Sunday, 10 March 2019
Again, the night had been just below freezing. The front garden still had a vestige of Friday’s snow.
Allan reset the sundial an hour ahead
We began next door but one (two doors down) at The Norwood Garden.
Before (Allan’s photo)
The north bed felt cold on working hands. At least the ground was not frozen and so we could accomplish our weeding.
I’m thinking that small hardy fuchsias would be good in here between the hydrangeas. Must wait till warmer weather before planting them.
On the east side:
Next, we went several blocks east to Mike’s garden.
Allen trimmed the pampas grass… I have only planted one pampas grass in all my years of gardening, in my first year on the peninsula. We have, however, had to care for many. They have now made it to the noxious weed list.
After (Allan’s photo)
The front garden’s variegated buddleia needed a trim (another noxious weed plant I do not plant, except for the new sterile cultivars on rare occasion, but I take care of some that are already established and make sure that they do not reseed).
The front garden then got a good tidy up and path raking.
The gorgeous red flowering pieris might win someone over to pieris who has so far resisted them.
The ground on the shady north side was frozen.
That was the last of the garden wake up calls for this spring.
We went on to Seaview, to weed and tidy at The Shelburne Hotel.
Allan went up to the second floor decks to check on the planters.
Old planting of fennel, not by us, before and after.
He tidied the little bog garden on the north side of the building. I wonder if the canna will come back; I doubt it.
I learned this winter on Gardeners’ World that one should remove old figs from a fig tree to get better new fruits. I had forgotten to do so.
It is done now.
I thought the hardy jasmine had plotzed…
…but a closer look gave me some hope of new buds. I just clipped off some of the dead leaves.
The front garden has lots of small bulbs blooming already, and more exciting bulb foliage coming on.
The rapidly dropping temperature in the late afternoon inspired Allan to ask if we were going into the pub after work. Yes. We enjoyed hot toddies….
…a special of fried calamari…
…comfort food of mac and cheese…
…and a smoked salmon Reuben.
At home, the wake up calls are now all erased from the work board.
I enjoyed the look of that for a moment before creating the new work list with the sometimes dreaded beach approach weeding.
I don’t feel the dread of it as much this year, perhaps because I feel well caught up with work so far.
You had asked yesterday for opinions on the British gardening shows Instant Gardener and Autistic Gardener. I watched an episode of the first, and although I liked garden designer Danny Clarke, I did not like the presenter Helen Skelton. She seemed to have no garden knowledge and I could not see the value of having her in the show. This I felt contributed to the dumbing down of the show as it pertained to garden expertise.
Lots of quick fix flaws in the episode I watched. They redo a garden for someone in a wheelchair, and don’t raise the beds along the replaced boardwalk? Then they actually threw out a raised planter – they could have repurposed it. They move a rose and redo a section of garden along the house because of the gutter leaking into it. Why not fix that hole in the gutter?
I could not watch Austistic Gardener as the episodes would not open properly on YouTube.
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I agree re the presenter on Instant Gardener. Based on the one I saw, she made it unlikely that I will watch more. Plus putting the designer under pressure to do the job in one day is just a ridiculous stunt.
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looks like you earned your comfort food! 🙂
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Congrats on completing your wake up call list! Your comfort food looks comforting after working in the cold. The blue sky is pretty, though. I love the pieris.
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The pub open sign was welcome.
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Just what we needed.
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Gads! I so dislike pampas grass. I grew up with the invasive Cortaderia jubata. It is not even very pretty, or at least it is not as pretty as garden varieties. The funny thing is the Brent, my colleague in Southern California, is very fond of the garden varieties of pampas grass. At least your is a good one, and not Cortaderia jubata!
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