Feverish

Three weeks spent in an Australian winter had an unexpected bonus: no hayfever. It has come back with added vim now.   I have sneezed my way towards the polaramines this morning with a wry thought.   This is an essentially outdoor passion.   And outdoor makes me sneeze, eyes stream, itch and cough. Ah well.

Here are a few extra shots from yesterday’s full on launch. Andrew’s birthday present of 100 galtonia bulbs are putting on lovely growth.   Just a week or so and I will actually get to see what they look like.   I planted some in this now-crowded pannicum bed in the courtyard.  Â  And the majority in the calabert garden in between the baby shrubs.  

I was planning to add a few in one of the courtyard planters.   But I’m glad I didn’t. It’s chock full of lilies.   Andbursting out.   The ‘weeds’ below the planter are mint. I am always short of mint as it thrives in the gravel of the courtyard, but not in the pots where I plant them.   So I have given in and just let it spread on its own.

Other news; the herb garden wins the prize as the neatest and most aesthetically pleasing part of the spring garden.   Spring? We are in full hot blast summer with no rain. But the sage is flowering and the salvia caradonnas are beautiful.   They are definitely the right plant in the right place.   Winter doesn’t bother them and all I really need to do is take cuttings to maintain their shape.   But the cuttings never work.   I must try harder this year.

So what’s on the agenda today? We have a major building programme indoors fireplace replacement and rebuilding of one living room wall), so I will need to mooch about somewhat to meet the builders and see what they need.   But I would like to keep planting out the seedlings that survived in pots. And strim the paths.   And chip sticks. And weed. And plant more sage plants.   And sow carrots.   And check over all the tomatoes. And….