  agreeable  to the blade of the trowel at last. Paths to be swept and winter vegetable seedlings to go in!

Race out! Beat the next blast of cold wind and hail! Leave thou computer ’til twilight!

An hour or two’s honest work! Reward?  The comfort of a cafe and brunch with cousin Michelle. What the click of a  button and FB can achieve in no time at all!!  A decadent afternoon lolling with magazines, good coffee, head massage and a new look courtesy of an amazing hairdresser to follow.

And in no time at all, back in front of that fire, a yummy dinner, glass of red , good book, no doubt accompanied by  high winds and hail once more, but with the promise of a family day in the morning for Mother’s Day! What more could one ask of those two fly-by days at the end of a busy week!

 

20 April 09: Autumn

Last night the rain came. The parched earth greedily soaked up luxurious droplets; the same also gently brushed petals from flowering anemones, creating a dusting of icing sugar on the garden floor beneath.
Easter break has provided a bonus time in the garden this year; so much to be done, now completed. We’re almost ready for winter. The maples are changing colour, not as fiery-red as the oak-leafed hydrangea but delicately beautiful in their own way. Bulbs, now chilled are ready to find new homes both in the garden and within terracotta walls; they’ll fill our little world with both colour and perfume come Spring. Can’t wait.

A new raised bed has just been constructed with recycled planks, hinged together and put into place; just waiting for compost and soil to go in before the green crop is sown. Heirloom poppies, and Forget-me-nots will bed down with a crop of broad beans on the side.

The huge purple saliva flowers bravely on, heads weighed down with the prolific flowering; they’ve provided a safe haven for the magnolia this summer and kept the base of the tree well sheltered. The newer magnolia, flowers as yet unseen and name unknown (one of a few left behind in a closing -down nursery sale, ‘anybody’s guess, love’) was desperate to survive and grows well on the bank alongside black-leafed Wegelia with lavender at its feet.

Time to collect kindling for the fire from the bush, deadhead the hydrangeas, remove a little more of the wandering tradescantia from the forest floor and feel a sense of satisfaction. The weeding’s mostly done, the skip is filled and gone, winter awaits. Time to give the hands a well earned rest.

 

Colour

Began this awhile ago, ha! Didn’t get around to finishing writing at the time; however much has happened in the garden in the intervening weeks (no, make that months) that I’m now determined to keep a ‘diary’ of sorts, to record the progress of this first generation garden. Reading Monty Don’s ‘The Jewel Garden’ and  Enda Walling’s ‘A Gardeners Log’ have been inspiring. 

What is it about colour that makes such an impression on how and what we feel? A few weeks ago I imagined that I would be spending quite some time in my outdoor space both removing and adding colour to enhance the whole experience of being at peace with nature,  in which to relax, work and think. A four-letter word got in the way; rain, rain and yet more rain! Almost two weeks of it, solidly! This was not the way it was supposed to be, but with such unpredictable weather, the way it was. Intermittently, we have a few weeks of heavy rain, followed by glorious weather. The only hint of autumn being cooler mornings and nights; the evenings remain warm enough to be outdoors until around 7:30pm, but of course it’s now dark before then.

Shades of green are everywhere in my coastal bush sanctuary. A lime groundcover, which glows in winter, almost carpets the slope where the lancewood grove is becoming more established. The pukas seemingly tower over them until one looks further skyward to the majestic ancient pohutukawa which must surely have been one of the first-comers to this little piece of paradise along with its partner reigning supreme at the entrance to our little forest out back. Neighbouring kahikatea, two of three stunning native white pines keep the ground muched and perfect for growing white azaleas. The hellobores are about to be moved to this acid-rich drier space and the blueberries on  one of the back slopes will be muched with the excess covering the paths; apparently they love pine mulch! Should keep the slugs and smails off the polyanthus too!

White complements the green of the bush, oh so perfectly. The magnolia, a gift in remembrance of mum’s passing in 2005 has struggled, but last year, its first two almost pure and seemingly incandescent (in the sun) flowers appeared.  The buds are more plentiful at present, can’t wait until they’re out. Once the tree grows a little more, its going to be just stunning! At its base now sits a bushy, spreading purple salvia, breathtaking for the whole of the summer, a cutting from a friend; it grew here with relative ease. It’ll die back in winter and rise again when the warmer weather returns. Several white roses, both bush and climbing add their colour. I’ve also discovered that little white cyclamen grow well outside here. Not flowering yet, but the leaves are poking through. Tomatoes grew above them all throughout summer this year, the best year ever for these.

In spring, the new underplantings of bulbs will give the beginnings of a carpet of flowers in two of the lower gardens. Bluebells, tulips and sparaxis amonst many others.   Lovely to look down on from the verandah. Nearer the house, on the brick couryard, they nest in pots, the hyacinths, more tulips, lachenalia and in readiness for summer, Christmas and Asiatic lillies, poke through, though maybe too early this year.

Roses are still flowering; can’t believe it; Tess has new buds and Mary Rose too, a bit straggly but won’t be pruned back until June. Windrush has so many blooms it feels like midsummer whenever I  look over in its direction and Peace has also given amazing colour so late in the season. 

Daphne is coming into its own and the heliotrope can be relied upon for fragrance all year. A few late gardenias  are still arriving, but fewer than  in the last month. Newly planted heuchera give colour, peach melba, marmelade and crimson curls have small blue daylilies  and various bulbs as companions, with a backdrop of camellias Jury’s Yellow and Nicky Crisp, and Mansize  also Waterlily nearby. The fig trees are in autumnal shades as are the flowering cherries and cerceris, which I just love, the Forest Pansy tree.  The  Japanese maples are past their best. Hebes, Galway Bay and Beverly Hills have joined the variegated one with flowers of similar colouring, whose name escapes me right now. The sweet peas are going in today, and the wildflower seeds are about to be sown. I’m thankful for yet another beautiful sunny day in which to be at one with nature.

 

 

 

The Buttercups are all but gone!

 The newest garden is now part-planted…

Death to the Common Buttercup!

The Creeping Buttercup (ranunculus repens L. aka devil’s guts, granny threads, ram’s claws, sitfast or tether-toad) is on the way out of the garden! What a battle it’s been! Neither spraying nor repeated mowing has helped so it’s back to basics and trowel digging. The sloping area of ground doesn’t help either; not that easy to sit and dig. But worth the oh so sore hands and wrists! The newest area of garden  now includes mostly natives, generally in drifts of three, chosen for drought resistance once established (if we should ever have a drought here!)…

Ajuga—the one with the giant flower (under the Albany Surprise grapevines), Penstemon ‘True Blue’ clear sky blue in colour and Gazania ‘Kiss Mahogany’

Sisyrinchium Striatium Variegatum (palest lemon yellow) – iris, Miscanthus Sinensis ‘Morning Light’ (Arching, silvery-blue, deciduous Japanese grass) I hope it grows to full height of about 2m.

Heliotrichon Sempervirens (Blue Oat Grass), Coprosma ‘Lobster’ a divaricating plant which is a favourite of mine, Dietes ‘grandiflora’ iris, Phormium ‘Platt’s Black and Carex Flagellifera—beautiful effects with bronze-purple colouring.

‘Oi Oi’ grass, Libertia ‘Taupo Sunset’, Cordyline fruticosa ‘Corbra’ – not surving too well with the heavy rain of a few weeks ago.

Can’t believe that two wheelbarrows full of plants from Roger H.’s (best supplier ever!) filled such a smallish area once planted. The white waterlily camellia is nearby and a few other plants are yet to go in. But it’s a start! Once fully grown there should be no space between; at least that’s the plan… Hey, they’re mostly natives! Not bad for a (previously) committed cottage gardener.

 

Huia

New Years Day In The Morning With Liam And Amelia

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An early morning expedition with two cuties

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Back on the train again

Should have done it years ago, three or four anyway; didn’t live here before that! What a difference it makes! I now catch the train to work as often as I can, that being on days there are no  night meetings at work and when it’s not pouring with rain in town, twenty kilometres away (not always easy to tell when one texts friends to ask; one says yes and the other no!)   

In real terms. the advantages are numerous; only a fifteen minute drive to the train (instead of thirty-five through traffic) and fifteen minutes of day dreaming and quiet time on the train. The free car park nearby is a bonus, long may it remain even after the station renovations are completed, which I’ve been told have begun but as yet are not apparent to the eye. Alighting at Kingsland means that there are good cafes at the door should I choose a diversion before the  fifteen-minute walk on to work. And, as was the case recently, divert early morning meetings to said cafes, ‘Crucial Traders’ in particular I would recommend! Checking out what’s happening ‘on the street’ in terms of home and garden renewals which are many. And best of all, thirty minutes of exercise each day and a little carbon-footprinting reduction.

These outway the disadvantage of having to leave home fifteen minutes earlier which in turn means that much less time to rest and hang about of a morning. I’m also hoping that whilst reducing the impact of my car fumes, breathing in everyone else’s on that otherwise enjoyable walk won’t outweigh the benefits of the exercise. I could always wear one of those nose and mouth masks, but they don’t come in black! White is so not my colour!

The trains of course are not at all like trains in Japan, ours bump and squeak along rather than get you there almost instantly, but you do always find a seat which is a bonus. And on one occasion when there wasn’t one, a very courtous young man stood and gave me his seat! Truly! In this day and age, a gentleman!

I do miss all the advertising in the Japanese trains though, however dubious some of it might be! Anyway, I’m a converted ‘trainee’ ‘trainer’ ‘train-aholic’… just what DO you call some one who loves riding on trains?

 

Liam’s first plane trip

A very excited three-coming-up-four year old has been on his first flight. The night before, not wanting to sleep, his comment was ‘Come on, let’s go to the airport now!’ Upon being told that our plane wouldn’t be ready, his solution was for us to sleep in the car overnight, at the airport!’ Understandably, this idea was not adopted. Come the next morning,  rearing to go, he passed time on the drive to the airport by considering the construction of various houses along the way.

 Upon arrival, ‘We need to go to the small one, not the big one around that other corner’. One would think he was a seasoned traveller rather than embarking upon his first flight.

Waiting seemed like such a long time for this wee boy. ” Is it ready yet? Why not? Can we go now? Why not? When are they going to call for us? Once aboard and settled by the window the questions continued. ” Wa-hoo!” as the plane gathered speed for take-off. He loved the thrill of the speed and once up in the clouds, well, that was another story. Much observation, many more questions.

 Arriving at our destination, Carol was there to meet us and help us find luggage; another delight for Liam; seeing his luggage miraculously appear on that ’roundy thing’.. Not such a delight though, to begin with, was the gradual knowledge that we were not returning to Auckland on the next flight. However, visits to local parks, driving to Lyttleton through the tunnel and spending time at the port, watching and taking in all the activity, discovery of new toys at Carol’s, best of all, the play dough, helped to disperse the feelings of home-sickness that naturally enough kicked in every now and again on that first day.

Next morning after a walk to the park, a drive to visit the black swans nesting on the river to find their cygnets had hatched. Another pleasure for Liam, feeding not only ducks and seagulls as he does at home but swans too; not that they ate much, preferring to take their babies to the relative safety of the far bank for a bit, away from the screeches of the seagulls and the sometimes fighting ducks.

Next a cafe for lunch, at a museum-come-cafe wonderfully organic food and the realisation that Liam had a good understanding of ‘the olden days’, given his comments regarding various items. A toyshop, another park followed by a much-awaited catch-up with Miriam and baby Sam, now just one. Lovely to see how gentle Liam was with him, but not surprising.

An earlyish night, given we were to be up for the shuttle back to the airport at the ungodly hour of 4:15am. Hugs and good-byes at the gate with Carol, another flight, luggage to collect again, and a drive to a local cafe for breakfast completed this memorable few days, for both Liam and me. Can’t wait until Amelia is big enough and we’ll do it all again!

 

Deep Secret

Just the most gorgeous, highly perfumed red rose, almost out of season, but not quite!