I think so anyway..echium is coming into bloom, the glads are out, as are the freesias, the geraniums, and the lavenders. What a lift to my spirit to see the garden coming to life and colour again. Not that it's ever dormant but now there is a definite buzz in the air from the bees! Plus I keep seeing butterflies.
Sad news though, Rose our school gardener has retired, so I am not sure what we are going to do without her. Mr O is our caretaker but he doesn't have the green thumbs that Rose has. I can't just leave the library to go gardening could I? Unless I create a seed library or something?
My neighbour Shirley has some fruit trees that need pruning but I think she might be a bit too late on them as my peach tree has just started blossoming. I also saw small pink rose bloom on my Cecile Brunner climber - isn't it early for roses? So Ben our tree cropper guru said he'd come round and have a look. Wow Shirley has heaps of backyard space for a potential garden but I must not be coveting even though I now have a fig tree, two lemon trees and two grape cuttings in pots and nowhere to plant them! And how did she get passionfruit to thrive when I've tried several times and come up with nothing? Shirley doesn't have green thumbs at all she claims all she does is mow the lawn and clip the hedge a bit.
I have a few jobs to do, and no I didn't get round to ordering seeds online during lockdown. I figured I would wait till we reopened although there hasn't been a mad rush to the shops just yet. I still need to get used to wearing a mask. As well as glasses, earmuffs, hat, gloves, boiler suit, gumboots...maybe we should all just walk around in beekeeper's gear as the next thing in fashion.
One thing I have learned though, is neem oil isn't just good for plants. It's good for immobilising nits in your hair. I've been having a double dose of it. If it's not an outbreak of one thing, it's another. It's just a miracle we've survived so far. I know how the Kauri trees must feel. The latest campaign is to Save School Libraries.
When faced with sudden extinction at least Spring is not silent like Rachel Carson had predicted. It's actually quite noisy where I am, now the tuis have found my kowhai, and I suspect are the ones who've been eating my magnolias, though I am not 100% sure, unless I install a secret camera somewhere in the tree to catch the culprits. You know, everyone just wants to live.
