Happy New Gardenland Year 2024

 It's a Leap Year, so we have extra days in Feb this year. The rain fell and the sun rose...another day in paradise aka Riverpark, or a little rectangular section of it. 

Dusty, the new resident cat, has given the birdlife a run for its money, and scared the living daylights out of numerous lizards/skinks. She originally came with a bell but, she shrugged those (both of them) including her engraved name tag with my phone number on it. Dusty, you supposed to catch rodents! Instead she follows me round when I trail grasses and flowers. I'm training her for the cat circus. I figure once she gets good enough she can go on Shortland Street as the clinic cat. 

I am considering also auditioning, as palliative care nurse (sorry there's nothing more we can do for you) or florist since my handwriting isn't bad enough to be a doctor and my latin only extends to plant names. Having a herbalist on Shortland Street would not do, they only use synthetic chemical drugs and 3M products. Well actually they use placebos and the blood is just watered down strawberry jam. In an ideal world there would be an acupuncturist at the clinic sticking pins into people. When you have acupuncture, all the secrets and traumas come out, it's almost as good as having a confessional/lie detector test. 

Sorry. I am rambling again. Plants! Yes they are now decorated in solar lights. Thank you Warehouse sale. My tomatoes are bearing fruit and pumpkins are flowering. I put in dusty miller which should be able to cope with the summer sun. Lobelia and helichrysum for edging.  Kings Plants Barn are bombarding me with emails nearly everyday saying I must come in and spend lots of money and take home all their plants. I think its nice they think their customers have endless streams of money to spend all on plants. 

Workloads increasing

 As the sun shines we make more and more hay. 

It's the way of the seasons, everyone frustrated they can't garden when its wet, but then with more daylight hours you can't garden enough. Weeds grow, get pulled out then grow again. 

Gardeners get stressed too, worrying that they can't do enough. But its not like I don't have my own garden to tend, which, if I was doing everyone else's, means my own is neglected. I don't feel ownership or kaitaiki of the whenua if I'm constantly being harangued about it or not allowed to do this or that. I thought about this as I stepped into the community garden and given the not so subtle message that I wasn't around enough. Well try looking after someone who may be terminally ill and caring for anyone outside your family just takes second place, I'm sorry and there are not two of me. Oh to be born a twin.

This is why I don't judge other peoples gardens. They do the best they can with the time they have. If it's not in their own backyard, there's the cost of time and fuel to get to the garden, tools, and other resources. Don't make a rod for your back is what I say as I pulled out the remaining broccoli and sprinkled what were meant to be wildflowers in the empty plot. A bit late. The wildflowers came with a dense A4 page of instructions that only rivaled the mushroom kit in complexity. 

I thought you just scattered the wildflowers wildly around and flowers grew up wild. Why did they need lime and coddling and raking and scattering medium and 4-6 weeks of moisture AND roundup spray before hand?? That wasn't really the definition of wild. They should rename them something like farmflowers or certified bee pollination centres. 

I'd been given a seed bomb and chucked it in my garden curious to find out when it would go off. The best seed bombs are tomatoes and citrus, particularly lemons. Why does gardening have to feel like hard work and drudgery, when instead it could be a seed throwing party? I would love to throw tomatoes and citrus around or squash grapes with my barefeet. Potato harvesting can be a treasure hunt, and weeding can also be a hide and seek game. With a machete. 

But no within the norms of straight lines and machinery, crop circles are just aberrations. I feel this is what machines do, take all the fun out of it, until its just a mindless job requiring headphones and steel rulers and weed mat pins. Inputs and outputs. Thanks to primary industry and fake christmas trees. We have all these wilding pines, and we import fake christmas trees from China, who must wonder what crazy people buy this junk. Its ok I was once a crazy person too but after given too many paper (and chocolate) roses I just wanted the real thing. 

Growing up

 Like my lilies?

They've suddenly burst into flower and lend the corner of the deck an exuberant touch and it's not Mother's Day either. 

I found putting my foot down worked and good news is, I may actually have some REAL garden work over the next few months (apart from my own garden that is) which may keep widows happy. I have dealt with both kinds of widow, the genuine widows who need help with their gardens, and the other kind I sometimes want to run a mile from  - black widows who are never happy with anything you do. 

Thankfully I've come across more genuine widows than black widows and Lord knows fewer and fewer have daughters that will help them if they haven't all run away and/or married off themselves. I've learned to accept this in life and never bothered by criticism because its almost universal that mothers dislike their daughters and don't get along with them. The Queen after all, could never get away from HER mother. Her palace(s) was so huge that she wanted to be close to her because living in a 250 room house it seems a bit strange to just move to another apartment just so you can be alone, it's not as if she needed the extra space. 

My counselor looked at me with pity in her eyes. Is there anything you struggle with? I go, oh no not really. Mum's always complained about me and to me and in front of everyone else as well its nothing new and nothing I can do anything about. 

I think she was secretly wondering if I was going to move out (where to?) and throw in the towel as well as cart mum off to a rest home/retirement village. I'd worked in those before and knew they were good for some people and hell for everyone else. It was always eerie in those places (palaces?) though because I would be the youngest person there. And it was sort of like Downton Abbey. Except the people you were servants to were just the elderly. 

No I said, I have my own room (library) and my garden and I don't really need anything else. But a massage would be nice. 

Spray and walk away/get cancer

 Gardening for other people isn't the joy its cracked out to be - especially if the people you are gardening for aren't actually gardeners - they hate gardens and would never do it themselves, so what they are really asking is you do all the dirty work for them and NOT have a garden at all.

I've often come across this attitude that for some people, gardening involves spraying herbicides to kill all plant life that's in the way. So I've decided to say no to anyone who asks me to do that. I am quite happy to hand weed so that you can enjoy your garden of the plants you DO have, but to ask me to expose myself to harmful chemicals and kill whatever is growing on your property just because you are unable to get down on your hands and knees or that it will take too much time to do, is like asking me to go to war with napalm.

I conscentiously object. 

And I'm sorry I am not sacrificing my life so your 'garden' can look 'tidy'. 

I am quite happy to do pruning, or a bit of weeding, hedge clipping, mulching, watering or even shock horror...propagating which involves actual growing of plants. But please don't ask me or even think about getting me hooked up with a backpack sprayer with a lethal chemical.

I have known too many people who've died of exposure and inevitable cancer to toxic chemicals (and it can happen very quickly) to want to do something so stupid. 

So there have said that as a public declaration. 

I don't have a 'gro safe' (they can't even spell) certification nor would I consider getting one. I would not ever sell Roundup to anyone. I have enough problems being exposed to petrol fumes everytime I get behind the wheel of a car on the Auckland motorway (headaches, brain fog) and not exercising my legs so that they atrophy from underuse. So whether its lung or lymphoma cancer I'm a bit risk averse and want to keep my life thank you very much.

Christmas Cactus

Too early for Christmas?

But it's Christmas Cactus season, already!!

I had my first Christmas Card, sent by a corporate yesterday and already have my olive tree decorated with new Christmas ormaments. I bought Christmas lights for the Garden Club raffle, and have packed of shoeboxes to somewhere on the planet full of toothbrushes and pens and notepads. Apparently everyone wants toothbrushes for Christmas for some strange reason, though I've tried to include a few tiny squishmallows (that you can't eat). Though banned from decorating the house I can at least do the garden...and so I will sure to have Christmas lilies and Christmas potatoes and Christmas strawberries this year.

But its only November, I hear you say. Yes well, best to get in early before the exhaustion sets in from seasonal confusion overload. I am still recovering from both Covid round 2 (thanks mum) and hayfever. 

Otherwise I have been tres busy doing garden since daylight saving means we get more hours in the day to do the garden - that's what its there for right? I must have been gardening in my sleep as I get up, garden, nap, garden, then eat, then garden and garden some more. I have put in my tomatoes (more) and potted up the capsicums, emptied and refilled the water tank, and Dusty has been catching lizards. Why I don't know as lizard soup isn't that appetising, but maybe she wants me to catch some fish if using lizards for bait?

That is if we are even allowed to go fishing anymore thanks to increasing pollution. I swear I thought it was going to be the end of the world when I realised I can't even go fishing in the creek anymore and die of giardia/bacteria/virus from drinking the water. 

So much for 'eco-city', what was that again? 

Thoughts of death and dying have been hovering around recently as the sun has climbed higher in the sky, making white people anxious that they cannot survive the climate change to tropical paradise while the dark people never complained about the ice age..they just adapted. But its not that, it's when school caretakers take to spraying roundup on their school fields and children run around barefoot and get poisoned that I'm sometimes feel like saying something but you know what...baby boomers never listen to a Gen Yer what do I know? 

Oh and we also have a change in government to the 3 wise men or the 3 bullies take your pick depending on your perspective, so its likely I won't have a job anytime soon thanks to ....the monkeys on the computers. However, I can still garden while I can and if it were not such an expensive hobby I can do it on the smell of oily rags as everything run by the govt is. After all I need food on the table without having to buy it from Pak N' Save. The Stick Man really needs more food, as I contemplate  working at Pak N'Save may be my next job. They have all this empty space that needs gardening in front of the carpark...

 

 

Urban Floral Farmlet

 The Garden Club members embarked on a local visit to the Urban Floral Farmlet in Te Atatu Peninsula where grower Marisa had turned her backyard into a floral enterprise. It was part of our 'garden trip' for club members now we were no longer travelling vast distances en masse to exotic locations (outside of Aucks) and haunting  RSAs. 

Marisa had spoken at one of our club nights on the joys of working from home, meaning quitting your corporate job to invest in your own backyard, and all the things she learned along the way. Being a complete novice, she learned plenty and was passionate about each and every seedling. 

We encountered beds of cottage flowers grown to make stunning bouquets, of particular note were statice and billy buttons. Then we were treated to a tulip goody bag, and dahlia tubers on sale. It was sort of like exit through the gift shop. 

Afterwards everyone mosied on down to Woodside. I was not going to give any long talk explaining all the trials and tribulations and consequences of NOT working at the community garden since I'd hardly any time at all down there and the ladies could see for themselves but Jacqui took the reigns and spoke about slug control and other such things to the rapt audience while I caught up with Karyn and her new dog that I'd never met. Cute. I wonder if Dusty could come along to the garden too. 

I was asked one question though 'Can you plant anything you like or do you have to check in with others first'? I wanted to give an honest answer because this was never my private garden but even at home its seems like I have to ask permission to even breathe so I wasn't sure what to say. Don't get caught? Within reason? You have to fill out a form...

The ladies were hungry after that and we repaired to Mitre 10 cafe for much needed sustenance and possibly shop at the Garden Centre. 

I reflected that I couldn't possibly turn my own backyard into an urban floral farmlet and make a profit selling flowers when its enough just to even attempt to have a garden on hard clay. But good on Marisa for making a go of it. 

My dahlia is called 'Rocco' and its pompom purple, so I will be putting that in along with two kinds of potatoes (Agria and Jersey Benne) in a few days. The rain has come, I'd emptied the barrel with seaweed fertiliser and now it's full up again. 

I've a list of things to buy now the growing season is here and things to do. Please don't ask me to do any extra things round November/December. It's gardening time. My job is cut out for me in my own garden that its likely that I can't do anyone else's jobs outside of home for a while yet. Post Covid, people always talk about working from home, but they never talk about working from the garden which is where the real labour of love is. 

Labour

 I missed my calling to be a botanist. They don't really have that specialty in New Zealand, where horticulture is relegated to the Primary Industries and gardeners are seen as The Help, paid to mow your lawns and keep the rugby fields looking green. Was thinking on this yesterday as on Labour Weekend, which is the traditional time of year to plant tomatoes, Bev, Cenny and I snuck off to have a look at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

It was a lovely mid spring stroll, with many flowers out. Falun Dafa had taken over and set up booths everywhere extolling the virtues of traditional Chinese arts and crafts, which had been supressed in Communist/Athiest China. There were colourful displays of lotus lanterns and spring festivities, lion dances, and flowy garments. I forgot that I wasn't Chinese enough and seemingly blended in. I learned about Chinese traditional herbal medicine, that surely was another calling I missed too. I can't really explain how I ended up born in Auckland, it just happened. I like to blame my parents for that. 

Unlike Hamilton Gardens, Auckland Botanic Gardens doesn't have themed gardens, so there is actually no Chinese garden as such. I saw the makings of a Japanese garden near the magnolias, where some Japanese people were doing impromptu Karaoke, but so far, no bamboo, rice paddies and interesting rocks that make up a Chinese Garden. Despite having the largest Chinese population in NZ. Instead Auckland has a Children's garden, a South African garden, a Rose Garden and an English cottage garden. There's an Endangered Native species Garden (Maori garden? Mara?) and a herb garden and a perennial garden. 

In bloom and stood out were clivias under the shade of camellias and redwoods, and banksia yellow roses on the trellises. There was also a geranium looking pink flower pom pom looking plant that I quizzed Bev on - she reckons its a verbena bonasoreriss or something, but I reckon it's a geranium (the leaves) or lynchis (the flowers) . It had no tag or label though everything else had which was annoying. The one plant you want! 

There were eels in the pond, and we didn't really get round everything, as its park like grounds are extensive and you really need a sun hat and maybe a buggy if you want to see everything. There is a library and a cafe, but its enough to look at all the plants and not be tempted to take cuttings. 

I got back home to put my tomatoes in (Grosse Lise and Oxheart) and in general get ready for the growing season. Next Saturday the garden club are descending on the community garden at Woodside and I haven't even been to do any gardening! Arrgh. They will soon see there's a lot to do. Wonder if this a sneaky way to get recruits in. Probably not as it takes a lot of effort and labour to have a productive vege-kitchen garden especially if you don't live on site. 

Yes it would be my dream job to work in the Botanic gardens (I claim the herb garden) but since I live out West, there is not a chance I can get there in time thanks to Auckland traffic which takes at least 40 minutes to 2 hours on a good day. And you have to do gardening EVERY day. Not just five minutes on the weekend or on Labour Day! 

Orange you glad to see me?

 Sometimes in the garden I have waves of colour, first its all purple flowers, then blues, then pinks, and now its orange turn (tangelos and clivia - thanks Els). Tangelo tree got beauty treatment and she now has had a haircut, trimmed her nails, and been fed lots of compost and vermicast, as well as sequestron tonic. 

The plants at her feet are now being moved to make room...although I still have a lot to do, with the chickens cages and rabbit huts to be cleared out and make room for our newest family member, who was adopted from the SPCA 26 September, who I am training to catch rodents. 

Her name is Dusty so her is her debut pic, I just need to plant some catmint/catnip in preparation for when she does get outside to enjoy the spring weather..as it is well and truly here. Hallelujah! 

Spring/Koanga

 Spring has arrived, and big G had her birthday. She was a spring chicken, I was an autumn chick born at the wrong time of year. She gets blooming flowers, I get dead leaves. Echium always puts on a candle display for my sisters birthday and miraculously she is still here, though for only two more days before she flies back. 

Dad also took this photo of a Mummy Cat look-alike without the socks, could she possibly be related? I have nicknamed her Daughter Cat. 

Without a resident cat, the birds are having a field day in the garden, and the tuis have been drinking the kowhai flowers. I am seriously thinking of adopting another cat, but so far have been unable to make the trip out of the house to do so, as other family members need attention...

Mitre 10 had their annual Garden Evening showcasing their wares and I managed to score quite a bit of swag except I was luckless in the raffle draw, where hose reels, giant rakes and vege pods were up for grabs.  Too bad I was rejected from their work crew, same story with Kings Plant Barn. I guess they just don't need another COG (check-out girl) in their wheel. I bought flower seeds and a herd of ceramic sheep, three white and one black of course. Am still waiting on my ceramic shell, that was left behind at the studio while everyone else had theirs, Thera took pity on me and offered me her snail as consolation. 

Our garden club hosted a speaker from the Orchid Club, but I confess, it was not my cup of tea and doing a working bee down Taupo way to enthuse over native orchids is not my idea of a good time. I just haven't fallen for the whole Orchid buzz and become an orchid lover. Though I entered the produce table for the first time with rhubarb stalks and got second place! 

Otherwise things are looking up in New Gardenland, though surely there will be a time when Garden Planet becomes a reality. Of course you don't need to listen to me to talk about it when you are busy doing it yourself. Spring brings...onions, rolls, lambs, chickens, fever and cleaning.  Daylight saving,  flowers perfume the air, and everyone who timed it right has their babies. 

Beating the Winter Blues

Light bulbs

Early Spring has arrived with the tulips lighting up the driveway- red for stop and look at me, amber for slow dow - though there are no green tulips for GO - more and more flowers are appearing every day. Waking up from the winter slumber with chilly mornings hasn't been easy, especially in the valley in an uncarpeted, non-heat pumped home, but we survived. Or nearly all, mum was a bit touch and go and had a bout in the Wainamu Ward where at least it was warm and Daisy the cat was there.

My car battery died, but it got replaced, though I still haven't been able to get down to Woodside since its a bit of a trek in mud and cold to pick winter veges. Of which we have barely any in my garden since dad said no to any more garden space taking up room on the lawn. At most a sprinkling of chives but even parsley has struggled. The tangelos were sour this year, so I chucked them into the ball pit which was the bottom of the garden. I am planning on turning the compost down there to empty the bins and then level it. 

Brother Leyton arrived with brand-spanking new Stihl hedge trimmer, and left buxus trimmings all over the lawn on the weekend, though now our hedges are back to their lego-brick shape.

Early spring has meant I've been able to pull together a posy with mostly hellebores, forget me nots, camellias, grape muscari and freesias. No daffodils yet - all the narcissi have been eaten by slimy caterpillars now we no longer have a chicken. I've also had to oat mulch other bulbs to protect them from slugs. GardenPost had a $1 lily bulb sale so I'm waiting on more to add to the garden, my previous parcel is now sprouting in their pots.

The kaffir lime tree leaves turned yellow, a decidley un-lime colour! Even after feeding it sequestron, so am thinking it's too cold to absorb much nutrients at the moment. 

Good news though, the return of the Big G to New GardenLand means I have an extra helper and it will be the only time I have her for at least ten days in the garden and get to be the boss instead of the other way round. She'll boss me around in all other areas except the garden haha. 

Loretta and I went to another weekend art workshop where we poured acrylics on canvas to make flower paintings. Though nothing compares to the real thing. Roll on spring! 

 

La Mas Ceramics Studio

 Garden Club had an outing, a Saturday morning workshop at La Mas Ceramics Studio in Kelston. Thera, our secretary, was a ceramics nut and booked us in for a bout of indoor creativity. We painted ceramics of our choosing to be fired in the big kiln to possibly be revealed at the next club night. 

Our garden grumbles were the same - can't do anything in this cold, wet, dark winter. This is why club nights are now put on recess during July and August. It only took about 60 years to make this decision...

Meanwhile at Woodside Community Garden, which I haven't set foot in for a the past two months, is desperate to get me back in on the same morning. Though they haven't called any meetings either, and Garden Club had already organised their Wintergarden and Ceramics outings. So I just go where I've already been booked in. 

I sometimes forget that I'm meant to be a faithful stalwart who sticks and commits to something every time the doors open. Though I find I'm actually fickle as the weather and not like a rock people supposedly can rely on. Being singleminded has its benefits, though it also means you can't just suddenly change your mind. Only crazy people say one thing and do another. If only Auckland weather was reliable. But people also forget it's not like Friendly Feilding, where the town is completely flat and everyone knows their neighbours. Or Windy Wellington, that revolves around a Beehive. Or even Cultured Christchurch, which has an underground crime scene and above ground cardboard Cathedral. In Awkward Auckland, you may have to cross a bridge over troubled waters to get places, or ford a stream, or go around a dormant volcano, cut through the bush, and navigate the tides and inlets of the harbour, or travel through a tunnel, an in and around a dozen or so bridges around Spaghetti Junction whilst changing five lanes to get to a turn off ramp, then fight for the last carpark. On a good day, the sun is shining and you can actually see where you are going. On a bad day, it's like the movie the Labyrinth. It's just easier to stay at home. That's why Aucklanders didn't mind the lockdowns so much compared to the rest of the country. 

I'm just sayin'.

So anyway, I had my ceramic craft fix and painted myself a little shell which I am going to either hold soap or tea light candles in, or maybe potpourri or pearls or glass beads. Thera painted a snail, Karen a conch, Grace had a dragonfly, Bev had a cat, and Cenny a lemon tree wall plaque. If you want to paint and glaze your own garden ornaments, here's the place. Resident ceramic artist Marilyn said she must have supplied everybody in West Auckland with a glazed ceramic wall gecko for the past 25 years. 

I got home and thought should I do some gardening? I pruned the tangelo, which was sour this season, of all the dead branches. Several tuis feed on the surrounding Dragon's Gold kowhai and now can land on its branches. The Orchid Show was also on this weekend, now at Te Atatu Peninsula, which was always a treat to go to. But I am NOT joining their club. That's takes a certain amount of obssession to be an orchid fancier (and glasshouse money, which I don't have) and the Prize winning Orchid people have a sort of crazed look about them. I know the kind, as depicted in the book/movie the Orchid Thief. It's a cult. Once you buy one orchid, you'll want them all and become a shameless exhibitor of the most coveted showgirls in the world of plants and then you've reached the point of no return. 

Foraging Life

 I've been reading a memoir called Foraging Life by Helen Lehndorf, from the 'Naki. She doesn't mention a word about the famous Rhododendron Garden Festival or even the con-current fringe garden festival although it seems people from around her parts are also permaculture nerds like me. 

Her book has several recipes made from weeds and fruits foraged in the wild places that are just the norm for those who live in the Wild West. 

My mum is a forager too. When inorganic collection day comes around, she'd be the first to pick things up from the side of the road, and we frequent Henderson's dozen op shops, looking for that elusive serendiptious item that cannot be bought for love or money online. This also applies to wild chestnuts, feijoas, dandelions, onion weed, kawakawa, pinecones and anything else nature gives us for free.

My neighbour goes one better, she dumpster dives, and sometimes I have to stop her from rescuing food from rubbish bins and on Fridays when it's rubbish day I make myself scarce because I know she'd be tempted to look in everyone's bins to see what they are throwing out, there might be something edible. 

Initially it was something to be ashamed of that we were gleaners and picked things off the ground and ate them that others have discarded and dropped, but now it has become a badge of honour, to say we are saving planet from potential imploding from all the things we keep putting into the landfill and down the drain.

This has given me a perverse idea, to dig a giant hole in the backyard and encourage people to drop their excess money they don't want in it. After all they can't eat it. It's a bit useless. When its full I will just put dirt on the top and level it again with some turf, and then in maybe 30 years time (I plan to still be around) when I do need some extra cash, I can just dig it up. 

Or I could just plant potatoes. 

Actually, I have been hoping for a break in the weather so I can sow sunflowers, and the snow peas (a bit late) and the packet of wildflower seeds from Gardenpost. Although, good news, I have found a new school library AND it will now receive some plant love too. So maybe I can just put my money plants by the doors. It looks like this school doesn't receive free school lunches either so I have my work cut out for me, unless we do a deal with the another school which DOES receive school lunches and eat their leftovers? 

I am counting on Countdown, or maybe Fresh Choice or even New World to provide us with some donations that we can somehow convert into books and materials for the library. Times are tough and I don't want to beg. I can sing for my supper though. Though looking at the field, it too looks like a potential rice paddy/shrimp farm though I must ignore such silly notions and buy my lunch from the nearest KFC/bakery like everyone else. 

My brothers recent drama ($4000 worth of garden tool equipment, gone, after his garden shed got broken into) has left him a bit reeling and I am also a bit sad because actually I was wanting to borrow the waterblaster and hedgetrimmer one weekend for New Gardenland. 'Borrow' not 'steal and never return it'. My brother did not operate a garden tool lending library though and failed to barcode and stamp his tools so, I guess nothing can be done about that...

Fairy Dust

 Weather has been wet as usual, and weather reports say we haven't had a week without rain in Aucks this year. If it's not raining, its drizzling or cloudy, or showery and the moments of sunshine aren't enough to dry out everything so anyone doing laundry has to pick and choose their days or let it all pile up. 

It's like we are lockdown again except it isn't COVID anymore but simply being plagued with rain. Or maybe just the winter blues. Some people claim they have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and get prescribed either Vitamin D tablets or if they can afford it, trips to sunnier climes, like Fiji and Raro. 

All this rain is very good for the water table. Maybe this will sustain is in times of Summer droughts. All I know is if the puddles don't dry out we're in for damp, dank mould and mildew and possibly outbreaks of TB and general miasma. 

The problems is we are on an an isthmus and the only way out of Auckland is up North or to the South, if you go further East you end up in the bogs and fens of Thames and if you go West you crash into the surf at Piha, if you aren't hit by landslides down Scenic Drive. 

I have been plotting my escape, the easiest route for me would be to go up North (rather than brave the motorway South to the airport) however, thing is I can't take my garden with me. Also I feel it would be a faithless act to up and leave for greener (or drier?)  pastures just because of a bit of rain. Also if I stay, why not turn the backyard into a rice paddy? Mum might be pleased to have homegrown rice instead of importing the precious commodity from Thailand. 

My solution is to scatter fairy dust over everything, i.e gypsum aka Calcium Sulphate in hopes that the clay will accept this attempt to bind and poke holes in it so the water can drain and perhaps form underground caves underneath the garden. Could work. 

I could also invest in a broadfork, or shoes with big spikes in it to aerate the ground, or just commandeer a school rugby team to run roughshod around the lawn, turn it into a mud wrestling pit, and once the ground is throughly rucked over, start planting again. I had this vision when I worked at the Orchards Retirment Village for the neighbouring Glenfield College (battle) fields. I remember saying to my boss look at all that green space we could turn it into an amazing garden. Then the residents of the retirment village would have something beautiful to look at rather than a muddy pasture and two rugby posts. He just thought I was crazy and reminded me that I missed a spot leaf blowing. 

He was no fun. 

Matauranga

As promised, pics of the latest garden trip.  For those who love symmetry and order the Auckland Domain Wintergardens are for you. Planting in grids and colour coordinating your flowers for the mathematically minded Minecrafters amongst us. I can imagine maths books having questions like how many pots of flowers would you need to source per square foot to create bedding displays like this. I remember using string lines to make perfect circles and patterns for car park beds and had it down to a fine art. The heartbreaking thing was pulling them all out again when the display was over. But then this is the reality of mass annual bedding displays. It is the garden equivalent of fast fashion for the 'wow' factor. 

 I'm pleased that a parcel from Garden Post has finally arrived. I have ordered tiger lilies 'Corsage' 'Red life' 'Yellow Bruse' and Oriental lily 'Stargazer'. The instructions said to plant immediately yet I have to wait in between thunder, lightening, hail and wind. Real witchy weather. I don't know who made God mad, but He was sending His judgement down on Henderson today. Thankfully at the end of the storm is a rainbow and the sweet silver song of a ...tui. I recommend wearing gumboots should you ever be struck by lightening and not flying a kite. 

Pat had given me a parcel of seeds to sow including beans, bee and butterfly wildflower mixes, rocket and coriander. I'm still hanging out to plant snow peas if they have not drowned by now. 

Rivercare had their Matariki and Matauranga talk in which they reiterated that schools are the places to get the message out there to be environmentally aware. All Westie schools are somewhere along the awa (Henderson Creek, Opanuku, Hururhuru, Taikata) do water testing and education of what to flush or not flush down the toilet. Apparently our sewerage system is breaking down. Sir Dove Myer Robinson did not forsee the over flows from a population nearing 2 million in the wider Auckland area! To think only a few decades ago Auckland was fledgling city with its outer limits only reachable by tram. It was basically a big village ending in Western Springs and Westmere was 'the West' while Henderson was a small country town that you could only get to by rail. It was also a 'dry' area on one side of the tracks. Te Atatu Peninsula (or Henderson North) was scrubland and wild and there was no motorway or even causeway..everyone travelled along Great North Road from Karangahape until they reached Swanson. And there were Kauri forests all around (before it got cut down for Auckland's houses and then all the gum dug out). So far, so progress. 

Queen Street was just a ditch and the way to get down to the harbour was on your waka, imagine if the Pakeha settlers had their original dream and the centre of town was actually Cornwallis. I try not to look into the past so much but now I've lived long enough to say to youngsters well it was not always like this. I remember when....and they look at me incredulously as if I've just jumped out of a tardis and travelled back in time. I've started singing a waiata E Karanga E te iwi E 'Pomaria E' in the mornings just to be grounded. This is my turangawaewae the land filled with so much we loved and lost.  The apple trees are still growing as I've put them back to remind me of those days of yore when Henderson was a Garden of Eden of orchards and vineyards and the apple man would go door to door bringing Granny Smiths, Golden Delicious and Braeburns when the fruit was just there for the picking and the cats play and are buried when they die in the pet cemeteries of our yards. 

 

Warm Wintergardens

 Our garden club visited the Auckland Wintergardens on Saturday. I took Pat, Cenny and Paula in my car and Barbara, Janette, Thera, Bev and Linda came in another. Our club seemed to have shrunk a bit over winter but we made the effort and was nice to see each other during the daytime! And the wintergardens too. 

The windows of the glasshouses had recently been cleaned and restored so everything was looking new and to my mind, a bit TOO new. I did miss the lichen and the wildlife and the cat that used to nap in the tropical house, where all the vines had been cleared away, it seemed they had put fresh plants in or rearranged it. 

The temperate house was full of cyclamen, cinerarias, ornamental kale, and golden daffodils that had heavy heads. The ladies exclaimed over sisikyou lewisia (we looked it up) a succulent that looked like an aeonium but had a dainty flower. 

There were also signs saying DO NOT TOUCH and beware, the fruits are too hot, and could kill you - the forbidden fruit being super hot chillis/capsicums/bell peppers of course. It's just like the Garden of Eden! (except we were all clothed, because it's winter). We didn't see the stinky arum lily, maybe it was having a nap elsewhere. My favourite cat's tails plants were there though, but the chocolate plant and the bananas had disappeared. Maybe they got eaten. Pink orchids were in bloom, and the hanging baskets had pansies and lachenalias in them. There were curly spider plants. There was water lilies that hadn't appeared yet. 

The fernery also seemed to have been weeded and seemed a bit forlorn, where was the enchantment, and mystery? I didn't hear any birdsong there. Maybe they'll return, but that's what happens when you remove all the insect life it seems. 

Outside Iceland poppies were on the beds, and the fountains were playing. We had a mackerel sky. It was a beautiful day, and after seeing the Wintergardens we had lunch at the kiosk, which was very noisy and busy but I had a nice meal of lamb cutlets and a juicie of fresh fruit, worth the wait so I'm not complaining. Then on the way home Cenny and Paula visited Pats garden which was gorgeous as usual, so all in all we had a lovely time. I'll post some pics later. Though I'm never very good at taking photos possibly someone needs to be a garden photographer, I'm too busy seeing and experiencing everything through my own two eyes. The Wintergardens watch you too because there are  CCTV cameras inside to make sure nobody steals any plants or takes cuttings.....I'm thinking what happens if garden security does catch someone? 

I think maybe they end up in garden jail or thrown in the slough pond. 

Matariki

 Matariki marks the beginning of the gardening year. In Auckland it was 'wet and whiny' according to the Prime Minister, so anyone hoping to get up at dawn to see Matariki Stars rising has a slim chance...after all, we are the Land of the Long White Cloud and often that cloud blocks out the stars, and brings rain. 

A far better indicator would be when the kowhai start blooming, as they are on my Dragons Gold specimens. Some of the are lopped and stunted thanks to Dad's pruning efforts. He doesn't like anything shading his weather station, or blocking the night sky. He's taken photos of the moon and the habour bridge lights, as if in compensation for the lack of garden decoration. 

I haven't made a fuss over Matariki as it has come in the school holidays where it's pyjama day everyday. But it has marked a turning point for a new beginning though who knows what that may be this year. 

I'm somehow supposed to apply all this matauranga (knowledge) to the garden but so far have been failing  as my marama (moon calendar) keeps turning and so far no indication of any change or growth. It's been too wet to prune the buxus, I've only done one bed, my GardenPost lily bulbs I ordered have not arrived, the rain lilies have not appeared even after all that rain, the tangelo needs pruning and feeding, and we haven't been meeting for Garden Club in the evenings. However this Saturday is going to be our day trip to the Wintergardens, and I'm also going to a Rivercare meeting Thursday evening where an ecologist is going to talk about Matariki and Matauranga. 

It was  Miss Asher's birthday (memorial magnolia tree) on July 17 and she is looking stately and in bloom. I've surrounded her with irises this time though none have bloomed yet. Others who've passed on in the past year include Beth and Jane, both women of faith and my best teachers. Beth's geraniums are still growing and I have yet to figure out what to plant for Jane. Jane had her funeral on Thursday and it seems God keeps wanting me to continue her legacy by being Bible teacher in schools. Despite me being NOT one who naturally teaches. I remember when I first taught I was so nervous I was shaking and couldn't speak in front of anyone. They say 'fear of public speaking' is the number one thing and I sure had it (avoided speech contests in school, never acted in stage dramas, never signed up for  talent quests, hated presentations, never spoke a word in class, never wanted any attention to myself, and never got up in assemblies) however that never stopped Jane for believing I had something to offer. I am quite lucky in that I now have a karaoke microphone that could amplify my voice if need be. Karaoke does give you the words to say anyway. Otherwise nobody would ever hear me. Thank you Lord for technology.

The thing with plants is they don't talk. Or maybe they are so quiet we can't hear them.  I guess that's why I like them, they have a secret language all of their own.  If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, is there a sound? The kumara does not speak of its own sweetness. 

I am thinking of a Karaka tree to plant for Jane (although where exactly, I am not sure, perhaps at Edmonton School where she taught?) as she moved from Henderson to Karaka which was a world away (and in some aspects, another town) and that will be something to remember her by. Or maybe a beautiful tree fuchsia Kotutukutu that likes being beside rivers as she used to live near the Henderson Creek.  I'm not always one for staying up and stargazing for Matariki but I'm always observing the native plants during the day.  Belinda Jane Greenslade RIP 

Puddles, Mud, Gumboots

 July school holidays are kind of like living in Lockdown again. You actually can go out, but would you want to? Gardening is not an option...unless you have a great hankering to garden in puddles, mud, and wearing gumboots. The people with wings have flown away to far off lands and are probably enjoying the weather in Fiji, Samoa, or the entire Northern Hemisphere. It's too bad I'm not a bird, I would have flown the nest by now.

I have been reading more George Orwell, this time a book called 'Books vs Cigarettes'. In one of his essays he writes that he counts up the cost of books he buys and concludes its not much more than buying cigarettes and probably a healthier habit. I've been chain-reading books for the past month like people used to chain-smoke cigarettes. Now I've heard everyone's into vaping and contributing to the plastic rubbish problem. At least cigarette butts biodegraded in the garden and were made of somewhat natural plants like tobacco and weed, but those vapes? Who knows what's in them? You may as well be inhaling weedkiller fumes.

The other essay that made an impression on me was 'Such Such were the Joys' about his boyhood as a scholarship student at a private school called St Cyprians that was prepping him for Eton, THE school for British elites (kind of like Kings College) and how snobby and bullying everyone was there and what sadists the Headmaster and Headmistress were. I can only say in my experience of working in private schools that he's not far wrong, more than 70 years later, and nothing much has really changed.

 I did work in Kings College when our gardening team planted up their river bank with natives and others maintained the sports fields and grounds. My boss had planted up the front entrance and it was typical iris and guara fluffy flowers that was his trademark..but we all knew elite schools like that would never teach horticulture and get the students actually working in the gardens or planting anything. Can't get their hands dirty! 

I have yet to find my dream job. I want to say that it will include a garden, AND a library but what manifestation that will take in the future I have no idea. Garden to Table, I think is a wonderful initiative but it needs to be in all schools with qualified Master gardeners and cooks teaching this as core curriculum.. complete with seed libraries and botanic garden field trips. I wish everyone would read a book that made me cry called 'The Power of a Plant' about a teacher in the inner concrete jungles of NYC (this is where most all 'To Sir with Love' tales are set) whose students who have little hopes or aspirations at all and are fighting all the time in class...until he discovers what he thought was a bunch of onion bulbs in a bag are actually daffodils and this magically transforms his rough and tough potential gang members into...kind and loving upright citizens who want to green up the Bronx, where you never see a garden anywhere. 

At least, that's his story and he's sticking to it. They call his team the 'Green Guerillas' and then go round seed bombing the derelict wastelands. I'm not sure if this will go down with many young Auckland students who's experiences in horticulture mostly extend to growing marijuana under lights at home. Well Stephen Ritz, you tried. 

Otherwise, I'm thinking, where is Auckland's answer to RHS Wisely Gardens? Where are all our future park ranger/gardener/playground caretakers going to learn their craft? Is gardening only ever going to be a pastime for the rich and wealthy to pay someone else to do? Must we all flounder around with expensive vegepods when we have no idea how to look after our own whenua? 

Orwell's Roses

 I'm reading Orwell's Roses. It's a book of essays about George Orwell, who aside from writing polemic, prophetic dystopias, and the brilliant Animal Farm, was also an avid gardener. When he wasn't battling totalitarianism, he was whacking weeds and nurturing rose bushes. 

I always knew that about him though, that heart was in the bucolic English countryside of meadow and dale rather than the trenches of revolutionary class war. Sadly he did die young of TB which might have been from the infections he picked up in the damp muddy battlefields. Every gardener longs to have an ideal spot where they can garden, and over and over and over it's always stated most plants don't like wet feet, they must have good drainage, and air circulation. 

Rebecca Solnit writes that she visits Orwell's former garden out of curiosity and the Albertine roses he planted are still there. It's hard to kill a rose once its found it's sweet spot though, as I found with the flower carpet roses my brothers planted in the buxus beds. The buxus may be getting blight, so I've decided I must trim it right back and give it a chance to grow again. I can't face digging the whole lot out. 

I'll have to do the whole row on a dry day so it doesn't look like a toothless smile with plants missing here and there. Tip, don't plant buxus hedges in Auckland. The humidity will not be it's friend. I'd go for corokia, or manuka or totara or pittorsporum going for a fine leaved hedge that will hold up. Or if you like wavy forms with little effort, muehlenbeckia or low hummocks of coprosma. I've seen attempts at griselenia fail big time and gardenias don't like to be hedged either, they'll be attacked with thrips. 

It's just the low buxus though that needs to go and I wonder if I will get away with leaving a  very minimal ankle high hedge just enough to define a border. 

The other thing I've done is harvest the yacon, by digging it out  as the leaves are turning. It's now 2:50 in the afternoon and the sky has turned so dark that it almost feels like it's night time. I may have never entered the military but I too engage in battle right in my own backyard defining territory and crossing borders, martialling my army of worms and sharpening my swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, marching in my gardening boots for bread and roses, digging for victory. 

Eavesdropping

 I came home one day to find that Dad had cut down the cabbage tree, and the silver fern had been lopped. Of course mum must have put him up to it as she'd been complaining for a while. It's likely that they will both grow back in a determined effort to survive though. 

The cabbage tree had chosen to root itself next to the house and was brushing up against the eaves, with the silver fern at it's feet, which was threatening to extend over the driveway. I was hoping it would grow taller than the car and not get in the way but tree ferns and cabbage trees have a way of ignoring straight lines as they are not block shaped or minecraft creations. Have you ever played minecraft? Your eyes will go square, and there is foliage in it apparently but that is all square and blocks as well. So yes to buxus, no to anything that grows that you cannot clip to shape. 

Now some Maori might be appalled that our native plants are shunned in favour of English exports. But I can't do anything about it. As I've said before, this is suburbia and we have been sectioned. It doesn't matter, this 636 sq metre plot is all we have. 

By the law of diminishing returns though, and the exponential growth of human reproduction, and taking into account of natural attrition its likely that Auckland eventually will collapse under its own weight  because each section is going to be carved up into smaller and smaller plots if the Council has their way until we are all living in skyscrapers aka Hong Kong 2. I can just picture it now. The rivers and creeks will be paved over like Queen Street and shops all put on them. 

Apparently we can never have enough shops and cafes. Years ago, I over heard that the Council were planning to make Auckland into a 'World Class City' or the 'World's most Livable City' which naturally meant the entire world was going to come here and live which I didn't think was feasible. So now when you walk along you can see trees chopped down and  houses going up but they are not really houses, more like boxes and my most frustrating thing is to see them being built with roofs that have NO EAVES. Now with canopy cover completely gone, and no tree roots to suck up water, and all the 'rain events' we are having, guess what? 

In about 5 years time those new buildings will all have to be pulled down because the rain will be getting in the walls and they will be leaky and mouldy and damp, they don't even have any window sills or flashings, and there is no green belt or rain garden to absorb the water and the excess storm water is all going to rush like a torrent into the harbour and destroy our marine environment - and we won' be able to swim or go fishing. 

Am I being a Cassandra about this and everyone shrugging and going well she's all doom and gloom. Think of all the world class shops and tourists we can attract when we host all the World Cups. Because we are a World City now. Well I'm sorry I just don't care what the world thinks this will be the ruin of Auckland. Yes Rome wasn't built in a day but they don't have rain like we do in Auckland. 

A teacher once lent me A History of Rome because I was interested in the rise and fall of a civilisation. Well I think A History of Auckland would tell a much more dramatic tale of hubris. 

Planting Day

 It seemed a bit early to be planting the reserve as usually happens in July but this Sunday was designated Riverpark Reserve native tree planting day and David had emailed me saying my Dad must do penance for chucking weeds in the reserve. Well since Dad was at MOTAT driving trams for Live Day it was down to me to atone for the sins of my father. 

I asked Mum to come along and we got into our gumboots. I didn't expect her to do any planting since digging is a bit beyond her but she did help pick up pots. However she did a tiger mum thing which was not so much directing my planting but growled at me for not walking all the way back to find her after I had finished. I am an adult and so is she and both of us can make our own way back home but when I got back she threw a big fit and said she could have died out there and I didn't care about her.

Honestly. There were not wild tigers lurking in the reserve out to eat her. Just friendly neighbours! Maybe the reserve grass area WAS a bit muddy but Mum isn't at the walker stage of decrepitude yet. What was she expecting, me to hold her hand? 

Anyway, I couldn't answer all the accusations of being selfish...I WAS tired and hungry by the time we had finished and didn't fancy walking in the opposite direction of home, just so mum could hold my hand. This time the park rangers did not put on a bbq and sausage sizzle for us. But that's ok, we all have our own homes to go back to and it isn't too far. I caught up with a few neighbours and one boy who went to Waitakere Primary who said he was having pizza when he got home. He said they did have a garden at school. I kept remarking every time I dug a hole to plant a tree that maybe this time I would find the gold. (I had to keep him motivated!). There was a small shower at one point but otherwise the weather was fine, warm and not windy. The ground was soft so it was as perfect planting conditions as could be expected. 

We had to keep going and just when we thought we finished a section there would be more to plant. We started from 93 and planted all along the creekside until we reached the field. David had done a great job sourcing and growing all these natives for us. There were titoki, manuka, coprosma, kawakawa, flaxes, nikau, kahikatea, pohutakawa, koromiko...though I noticed tree ferns were missing. On the other side of the creek which was Massey they had ferns but I suspected as that side was South facing they would have got more shade. 

Anyway not liking leaving a job half done we persevered and did our muddy high fives at the end. Every plant planted hooray! So that's three years of planting we've done so far and there's only a bit more to go for next year. Am so happy for our Riverparkers. You guys are great. Let's keep New Zealand Beautiful. ✋😍

Hibernation

 The days are getting shorter and the nights longer, only a couple more weeks and then it will be winter solstice. Already there are plans to bring snow to Massey for children to experience what it's like to freeze - symptoms of 'climate change' perhaps? 

I never really got why it was called climate change since the climate changes all the time in Auckland. You never know from one day to the next what it will be like, sometimes there will be four seasons in one day. Be prepared for anything, wear your shorts AND your puffy jacket, it's advised. 

I haven't been doing any gardening at all and should probably even be off to Fiji now, enjoying my extended holidays. But then I wonder if I'll be doing anything different in Fiji to what I would do at home, laze around and read books. (Fiji is just one of those random places I've never been to that's all). I don't actually know anybody in Fiji, nor have they invited me over. 

Walking around the garden today, I noticed my camellia is flowering pink, the magnolia is budding, and eerlicheer has cropped up, even the gladioli are making a showing. What's going on? Is spring here early? I've still got tulips chilling in the fridge. Maybe I should put them in the ground, though I haven't thought of where yet.  David's organised another planting day for 18 June at Riverpark reserve. So that  at least will be one thing I'll be doing. 

For my birthday Kings gave me $10 to spend and I promptly spent it on gardening gloves. Otherwise, there hasn't been much gardening of late to speak of, everything's awaiting Matariki. This holding pattern is just those barren periods a gardener goes through as birds fly north for winter (if they can get that far) but being terrestrial I don't have that option. Jo from Planet FM contacted me about Garden Planet will we be back on air with fresh programs soon? 

Will I ever make it to Taranaki this year for Garden Festival? 

Watch this space. 

Bob

 If anyone from my old school is reading this and want to know what happened to Bob, well he just turned up on one of my spider plants today and seems happy to be back home. Bob is a praying mantis and appears at odd moments just to remind me he's praying for me.

I am not sure why the children called him Bob or how they could tell he was a he. When I first entered the library it had only fake plants so I had to remedy this to bring in the oxygen. So about half my indoor plants took a ride in my Funcargo and ended up going to school. By the stairwell was a box filled with fake plants that I removed them to put in the real ones, and put the fake ones by the couches in the library. At the time the couches were mostly used by the Year 1s and 2s as slides, as they were those faux black leather and chrome 80s monstrosities that looked like they were discards from the tv show Gloss. 

I am usually not averse to furniture but those couches were particularly bad, even an ugly Friends style couch would have been better. I made my complaints known to the powers that be but they just shrugged and thought I was being a little precious. I was not allowed this that and the other, and was starting to get carpet burns from all the work I was doing picking up books from the floor. How I wish I had bean bags to cushion my poor knees. 

In the end I removed all the books from the top shelves and put plants in, and started to breathe a bit easier, until one day the Primary Principal walked in and saw I had changed the library around from what it used to be and from then on it was like I had the cheese touch. 

"Did you change the library...again? Without my PERMISSION?"

I don't recall exactly what I said except I was very sorry but I had. 

She called the Big Principal in and they both looked at me with their arms crossed, tutting. I am sure they had a meeting about me behind closed doors deciding what to do with this new, disobedient librarian. 

Things went on ok for a few weeks while I carried on with my work and the children where quite excited to spot some ants, a spiders, a lizard, and various other wildlife in the library that they were not used to. But what they liked most of all was the praying mantis who lived amongst the new plants they called Bob.  They also read books, and I tried to wean them off video games and on to actual board games, like Chess. The chess club teacher came to help in the library, and he watered the plants with the staffroom teapot. 

One afternoon the Year 6 boys were playing chess as usual after they had borrowed their books. There were about four games going on and I am sure they were learning something. I don't know, I don't play chess. I'm more of a Scrabble person. The Primary Principal walked in and saw the boys playing chess. Where are these chess sets from? I didn't authorise chess in the library. 

Miss Selina got them for us.

Well Miss Selina got in big trouble for doing that. And after that everything Miss Selina did was wrong so that she couldn't even buy any books for the library. And even when there were new books she couldn't put them on the tables, or move them, or scan books in, or catalogue them, because Principals can make life very difficult if you don't do exactly what they order you to do. 

One morning Bob turned up out of the blue on a seniors device and he hitched a ride while I picked up the rowdy year 4 class. That was one day after my supposed probation period was over and they were going to decide whether to keep me or not. I'd emailed the Principal that morning because I knew that class was a handful and asked if she would come help but she replied it was not ideal and we could discuss it in the Friday meeting. She was not going to come. 

Well the Year 4 class was so excited over seeing Bob again that they forgot all about reading and borrowing books and they all wanted a turn petting and holding Bob and making an origami box for him. But while this was going on three boys who didn't like each other started picking a fight and next thing I knew it was chaos. I sent the boys straight to the Principals office and it was like she was waiting for them the whole time. 

After this incident Bob hitched a ride to the staffroom while I had morning tea and then, after that at lunch the year 4s asked where Bob was and he'd mysteriously disappeared. "Oh he's around the school somewhere' I assured them but one boy just said 'You mean you lost him!' 

I didn't find him the next day or the day after that either and on the Friday meeting the Principal cut me so I never did find out what her ideal was. 

Chainsaw safety awareness week

 I don't have a chainsaw...or an axe, but in my experience I have been on the chopping block a few times. 

I feel for plants, particularly trees who are suddenly axed/cut down by humans. Tall poppy syndrome is something that most of us have experienced and it's usually the highly intelligent, clever ones that get cut for growing toward the light - something we naturally do. 

I have a few tips for this. As any gardener knows, it's all about location, location, location. Where you plant matters. If you are going to be growing plants that like the sun in the shade, they are going to stretch their stems any way they know how, to get to the light. Why not do that plant a favour, and place them where they are happy, in the full sun? 

Likewise our shade lovers, will shrivel and yellow in the direct sun and prefer to be covered, so shelter them like a mother hen. Tough bendy plants like manukas can handle a bit of wind so give them the space and room to grow and they will reward you with brilliant shapes.

Sometimes a plant will set seed and no matter what obstacle is in their path, once they've found their turangawaewae, they are going to grow. Your job, as a gardener, is to facilitate this potential and make sure that your plants are growing where they are happiest, won't be fighting each other, and are in harmony with the other plants. Sometimes it CAN be like herding cats at school. There may be times when you have to send a plant to the Principal's office to sort out. Or the sickbay. 

But what you don't want to do is destroy a plant just because it blocks your view. Judicious pruning, grafting or taking cuttings can solve a lot of problems, and weed removal is ongoing, until you learn some new uses for weeds. After all a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.

Perennials need dividing before they become congested like traffic in Auckland. Get your animals to help you, too. They'll eat the plants you may not find so palatable. And you can always eat the snails if you have too many. Otherwise recruit in the ducks. Mum would love a duck, especially a peking duck.

Mum is terrified of trees that grow close to the house and anything she cannot control. I now understand why the Japanese bonsai everything. I once said to her if she doesn't like trees she can just move to Australia where they don't have many, and live in the desert or Coober Pedy. 

You aren't supposed to say such things to your own mother, but then, there seems to be no limits on what a mother can say to her daughter. That's why I am glad mum doesn't have access to a chainsaw. 

I hugged my trees when they were threatened with treeicide, even the cabbage tree that mum tried to topple just grew back in defiance. I would like to take a moment to remember all the trees that were axed and hold a little memorial service for them, as we don't know what we've got until it's gone. 

Mother's Day

 My home was turned into a florist shop over the Mothers Day/Birthday weekend. And karaoke night club...Nina gave me flowers, Loretta, an anti-stress colouring book with felts, Rita, lavender potpourri, and numerous other special and much treasured gifts - even a wacky desk dude from Cushla's girls. 

I am not sure what to do about the desk dude...but I have to do something about the $10 Kings Plant Barn voucher that needs to spent in a fortnight from my birthday. So I am writing it down here so I remember...Although I cannot think what more could I buy from Kings when every nook and cranny seems to be filled up now. Maybe I will treat someone else? 

Garden Club night was all about Makutu Link which is a new reserve out in Bethell's wetland that has a boardwalk and native plant restoration and predator free status for the endangered bitterns and ducks that make their home there. It was on one of the garden rambles that Louise and I missed out on so am hoping that one fine day we'll get to explore the area a bit more. 

Otherwise garden wise I'm not doing much more than sow peas and wait for spring. Flowers were few and far between, the only pickings for club night from my garden were from mexican sage. However thanks to my Mothers Day bounty of cut flowers that had been hothoused (Nobody can grow tulips in Auckland at this time of year) I managed to make a placing in the floral arrangement that was themed 'keep Mum' --basically flowers in a teapot. 

But no I'm not about to become a full-time florist anytime soon. I'm always getting advice from old ladies saying why don't I do (their) gardening again and I'm like are you nuts at this time of year I am not getting all muddy so you can keep your garden tidy while I do all the work and you take all the credit for paying me. 

I just say that in my head, not out loud. 

Who knows, I may be back on Garden Planet, I hear Karyns taking time out at school (Massey Primary) to look after their garden, which are raised beds underneath the shadiest pohutakawa trees, as if raised beds needed to be in the shade. Obviously nobody sought to consult an actual gardener about the site of their school garden. It was the same at Ranui, their gardens were also in the shade, underneath woolly nightshade...or in expensive vege pods that were too high for the juniors to reach. At Sunderland there were two folorn empty beds growing weeds just outside of the library and I'm like get Garden to Table in already! Then the kids would have something to do that didn't involve video gaming or playing tiggy/hide n' seek/chasey in the library. 

But I forgot...school is meant to be boring. 

Born free

 As free as the wind blows...as free as the grass grows...

The wind and rain/feng shui around my place has been a bit chaotic of late, but I'm happy to report that no longer will I be inhabiting a damp, moldy office under the stairs as part of a leaky building that is disguised as a school...when I do my assessments of sites, permaculture tells me it's in a good zone or not. 

I'm out of it now, but maybe the next person will have an easier ride of it than I did. Maybe I was just there to set it all up so someone else could take the credit. Nevermind. They can have all the plants is all. 

The birds nest ferns, the cymbidiums, the spider plants, the begonias, donkey tails, the hoya , zygocactus, mother in law tongue, prayer plant and Bob the praying mantis. I took home the streptocarpus and the african violet. 

I felt a bit dispirited, how could I let someone micromanage me like that? I went outside, of which was once former Japanese garden and climbed up on the playground and cried. The ground had been astroturfed and turned into an urban jungle, and the students sat their exams quietly plotting to take over the world when they got out and grew up. 

The school was next to the pharmaceutical company, and not far from my former landscaping company, and overlooked the creek where Maurice Gee wrote his gruesome Loomis stories. So much for Eco-city. It had been turned into an exam factory/diploma mill. I wasn't even sure that examinations were a good thing for young hopefuls.  Why couldn't they just have a fun quiz night instead? Instead, it just made me feel like a failure and a drop out. I had done the wrong thing again, disobeyed  a teacher, and gone my own way. 

The ground was shaky beneath my feet. I went home and sat for a while. I ended up back at Mitre 10, buying raffle items. One staff member said she might come to Garden Club night. So I made at least one friend there. Wasn't that what school was for, making friends? Apparently not. 

Once again, I was the brainy one nobody liked cos she was so brainy. I took my MLIS home again and waited for inspiration to strike, like the axe at the root of a tree. 

Not forgotten

 The bulbs were put in before the rains came, all except for the tulips which are still chilling in the fridge. This year I have eerlicheer, mixed daffodils, freesias, dutch iris and grape muscari. 

I heard sad news that my writing and gardening friend Beth has passed away, she was concerned about her plants but they are still thriving and all her friends from all over had been looking after them. I still have one manuka that dad didn't cut down, a fern, the busy lizzie/balsam, a monstera, and several geraniums, plus succulents and 'flaming katies' Beth had passed on to me. She loved her plants and wanted them all to go to good homes, and was very generous sometimes to a fault. I was forever fielding plant requests for her. I have several peace lilies now that flowered for the first time after I divided them that all came from Beths plants she had nurtured in her little log-box house. I remember Mummy Cat especially liked meeting Beth although she was not a crazy cat lady, she did have a special thing for plants. She was always young at heart and seemed to me she was one of those 'keenagers' the kind of lady who though my parents age,  never quite grew up and retained her child-like sense of wonder. But then when do we ever grow up? I'm still going to school! 

 I will treasure her witness and friendship for the time I got to spend with her, and of course the plants. She was like a bird always flying here and there but depositing seeds everywhere she went. 

 May she rest in peace till we meet again in Heaven, where I'm sure she has her own conservatory surrounded by plants. 

Lest We Forget

 ANZAC Day was spent in the garden. I wasn't particularly up at dawn that day, and there were no poppies, just some fighter jets zooming overhead but I did have a field day planting and planting and planting.  I did it especially because if I don't do it I will forget and the plants from Rogers will languish in their pots. I can't be one of those gardeners that just buys plants all the time and leaves them in pots all over the place with the tags still on them and not actually create a garden with them. A certain brother does this...I'm not mentioning any names of course. 

So almost all the plants have found homes though I had to do a lot of rearranging - just like in a library, and some weeding, so the weed pile is quite high but I made sure it was behind the garage where nobody can see and so dad doesn't come and chuck all weeds in the reserve in his attempt at 'keeping the lawn swept' and get in trouble with my neighbour, David, who is planting natives in the reserve.

Three penstemons are left to find homes and I can't decide where they ought to go. I'm kind of wanting to remove the cream dietes that have attracted those sticky brown moths  when they flower but I know it will be a HUGE job to remove them. Removing clumps of aristea was bad enough even though they actually have a better flower, to make room for bearded iris under the Cleopatra magnolia. Watsonia I've flung to the back of the borders because it really does flower extremely tall. 

Blue Pansies I won from raffle are now by the driveway, along with more gazania clumps, and the lambs ears I have totally spread all over Snowy's bed. All along underneath the apple trees I have planted ajuga after clearing most of the creeping buttercup (big job) as it seems to do well there. Blue pratia is now in Fat Lady Sings bed, polyanthus has moved to by the house, gasterias potted up, rain lillies now by the azalea. Lavender Sidonie is now by the olive and with lambs ears. Mondo grass has been removed and am considering planting it under the Japanese maple, and removing those spider plants. Granny bonnet is now by the other baby grannies. Spider plant removal seems a thing now - no rafters to have hanging baskets!

 I wish I didn't have a dead flat site with buxus hedges because its all very mathematical and boring and 'edgy' but I can't do anything about that unless..I start removing all the buxus, by cutting them all down to stumps and just leave the tall ones by the fence and making the corner ones into topiary instead of big boring box rectangles. Here's a big plant in the shape of a box! I'm like I really have enough of Minecraft obsessed boys at school I don't want to make my eyes any squarer. We already live in a brick house why do the plants have to be shaped like bricks as well? 

That is all, and in case I forgot anything, I'll just have to post about it tomorrow. I was trying to fit it all in today because tomorrow is the first day back of Term 2 and after that I won't have much time for gardening - the cold snap is already on its way...

 

Roger's Garden Centre

 I finally made the trip to Rogers, thanks to Bev, who knew the way and was happy to take me. So Thursday morning we set off and entered the plant lovers paradise that was Rogers personal domain and business. It was a clear day, no rain, and I had a list of plants I was hoping to buy. We wandered around for a bit and then snagged a pink wheelbarrow to put our purchases in. There is barely enough room to walk for the wheelbarrows so its easier to look first and then carry your plants to a wheelbarrow which won't block anyone else. This is why everyone recommends to NEVER go in the weekend. 

This is not your average garden centre. Its more of a wholesaler, or maybe the plant lovers equivalent of Cost-Co. There are no fancy signs or changing displays or deals - what you see is what you get. But you will get it at least half the price that you'd pay for at a regular garden centre. It's absolutely crammed with plants.

Roger was at the till with a helper calling out the prices so he could enter them in. No barcodes at this garden centre. Thankfully he DID have an eftpos machine. 

Unfortunately, I am not allowed any shrubs or trees and Rogers has more of those than the annuals and perennials I am after, though he still had plenty of what was there. 

I managed to purchase -

3 penstemons

3 blue pratias

lavender 'sidonie'

punnet of mixed polyanthus

variegated oregano

blue salvia

Roger told me that lavender 'sidonie' was Australian and smells more like sage. It stinks he said, bluntly. I took a sniffle, the label said 'highly fragrant' but he was right it didn't smell lavendery but more herby. However I didn't take it back because I was more attracted to its unusual feathery leaves than its scent. That was the only advice he gave me - his cat wasn't there this time guarding the money.

Then he had a long chat with Bev who was next in line. Bev had once managed a garden centre that got taken over by Bunnings. So they talked shop and old colleagues. Bev said Roger once worked at the Wholesale Tree Company before he set up his own business, and he kept his overheads low because he ran it all without any extra full time staff (though he had someone call out the prices) and sold just plants, while other garden centres had teams at the checkout, giftware, cafes, compost and garden tools.

Bev said when she had took over for Bunnings they had stripped out the old garden centre from Hardware House that had a beautiful aviary and fountains and big palm trees display and it had to be run as just a hardware store that sold widgets. I said what a shame and she said they didn't care about plants and she was the only staff member who knew anything about them. 

Bev said she was quite a bad gardener in that she was totally obsessed with plants and wanted them all. But they also out grow their allotted space and she needs to edit them quite a bit. I said that she was like a parent who complained about their children having to look after them and then complain they grew too big and had to leave home. Maybe you can love plants TOO much? 

I pondered this but decided that plant love was really part of the human condition for without plants providing us with oxygen maybe we would all die. I never understood the whole 'carbon credit' thing. Since when was carbon emissions in the air now touted as bad? People can't stop breathing or respiring. Why aren't people measuring the amount of oxygen being produced by plants photosynthesising the carbon dioxide and transpiring? Shouldn't there be oxygen credits instead of carbon credits? 

I'll just leave that for the scientists to figure out as its beyond me. 

Sister Act

 Whenever my sister comes over its a whirlwind of family feasting and visits, so garden time takes a back seat. However that didn't mean I couldn't sneak some gardens in my sister's itinerary while she was here. Starting with an easter egg hunt in the garden, to visiting an old whaling museum and garden property with ancient pohutakawa trees, to the old Kemp mission house up North next to the oldest stone store in Kerikeri, to finding a bargain priced hoya in a citrus nursery.. and the arrival of spring bulbs shipment, there was plenty of plant related holiday time fun. Maybe it's to make up for me being away for two weeks from school where my indoor plants may languish in the dark of the library that only has two outside windows - will they still be alive by the time I get back?

I am not sure, whether the dark and lack of florescent light will kill them or maybe they'll just have two weeks hibernation. It's currently feijoa season and we are still picking up feijoas every day from the ground. We laugh whenever we see them for sale at the shops for $8.99 a kilo. But apparently non-Aucklanders are willing to pay that much for our surplus. 

In the Far North (why 'far'? It's not that far...) the main plants I see from the road are toi toi and bamboo thickets, and ugly pinus radiata. I think I saw...ONE kauri tree. Our magnificent Kauri forests are no more, though Transport NZ still insists on naming the region 'Kauri Coast'. What Kauri? The only ones left are chopped up in the Tree Museum or made into chopping boards and wooden spoons and epoxy covered clocks at the Kauri workshop. I am feeling quite dismayed that our national treasure, that had once made fine waka and furniture and houses for Aucklanders has not been replanted and wilding pines have taken over instead, like gnarly overgrown Christmas Trees. But not even NZ Christmas Trees because Pohutakawa COULD grow on those steep hillsides and stop all the landslides but for some strange reason, a fast growing and cheap American import was chosen instead. 

The other native that could grow up North is the lovely and shapely manuka, beloved by our imported honey bees, but it seems unloved in favour of gorse and grass. I managed to pay a visit to the Hundertwasser museum again and got out on to the rooftop, which had been planted up in all manner of native plants, and while more urban spaces are getting the green treatment, it's coming at great expense. I'm beginning to wonder why the Brits thought it was a great idea to turn NZ into a giant dairy/sheep farm especially in places that were so ill-suited for pastoral agriculture. I suppose since all the whales had got killed they just had to try something else. 

So much for my musings. I often try not to care about things too much because it's not as if I am Prime Minister and run the country and can do anything about it. For some strange reason, every time someone sees a sign that says 'volunteer gardener wanted' somewhere they immediately think that I should do the job for nothing as if it would make me the happiest person in the world. Despite the fact I already have my OWN garden to tend to, and I cannot literally be in three places at once at opposite ends of the country. Instead signs like that make me sad that nobody is looking after the garden, maybe the gardener died or moved away or was just told they weren't allowed to garden anymore, or they had bills to pay and volunteer gardening just doesn't pay them. 

I really think the Labour and Green Party, and the National Party should all merge into one and be renamed the National Garden Party. Labour would provide the hands, the Greens, the know-how, and National the funds to show off the gardens. And every year they would have a garden party festival and invite other countries to our gardens and be 'number one' on the 'world stage' of garden parties and win all the medals in the Gardening Olympics for the amazing gardens we have. Could work. 

Oh I forgot I am not the Prime Minister. I do know who is the boss in our family though and whenever she visits I am often reminded of the fact. She's going back soon though because her pilea plant is outgrowing its pot. 

Plant the planet

 I'm reading a book about rice. Interesting so far. I am a rice-eater. But the book doesn't say how you can grow rice. I mean I eat the finished product, but how can I grow my own rice?  It's dead easy to grow potatoes, you can just chuck them in the ground when they start sprouting. But if there was ever a rice shortage and all the shipments of rice stopped, what would I (or more importantly mum) eat? 

Dad wouldn't care. He would just subsist on potato chips and ice cream. Now there's plant based ice cream and I have to say that I can't really tell the difference between that and ice cream that comes from a cow. Having never milked a cow I sometimes wonder if I should really be drinking so much milk, seeing I'm not a baby anymore, but dad can't break the habit of a lifetime of buying milk, butter and cheese. 

I'm curious about where my food comes from if I haven't picked it from the garden. I've just eaten a juicy mango that says its from Peru. If only I could grow mango here. I would be eating them everyday. 

The feijoas are now ready to pick up and they are fat this year. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with my pruning? Mum thought I pruned to much but that tree is the one that usually produces small thimble sized feijoas. 

I won a $10 Kings voucher for coming 3rd in Best Blooms at garden club. I spent it on an echinacea, and granny bonnets. I have 50 cents leftover. I hope they do well as I'm never sure what plants will take in the border which has always had creeping buttercup take over. I transplanted lychnis to by the fence and took out all the aristeas. There's another clump by the magnolia that I might remove too. 

Then chopped down the maguerite daisies, scented geranium and did general bed clearance in Snowy's bed. I transplanted a penstemon that was struggling in the shade. So in general planting musical chairs. I'm glad I don't have a garden manager bossing me around saying I can't do this or that or saying I have to ask permission to change anything. Or is it mum. 

I'm very unhappy at the moment. I'm not sure why. I have a great job that pays well, but...I'm wondering if I am ever able to do what I really want to do if I have to seek permission to do anything. I think it would be nice if I was treated like an adult for once. I decide to grin and bear it before I fall into a deep depression again. Things could be worse, I could be living in a 40 storey apartment building in Hong Kong with not a scrap of earth and a long way to fall down.