Death Stare #23

I got here firstIt’s not a case of how do I love thee, let me count the ways.  This is a new variation on the Artur Death Stare. Our annual fight for the white fleeces I use to cover the plants in the potting shed.

Snow is forecast tomorrow.

And this look also encompasses that tricky question of just whose potting shed it is. Artur got there first this morning and won’t relinquish the fleece.

That will teach me for leaving it out somewhere silly (in a box) where he would pounce.

Luckily I had hidden a few inside a big plastic bin with a secure lid. So the pesky little critter couldn’t make a nest out of them and then dare me to take away his toys.

The plants are grouped together on the staging and are snug.  But as a precuaution I have brought all the anigozanthos (kangaroo paws) inside. They can live in my soon to be finished (hah!) office over the winter.  It will be freezing inside this house when we are away later in January, but it’s better than the playful minus 12C temperatures it gets to in the potting shed.  new rose planted

And I will bring in the eucalyptus trees as well. Their young stems are just too narrow to cope with a cold blast. In fact, what am I waiting for?

If Artur stops growling at me when I come in the potting shed door, I might get away unscathed. And with plants.

Oh, and I planted up a rose today. I knew I did something useful.  This was from a cutting I struck last year of my favourite Gertrude Jeykll rose growing in the courtyard.

I can’t believe the cutting actually grew on so well. My attempts a year before failed. So fingers crossed this one thrives. I always need more roses for my strawberry and rose petal jam in late spring.

But I’m keeping my 25 per cent off voucher for David Austin roses just in case I need to buy a few more bare root Gerties over winter.