A Pittosporum No More

When I moved in I inherited a very tall tree-like pittosporum, in the centre behind the table in the picture below.

before (2008) - doesn't the garden look narrow?

Over the last 2 years I've had to periodically cut branches off that were too low or causing too much shade.  This year I wanted to let more light into the garden without having to loose my lovely snake bark maple, so I decided the pittosporum had to go.  I used various brute force and ignorance techniques with extendable loppers, a step ladder and, once most of the height had been reduced, an electric saw.  It took the whole afternoon, and was much taller than I'd realised (between 15 and 20 foot), but I had a great feeling of satisfaction when I finally sawed through the trunk at ground level.  

I can't even attempt to get the roots out so I've painted the stump with stump killer.   This whole area of the garden is so much lighter now, and I hope that the plants will be much happier.  I will add some height with an obelisk that a clematis can grow up, but that's a whole other tale! 

after (Aug 2010) - no tree and the garden seems wider!

Working Hard

It's raining, so gardening is on hold at the moment.  That's not all bad as it's given me time to catch up with work for The Treasure Tree and I'm hoping that I'll have another animated story starter ready for the new school term. However not all occupants of the study are working quite as hard!

 Anyone would think that chair had been put in here just for her benefit!

Today's Favourite Clematis

As I've said before I love clematis (and roses).  At the last count I had over 30 (of each - I know I must stop buying them!) but as of today this is my favourite:

 Clematis Triternata Rubromarginata

It is so delicate and pretty, and not at all like the more blousier ones which scream out "come and look at me", this one just sits there, silently, waiting to be aspied.

I do suspect though, that in time, another one may inch its way to the top of the favourite board, but we won't tell that to this one, will we?

Can You Hear A Donkey?

When I asked my neighbour "Can you hear a donkey in the distance?" she looked at me with a slightly worried expression as though I'd really lost the plot!  "No," she replied, "there are no donkeys round here."  When I asked my friend (who knows me well and understands how I think) the same question, she didn't bat an eyelid as she replied "No, but I can hear the cattle on the water meadow, it's probably them you can hear."

I didn't know there were cattle on the water meadow so I went for a walk down there to investigate.

It was a lovely evening and the thistles were beautiful - 

The swans were enjoying the river -

But the cattle were shy!  I could see them in the distance, and hear them mooing, but they wouldn't come close enough for me to take a decent picture.  But I found this one of them on the internet when I got home, and they really do look like this.  How could I have lived here for over 2 years without knowing they were there?

A Reason Not To Tidy!

I would really like to be a tidy person, but naturally I'm not!  I try to keep things put away and filed correctly, but piles of papers and books just appear from nowhere.  Downstairs I just about manage to win the battle, most of the time, but my study is another kettle of fish.  Alot of my work stuff is filed in baskets on shelves, and I even put up another book shelf a couple of months ago (which is now full!), but still piles appear on my desk.  Sometimes they appear within a few hours of me tidying.  But today I realised that I shouldn't worry about it, because if I had cleared this pile away then Florence would have had nothing to use as a pillow!

 And that seems to me to be a perfect reason not to tidy up!

Waterlily

Today my waterlily opened.  Back in April I blogged about how I was hoping to avoid the thick green soup type of pond water and had bought a minature waterlily last year to try and provide the necessary shade.  The water is very clear this year so I'm guessing the waterlily shade has helped, although I suspect that the duckweed is also providing some necessary shade too!  I do skim it off regularly but it's a never completed job!  There are more buds, so I'm looking forward to many more weeks of blooms.

Nymphaea Walter Pagels

Sadly Dora died last week, but Nemo and Chilli are still happily enjoying each other's company and are swimming around under the lilypads.

Hemerocallis

I have several hemerocallis in my garden.  This one I bought many years ago and planted it in an "ali baba" type pot.  I'll never get it out of the pot (unless I smash it), but it's quite happy as long as I remember to water it and feed it.  I have no idea what variety it is anymore!

The rest are all ones that I acquired with the garden, and so are also mainly unknown varieties, apart from this one which had a label near it.

Hemerocallis Pandora's Box

Yesterday I noticed that one had opened that had not flowered before - I don't think I've ever seen a double one before and I think it is quite stunning!  Again I have no idea of its variety.

Unknown double orange hemerocallis