All-Day Gardening

I've been spending time working in the garden since Wendy and Jami left. On Tuesday afternoon I planted the Nasturtiums I bought at Falkland Palace Gardens last week in the little back garden. Then I weeded for a couple of hours, enough to send Don to the skip with an enormous load. There is more weeding to be done (they have gone crazy with the rain we've had lately) but it will have to wait until next week. Yesterday I began pruning back two Rhododendrons and an Azalea in the right front corner of the front garden (looking toward the road from the house). This will give the plants in that area more air and light. Much needs to be weeded out but at least I've made a start. Don cut the grass in the front and back because we've had so much rain lately, it shoots up almost while you watch it.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the plant nursery in Crieff and bought most of the plants on my list. Today was the day for getting them all in the ground or into planters. What a task that was! I began this morning while Don was a golf by potting 2 variegated geraniums called Vancouver Centennial --a real beauty and so named because the leaves have a shape and colour of the autumn maple leaves which is Canada's emblem. I potted each of them into a green and terra cotta round pot and placed one on either side of our front door. (First photo above.)

Next I put the little Alpine Lewisia into the stone planter on one side of the lavender blue Campanula. This is the lovely starburst pink striped flower on the left side of the planter in the second photo above. On the right side of the planter is another Alpine which we picked up this afternoon at the Heather Centre to balance out this planter.

The big task of the morning was to replant the 4 window boxes. These I filled with petunias in red, white, pink, purple, and violet; a drippy silver-green round-leaved plant for contrast, electric blue Lobelia for drama, and trailing multicoloured Verbena. By the time Don got home from golf at 1:30 or so, I was exhausted, dirty, and aching all over--and the patio was a mess!

After lunch we took a trip to the Heather Centre to buy 3 more bags of compost (potting soil). When we got back, we both got out there to get the remainder of the planting done, which involved putting a variety of plants into the front flower bed right in front of the fireplace wall. While Don did the planting of the new plants, I transplanted some older ones to different spots. Don took breaks from kneeling over and planting by standing up and edging as well as getting rid of the moss that wants to grow on the path side of the brick barrier to the front bed. All of it was back-breaking work and we were both completely done in by the time we finished. Don put things away and I got all the plants well watered in and then we came in to watch the news on the telly. We are exhausted but think the effort will pay off handsomely once the plants, most of which are perennials, really take hold.

Now we're making our dinner--ragout of lamb, brown basmati rice, and broccoli. Nothing nearly so exotic as last night's dinner which was a form of sweet and sour chicken, sweet potato curry, and broccoli korma with fresh strawberries for dessert. We'll have strawberries again tonight. It's so wonderful when the fresh local strawberries are available.

Tomorrow mid-day our next houseguests arrive. They are Lynn and John Kelly from Australia. They were Bethesda friends from the River Road Church who retired a couple of years after we did and moved to Australia, where John was born and raised. They will have a short visit with us and on Sunday, head up to the Highlands where some of Lynn's family originated. Unfortunately, the weather report for Saturday isn't very good. In fact, it's been drizzly and overcast all day today, but we'll do the best we can.