blueskydragonfly

‘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.

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.