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| Acer leaves the colours of a Van Gogh. |
At this time of year, posting Six on Saturday highlights how much change happens in a lil ole week. Bees are hand jiving in the fatsia japonica while the acer leaves that were golden only three weeks ago, are now shrivelling into a burnished copper.
1. At the beginning of the week, I had to accept that the lawn needed one last mow. CFS keeps me on a strict energy budget & mowing sends me into serious, angry-letter-from-the-bank overdraft. I bit the bullet & bought an electric mower as my hoped-for solution. No petrol smell, no petrol weight, no metal parts. For the moment, a great & inexpensive solution to the year's last (anticipated) mow. We'll see how long this light weight baby lasts, come next year.
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| My new mower. |
2. No surprise that bulb planting gobbled up a good portion of the week. None of these bad boys were mad purchases of exotic new residents, unfortunately. Rather, a clutch of brown bags containing bulbs that'd grown in pots - narcissus, tulips, daffs & some Can't Remembers (i.e., bulbs I didn't label so can't remember what the heck they are).
Planting last year's bulbs is like getting a card from a really good friend who's moved away. Except for the Can't Remembers. That's more like reading what people wrote in my year book all those long years ago, wondering who they were & what they were talking about.
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| Old friends & forgotten favourites. |
3. Planting bulbs got me close & personal with what's already setting the stage for next summer. My daisies bloom in late spring/early summer, so they didn't surprise me so much.
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| Daisy in waiting. |
4. But the Michaelmas daisies did surprise me. On the other hand, this fella bloomed in mid-summer for the first time, so perhaps it's changing its game.
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| Aster getting an early start. |
5. I came across a little green stranger snuggling next to the purple sage. Obviously not a weed, but what the heck . . . oh my goodness, how did I forget that I'd planted a sedum there this year? Probably because after a short struggle, it'd withered away. I'm very glad to see it didn't succumb. This may've been a Purple Emperor, although here, it looks quite green.
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| The sedum lives! |
6. The last 10 years've been fairly nomadic for me, with a new garden every few years. My current one is the first I've had with no pond. But since there's a Doodle at our house, we must have water to splash in. This week, the pool got drained for winter, with some help from said Doodle.
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| I think all the water's out now. |
While I love the blousy look of late summer & early autumn, everything happening this week tidies the garden for next year. The sudden neatness gives the whole place a feeling of anticipation. I guess every week in the garden is a good week after all.
Once again, thanks so much for stopping by my little patch of the world. Do check out the gardener behind Six on Saturday for his own six & links to all the other great Six gardeners.
Between you and Julieanne (do you know @gwenfarsgarden?) I'm learning about what CFS/ME throws at people and how they fight back. Thanks for helping me to understand. I was trying to find the words to say that last week without seeming trite or, worse, patronising. I hope I've got it right.
ReplyDeleteI got rid of my petrol mower a couple of years ago and bought a Bosch. Best decision I've made in years. So light and easy to manoeuvre. I'm sure you'll love it.
I'm still working on last week's mystery plant. There are many unvariegated sedums.
Are they bees or wasps on your Fatsia? Usually, Fatsias attract wasps in droves. It's worth making sure because, of course, bees are far less likely to sting if disturbed. My Fatsia sees very few bees; it's currently wasp central with a few butterflies providing occasional interest.
Who cares if you don't know which bulb you planted where. The general rule is however tall the bulb is, plant the tip at least twice that tallness below the soil surface. When planting at this time of year, I'd go deeper as tulips, for example, need to be deep enough that their tips break the surface at the right time. Just work on the basis that you can plant too shallow but you can't plant too deep. And if you're not sure about top or bottom, plant sideways. Problem sorted.
Have fun. Hope to see you next week. With my clothes on.
Yes,I Twitter-know Julieanne. She does some beautiful gardening, in spite of things. As to the bugs in my fatso plant, definitely bees. Great big, drunk striped things we'd call bumble bees back home. Hope you find my mystery plant! If not, I'll have to post it again in the spring.
DeleteThat Acer truly does look like a Van Gogh! Wonderful. It seems the lack of labels is a recurring topic in our Sixes. They get lost, broken and don't look good in the garden. At least we've got the Internet now, so we can search online if we forget names. :)
ReplyDeleteIn my case, it was because I thought I would remember! Which I didn't. Fortunately, I love surprises.
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