30 March 2011

I've decided that bulbs are the ultimate sneaky plant. W hen I've come home from the garden shop with a new plant the evidence is pretty much right there. Bulbs however can be snuck into the ground and when they appear months later one can feign complete innocence. "How on earth did that get there?" or "conditions must have been just right for them this year". Case in point - I"VE planted some freesias under "the tree" in the round bed in the courtyard. We've never (or at least not yet) fond out what that tree is. Just yesterday I was thinking to myself "what can you call a tree when you don't actually know what the tree is called?" And the answer was obvious really "Clayton" the name for a tree when you don't have a name for a tree (as opposed to the drink you have when you're not having a drink). So the freesias have been planted under Clayton and I'm going to put some ranunculis in there as well. That should take case of the spring flowering. I'm thinking of putting in 3 pink salvias which should flower pretty much from Spring to Autumn. The agapanthus will take care of Summer and the Princettia will give colour during Autumn and Winter. So that's the entire year taken care of in just one bed. Obviously I need cuttings of the salvias and princettias in order to have enough plants to do it but they will come along eventually.

28 March 2011 (B)

"Rosehips and Crabapples" has proved to be a wonderful read (yes I know, finished already!). Susan Irvine and her husband have a house in Tasmania "Forest Hall" which has an extensive garden featuring surprise, surprise roses and crabapples.. Her book "Garden at Forest Hall" detailed the restoration of the house and garden... Rosehips and Crabapples is a "rose lovers diary". She has a nice conversational style and it is accompanied by lovely photos. Susan Irvine is an authority on Alistair Clarke roses and so a lot have been planted in her garden.

Today I got myself a few belated presents... at Big W I got two Dahlia tubers - Emily Jane and Gamiber Jane. My interest in Dahlias was sparked by Yvonne in Standish with her beautiful display every year out the front, She has given me a few tubers which she took out so I'm starting my very own Dahlia garden. I Also got seeds of poppy, larkspur and linaria... all plants which feature in "Rosehips and Crabapples". And I couldn't resist a Jiffy tray with lid (which now contains linaria seeds). After that I had a wander into Red Dot. I was impressed with the little $3 pots I got the other week but so much more impressed with the massive pot I got today - $30 and its now holding the 3 strawberry plants Chloe got. It has taken close to 50L of potting mix and is still a couple of inches from the top - it could probably easily take 60L.

After shopping I went back to Red Dot intending to get another one and wouldn't you know it... all gone!!! However, up the back of the shop there were mini greenhouses - plastic frames with clear plastic covers which zip up at the front - they were $45 but were now $15 - I was definitely getting on of those thank you very much.

28 March 2011 (A)

It was my birthday yesterday and what an enjoyable day it turned out to be.  Normally I dislike the fuss and bother associated with my birthday feeling that it is more of an occasion for children (and always tending to feel slightly disappointed in them to be honest) however yesterday was different.  Firstly we had had a most enjoyable meal the night before with Dad, who left for Bahrain in quite high spirits (just for a change).  Secondly, although I had a not so good sleep the night before I did get the luxury of a bit of a lie-in.  Paul got Danish's and croissants for breakfast so we had a nice sit down breakfast all together.  I opened just two small presents which turned out to be a box of gourmet Coconut Rough and a book "Rosehips and Crabapples" by Susan Irvine.  And that was perfect, not excessively extravagant and certainly both agreeable to my tastes (and one could say that the Coconut Rough was more that agreeable to Chloe's tastes!).  Paul then went to soccer... he arranged to play a friendly with the team on Thursday night training forgetting what Sunday was.  I was not on the slightest bit concerned however because it meant nearly 3 glorious hours in which I could do nothing at all.  The kids spent the morning making cards then sneaking around the house so that I would not see the cards they were making however as their game involved an awful lot of giggling they did tend to give themselves away a lot.  Once Paul got home we had a bit of lunch and a potter about then I decided to go to Dawson's, taking Chloe with me.  Taking Chloe anywhere results in an awful lot of extra purchases and this was no exception.  We ended up with 3 strawberry plants and a Swan River Daisy (the mauve with yellow centres).  I got ranunculi, freesia and daffodil bulbs plus the beautiful Pierre de Ronsard rose that I saw when I was there last week.  I have no idea where he will go at this stage but he was my birthday present to myself.  Dinner was "Subway"... yum, yum!!!! and Paul got a lovely Almond Torte for cake.  I was pleasantly surprised as birthdays can on the whole be somewhat disappointing but this one was perfect from beginning to end!