I first saw this bush at at house in Nelson Crescent in Napier and loved its blue bunchy flowers so I bought one, and planted it in a corner of the trellis fence. Now it is bullying the Burgundy Iceberg rose and has to go. This is harder than it sounds. The trunk doesn’t want to go. It is stronger than me. ‘Make me,’ it says.
Tomorrow I will cut it all back to the trunk and then a man with a shovel will come and dig it out. This will save me injuring my shoulder even more than I have so is a Good Thing. Good is not the same as happy. Its not as satisfying watching someone else do it but needs must.
I have been feeding the birds each day. It is pretty cool watching them wait till they think I’ve gone back to bed, then one by one at first then in squads they swoop down from the apple tree and lance a cube of bread. The bigger birds make dashes at the smaller ones who put up a show of retreating but are back in a second doing their version of snatching the crumbs from the rich man’s table.
Matariki next week – harvesting of kumara will happen in some places – my broad beans are well up, the chives are just about haddit until the spring, the coriander is loving it, the silver beat is shiny dark green, all the roses dying but the first day lily is out.
