Work continues on my garden border and this time round I've put in tulips in my flaming bed along with the Nandina heavenly dwarf bamboo that is supposed to be red like a burning bush but has decided to change its mind and be green instead. Two of them have moved from the corner along and in their place I have buried 100 dutch iris. For the purple look. Except maybe I might have overdone it because I was reading in one of my garden design books that too much purple has a leaden effect.
And I haven't even put in the ajugas yet. But I managed to find a wonderful pink manuka called 'Kerry' already half in bloom and that will shelter the Jacaranda sapling from the frost hopefully.
I bought in three salvias in violet and blue to put near the roses, although they were the rejects Mitre 10 didn't want on the sale pallet, but, if I cut them back they will grow again (hopefully) and its the spring rains that will keep them moist. I know you are supposed to buy healthy plants not the sad looking ones on the sale pallet but...the ones that were full price weren't violet or blue they were red, and I don't fancy red ones.
I have been reading Exodus and I'm intrigued that God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. Was it by any chance a Nandina 'firepower'? Because I have seen them in Mitre 10 and they are flaming red that you think someone had dyed them on purpose or dipped them in lipstick. They are certainly eyecatching and possibly thats what God wanted. Moses must have been bored looking at all the grass tending sheep all day when he noticed this peculiar bush that looked like it was burning but wasn't. I mean out of all the plants God could have spoken out of he chose that bush. He didn't, after all, speak out of a thorny flower carpet rose and I suspect Moses wouldn't have listened if He had.
Which reminds me, I have to get round to burning those flower carpet roses one day, they are all cut up but I'm not going to risk dumping them if they could possibly grow again. Louise from church dropped by today and noticed my very englishy box hedge front garden which I said used to have these noxious flower carpet roses but I have now replaced them with ferns. She said, yes, she used to have them too and the children always complained about them when they were playing cricket on the lawn because if they hit a six and the ball went into the rose bushes they all got thorned trying to field the ball.
Note to landscape designers -- do NOT put roses anywhere near a lawn. I think roses should be restricted to south of the Bombay Hills because anytime anyone tries to grow them north especially in Auckland they end up with black spotty messes and bleeding hands.
