It's raining for the first time in a week or so. Lovely soft rain. Just what I'd hoped for. Over the last couple of days I've been ridding the bed below of grass and grass runners in preparation for planting the final lot of Liz's fancy irises. Irises fill me with a little angst cos 20 years ago I was the gardener for a Mrs MacMillan who loved irises and had collected them over her long lifetime. I did my best but I really had no idea what to do with them. Hopefully I know a little more now. My thinking is that in 3 years time these irises will need digging up and thinning which will also give me the chance to do a serious de-grass again.
I'm also thinking that once the irises grow, they will prevent Steve's pot from rolling over. I hope the goddess (and Liz) is listening. Liz loved that pot and was aghast that we didn't keep it in the house. If I had a bigger house, I would.
Preparing the garden bed unearthed these oyster shells which, in the above arrangement but around a hollyhock, used to be Sarah's favourite thing in the garden. Which, of course, has set me thinking...
The Pharoah Dog cunningly slipped the red ball into the picture. It is an artist's trick, from what I've read, to have a splash of red in a picture. To the right you can see what has become the Italian Lavender and hollyhock bed. The lavenders are selfsown. The hollyhock seeds came from Mintaro courtesy of Lady Jayne (who can now stop looking for them). At Mintaro the hollyhocks were singles in a stunning pink
but the goddess has played with them, creating many shades of pink to red, and this double.
I love that double hollyhock. There must be magic in Triabunna as there is in Rivett! I weeded the iris bed this week. There is a problem with the soil in the far corner into which they were planted without much enrichment. A garage burnt down in that area in the very severe Canberra fires and heaven only knows what has remained in the soil. I dig up lots of detritus. You have motivated me to did up all of the irises and to pay attention to that bed. I have already dropped single poppy seeds back into the bed, along with nigella seeds, but they will probably hang on. They are fearfully reliable bloomers! Have you planted any of Frances's huge double pink poppy seeds? LJ
ReplyDeleteI started a garden journal in November and keep thinking I must update it. Now I realise that I must. I'm sure I planted some of those poppy seeds but goddess knows where!
ReplyDeleteI have sprinkled red poppy seeds and cornflowere deadheads on the iris bed. I'll go and do some nigella now.
And find Frances' pink poppy seeds to see if they awaken any neural pathways.
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I have a vague recollection of sowing those seeds in the hollyhock bed. Also, I can't think where else I would have put them. Not to worry, I've still got hundreds of them. Very high winds today so the seeds I scattered yesterday could be in New Zealand.
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