More gardening planned
On the day we visited Daniel’s grave I was able to pick a stunning bunch of flowers, mainly hibiscus of varying colours and varieties. I feel so fortunate that at this time of year, when I always want some nice flowers, these beautiful ones are in full bloom. When I arrived at this property, there was a rosemary bush, a tree and not much else in the top part of the garden. In hindsight, I wonder if I was guided to plant all these hibiscuses, not only because I love them so much, but because they would be in full flower when I needed them. Perhaps there was a bit of guidance from the future prompting me to do this. The majority of these have been slow growing as well, hindered by the strong winds, salt air, sandy soil and parched summers. However, following the wet season we’ve just had, many of them have found their footing and have taken off…finally. The new fence put up before Christmas has definitely helped the plants too. They like the shelter from the strong south and westerly winds.
And now that we’ve got the garage painting out of the way, it is time to start some more work on the garden. Weeding that is. And I have been trying to think of ways to tidy the entrance way up. A retaining wall on a dirty-looking clay bank would be nice but this clay has formed an impenetrable barrier that would make digging impossible. A thought did enter my head to get some iron standards and ram these in, put some boards behind them, fill with top soil, then I’d have a nice tidy garden. This morning, someone was advertising iron standards and a rammer, exactly the amount I would need, on a nearby Facebook group. I have just checked the post and alas, someone has already bought them. I should have been quicker.
Stephen has dug out many of the agapanthus. I do love their flowers but not their invading roots. Up here in Northland they are classified as a pest plant because they become over prolific, just like many other plants in this region, or even in New Zealand, for that matter. Gorse was introduced to this country for hedging, with missionaries believing they could recreate the beautiful hedgerows they had in Europe. The plant found its ideal growing conditions here and it wasn’t long before it too, became a noxious weed. Seeds can remain viable in the soil for 40 to 80 years, so the eradication of gorse is a difficult and ongoing problem for anyone with it. We have some here at the bottom of the driveway and it is a yearly task to remove it. They do say that the bedding from discarded leaves of gorse makes a great growing medium for other plants, but I think I’d rather not have the gorse in the first place.
But right now, there is an ANZAC commemoration to attend. Perhaps some gardening this afternoon.