New Gardenland is having it's Juneteenth with a bit of a clear out and fresh plantings. Loretta gave me a lovely hot pink cyclamen which now has it's home beneath the cabbage tree, and JoAnne gave me half of her very long asparagus fern indoor plant which now is hanging in the school library. It's keeping company with a few more spider plants and orchid cactus. I hope mum won't miss them, they looked a bit forlorn on the ground but I'm hoping they'll be much happier hanging indoors.
I also cleared out some of the rose geranium by the garage to give the mexican sage room to grow, and cut the lemon grass down. JoAnnes pink maguerite daisy cuttings now have a chance. I also moved the frangipani from the side of the house into a pot on the deck. It lost all its leaves but should be a bit warmer on higher ground.
Otherwise my garden is getting filled up and soon there just won't be any room for more plants...though cousin Winnie had now taken away the old rabbit hutch so there IS a spot behind the garage...that is, if the rabbit hutch proves big enough, I've heard that SPCA demands that rabbits be kept in a space twice the size of Winnie's own bedroom. You'll need to ask cousin Winnie about the story with the rabbits. We've never had a rabbit resident in the garden so I have no idea why we had a rabbit hutch in the first place.
And hooray I must report our new letterbox is now installed, painted gleaming white with a 'No circulars' sign, sitting on its post and functioning. We got the Western Leader for the first time delivered right into its mouth and not chucked on the ground like the NZ Herald is every morning.
At Woodside I planted the rest of the bulbs Olga had donated to the garden, of ranunculus and anemone so please watch those tyres closely. I confess I have now splurged on tiger lily bulbs and still waiting for them to be despatched, I know I can squeeze them in New Gardenland somewhere despite what I wrote before.
To tide me over the winter I am going to try my hand at a Vincent Van Gogh paint by numbers sunflower painting. I've already done Starry Starry Night, so I'm sure sunflowers can't be too hard. In two weeks time it will be our first every Matariki holiday, so very looking forward to it, as apparently its all about gardening anyway!
Keep ears tuned though as Karyn and I recorded a new Garden Planet episode - Karyn's garden is getting a makeover and I'm racking my brains coming up with a simple design/planting plan for her new garden. She just needs that one special tree that is going to give her shade and make everyone happy without anyone threatening to cut it down.
