The jonquils appear. So crocus and snowdrops are not the first spring flower at all. That only applies in colder climates. So either jonquils timing is wrong or...my place does not follow the rules of the seasons.
To day for example, is cool, but yesterday was balmy and warm, I didn't need to wear an extra layer. So much for consistency. And in England, the news reports it's cooler to be in the hothouse of Kew Gardens than outside.
Rather than worry about it, I thank God we don't have to plough any snow. Otherwise our tangelos which are ripening now would be frozen.
The latest issue of Get Growing is sent to my inbox, and Ms Hallinan admitted she was lax at getting her garlic in the ground. Well, she does have two boys to care for now. She can be forgiven (or distracted). I have lately been distracted by other things going on. I'm preparing to go up to the winterless north aka Whangarei, and perhaps check out the gardens there. There's a quarry garden that sounds intriguing. Auckland too has a quarry garden in Mt Eden. Whangarei also has a fernery. And kiwihouse. Also, a guy up there grows magnolia hybrids. I've been reading the book on Magnolias, or rather, looking at the pictures. Cleopatra is not listed.
After that book I start on Ayrlies, My garden, my story. I immediately warm to Mrs McConnell, or Bev, as she is known. Her husband just let her garden. Apparently some husbands are not so supportive, and then I think that sounds like my mum. She doesn't like my hobby and thinks it's a waste of time. She scoffs that I would ever find a job at a garden centre. You can't lift compost, she says.
When I look on the Kings Plant Barn website, it says they offer short term sabbaticals to overseas travellers under 30. Great. So that's why so many Poms work there. I'm wondering if there's a similar scheme in England where nzers get to work in an English Country Garden as part of their working holiday. Surely they need kiwis to stake their delphiniums and deadhead their roses. I don't want to work in a pub. I had enough of that, although, the pub I worked at in NZ was the Public Library. In England they don't have those, they've removed all the books and replaced them with cider and beer.
Same kind of clientele though. The great unwashed asking where the toilets are.
You might have the odd conversation about great literature, but, I can't recall ever having one of those in all the time I worked at the public library. It was more 'can we make this into a video parlour' kind of working environment. I might as well have been working the slot machines at Timeout.
Anyway...Prince Charles, if you are hiring..I do have National Certificate in Horticulture Level 3.
