I have tried to find time to clip the hedge between rains. So far I have not done anything adventurous but given the buxus hedges a bit of a trim. Like my hair they have grown long and rather wispy and unruly. I know my hair personally suits a bowl cut, but I find I need to rebel every so often and wear it loose and long. Perhaps it's my inner hippy that's trying to break free.
The trimmings I have kind of brushed to one side as mulch. As the wind and rains continue the empty bed by the wisteria is seeing signs of life - the dock is growing back, as are the nasturtiums and calendula. I have pruned the wisteria back to two limbs to give the grapevine room to spread. Mum was threatening to cut the entire wisteria out but I said it would only grow back. So I compromised and now we have a little 3 metre wide wisteria bush instead of one six metres wide. The rest of the bed I have spread out more chamomile.
My hyacinth experiment at school didn't work out as great as I hoped. I had only two bulbs that flowered and one has grown big leaves but no flower and the rest are no shows. I reckon they need that special vase where they just sit above the water and not on the pebbles.
The school staffroom got a makeover with new furnishings and now even has...plants! In matching pots. I know indoor pots can be very expensive so I wonder where all the funding came from. I am considering getting some snazzy pots possibly from Kmart and putting my homegrown plants in them. I don't know who is looking after the plants in the staff room but I know my spider plants are still alive and thriving, I have even been asked for the babies.
Sad news Jacqui's cat Timmy was run over last week. She and Mike were pretty devastated. They still have his sister, Tui, but it's so hard to lose a pet.
I haven't been down to the Woodside garden much the last time I went got an earful from the others I decided I really had enough of being nagged and didn't go back. If everytime you try and do something it gets thrown in your face and they get all nasty about it then I'm not even going to bother. I'm sorry but that's the way it is with me. Gardening is my outdoor solace and place of peace but if people are going to take that away from me and make it all about how hard they work and make it a punishment then sorry. I didn't sign up for that.
I see a lot of cats round the garden, though Mummy Cat hasn't let any of them come inside or get close they kind of see me and then run into the hedges. I have planted some ajuga underneath the apple trees and removed some of the applemint so it can flourish. Also I have finally removed two flower carpet roses that were still left where my brothers had planted them by the maple. I couldn't dig out the entire roots but I dug as much as I could and where the remaining root was I figured if I coated it with superglue, it wouldn't grow back. Will it work? I don't know but two succulents are now where they were, and I had to remove an old lavender although I could take plenty of cuttings from it.
My next plan is to check out Janette's garden and get some more spring plants from her for the flower garden, babianas, alstromerias etc. And then head over to Rogers Garden Centre in the next school holidays in Mangere. I also have a bird bath I want to fill with water plants. So all that and pots requires some $$ so I am saving all my Paperplus money for that.
Loretta has said she'd like to join the floral club so I next meeting I am going to take her along. I am trying to get her back into gardening. I noticed that my snow peas have sprouted so hopefully I will have a crop this spring. That's all for now.
