Kia ora, I had such a good time at the weekend. With the help of a friend I completely re-structured a part of the garden. It was hard work, there were two trees to dig out, an old rose, and a very tired wallflower.
Gardens are not set in concrete – they can be changed. Good for the gardener, good for the garden. Even flowers labelled perennials don’t last forever – oh they live but they are straggly, their stems/stalks/branches are all dry and hard. Perennnial wallflowers for example, need to be dug up and replaced every couple of years if you want to keep the vivid colours and fresh looking foliage.
Same with lavenders. They can become very woody and ugly if left to their own devices. My favourite lavender is Lavender Dentata but it needs replacing every 2-3 years if you want to keep it looking good.
My tastes change too – where I once filled every space in sight with irises and roses now, although I still love them, I have enough and am planning a small rosemary hedge and another kind of look. So if that means I have to get rid of a couple of roses and irises, then that’s what I’ll do.
Gardeners make mistakes. If a gardener ever tells you she’s never made a mistake then she’s lying – it happens. In my case I made the same mistake a lot of us do when we’re making a new garden out of a weedy concrete-like old lawn. I over-planted. And now some of those little wee shrubs have grown up and are fighting with each other. Some of them have to go.
Gardeners need to be ruthless – as well as hardworking, willing to change, philosophical and keep a better grip on their scissors than I do. This year I have ‘lost’ four scissors – they must have been in the bag of green waste, had to be, but when I upended it at the dump (sorry, refuse station) I couldn’t see the flash of orange handle.
So four trips to the dump later, this part of the garden looks a little bare but give it a month or two and it will settle and start preening and will look like its always had a vivd blue hydrangea, a blazing scarlet geranium, a lively hedge of rosemary behind them and a number of little clumps of purple things, in front and in the corner a clump of something yellow. Henry the little stone alligator (whom I think of as a tuatara) loves the yellow. There’s a clump of Thyme to one side and some coriander too. And it will probably will get a few more herbs before its finished.
Now for the drive itself – and the drive garden. Too hot this afternoon but tomorrow morning when its cool will be the time. And then the Apple tree garden and then and then…
