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. 

On weeds

 On Saturday a few garden club members made the trip to Ayrlies for their annual plant fair. The garden, now familiar to me, delighted everyone again in a post-summer day of showers and sunshine. This time, naked lady lilies carpeted the forest floor, lotus and water lilies blossomed in the pond, and the waterfalls round the entrance never failed to enchant. 

From the plant fair I snagged three lousiana iris, one bearded iris from the iris stand, planting them straight away into my border. My garden could never be Ayrlies, I'm to restricted to a dead straight border for that. At times I wish I did not live in a rectangular plot that feels like I am boxed in, that I could have at least some curves but than dad would have to adjust his masport mower to mow a curve but he cannot do that after forty years of doing so. So am stuck forever with this straight-as-a razor blade garden border. Trouble is plants don't really like growing in straight lines, they have a habit of clumping together. 

Apparently there is a concrete strip underneath all the soil that he put in twenty years ago, but I doubt I could excavate it to find it and whether it would actually be of any use, since plants like to ignore concrete strips and grow over them. Especially plants like 'creeping buttercup'. Though I think I have cottoned on to a solution. Replace the creeping buttercup weeds with an even more invasive weed - no not kikuyu, but one that has flowers - aristea ecklonii. This plant also known as 'blue iris' has woody rhizomes and just randomly comes up in clumps, crowding out 'desirable' plants. Some had been growing randomly in the fat lady sings bed and by Mt Asher magnolia.

I took the blue flowers to Garden Club to identify one evening and sure enough it was classified as a weed. However it is such a pretty weed and I can scarcely find blue flowers anywhere save my plumbago. So I have divided the clump and placed them all along my border. They don't grow as tall as dietes, but if they stop creeping buttercup and applemint, and prevent paspalum and kikuyu from taking over, could I be onto a winner? 

All I know is my efforts at gardening are still not appreciated by anyone in my household because whenever I try to weed anything the weeds have to come OUT of the soil and get piled up on the grass, and apparently I am not allowed to place any weeds ON the grass. Even just temporarily, while they dry out and wither. 

This is like when I try to move books and have to place them ON a table, in the library so I can move them somewhere else, but apparently I am not allowed to do that either and the books have to stay on the shelves at all times, never weeded until the shelves collapse and nobody can fit any more books on them. 

Do people not actually know how much effort goes into weeding? Apparently not. That weeds just magically disappear? Or how about covering everything with black plastic so you can't see ANY plants or books? 

I try not to get frustrated and start whacking everything with a broom like my dad did suddenly when his precious lawn had some weeds dropped on top of it. Nobody actually uses this lawn dad. The last time we tried to do anything on it, you got all angry so that is why I never invite anyone over for barbecues or fireworks anymore. Because what is the point, people will step on it and you'll start yelling at everyone for dropping crumbs, and then chuck all the weeds back INTO the garden border when I'd just spent hours trying to weed them OUT. Because having a finely chopped rectangle green lawn with a weed filled border is every man's suburban dream? I don't know.

My next place of residence will not involve anyone who is attached to their precious noisy lawn mower. I will use sheep and rabbits to mow the lawn instead. 

Bulb time again

 Get your spring bulbs! I am fundraising for Woodside Community Garden. The money will go towards building our raised beds and other things needed for the garden. 

There are some new bulbs this year - I'm going for the Sparaxis! Bulbs will reward your garden year after year, plant once and forget. Planting guide is enclosed with each order.  Email me your order - payment due 24 March.  I'll deliver them to you. Thanks GardenPost!  gardenplanetfm@gmail.com

7 Daffodils - Early Fragrant Mix $12.00

5 Daffodils - Earlicheer $9.90

10 Tulips - Mixed $10.70

10 Freesias Fragrant Single and Double - Mixed $10.90

10 Ranunculus - Rainbow Mix - $7.00

7 Dutch Iris - Super Mix - $9.30

7 Sparaxis - Harlequin Mix $9.00

10 Anemone - St Bridgid Mix (Doubles) $7.80

Sweet Pea - Early Multiflora - 20 Seeds $5.20

Garden + Library

 It looks like my part of the world will be Garden Planet after all. We won't be recording many more shows as now I am too busy with my new full time term time job at Sunderland School as librarian. So I am taking my plants with me and now spiderman spider plants are now hanging out on the shelves. The library had only fake plants before so of course I had to remedy this. 

Sorry Mitre 10! I won't be forklifting plastic bags of compost or selling bottles of Round up. Instead I've blagged some begonias off cousin Winnie, and I'm only going to Mitre 10 for garden club raffle prizes. Last Tuesday the winners scored gerberas, platycodons, basil, a windchime and a Kids Mitre 10 DIY birdhouse. Cenny took over the best blooms table where my red hippeastrums won second place. Next to this giant sunflower. 

I ordered a moon calendar from Puriri Lane and it has now arrived, telling me that now is the most prolific time for planting. If only I had time to do it. Maybe after I get this library organised, which is annoying me as all the books were all over the place in a strange order  and I was tripping over books and people and wires just to get anywhere. I also have monkeys in the library I need to tame (with bananas?) who like swinging and sliding down the bannisters.

It's either monkeys or gorillas or rabbits.  Half my potted plants are now by the stairs and I have my office in the cupboard under the stairs which could either be magical or a torture chamber depending on how big your imagination is. But the Sunderland students are very forgiving of me as their new librarian rearranging everything though not as huggy as the Ranui children. They like the same books though. 

We had another heavy rain warning on Friday but managed to escape being flooded out again though why it had to rain near 5pm just as I was heading home I don't know, but my car made it through the flash flooded roads instead of me attempting to swim or walk on water. 

I surprised Rita last week by giving her my hanging trough baskets to put on her new balcony and we did a detour to Palmers (where I won $10 in Palmer's Rewards) for some plants and more $10 potting mix so now she now has no excuse not to exercise her green thumbs. Palmers had some lady's mantle hidden away under the shade house so they are now relocated in my garden as part of my waterproof super combo border of taro, nasturtiums and lady's mantle.