Fighting a Rearguard Action
04 November 2010 22:40:37
Velthemia bracteata (1 year to flowering)
Although it didn't rain much today, the whole garden is sodden.
I went out and before long found myself tidying up a bit, cutting back dead stems and pulling handfulls of leaves out of the borders. But it is quite soul destroying as we will have to wait such a long time to see the result of this work. The garden does not look much better as a result of my efforts so it was all a bit pointless.
I did have a little go at stripping the dirty outside layer of my birch trees.They are Betula 'Jacquemontii' and the trunks are a lovely luminous white if properly stripped. Recently I saw a product in a Garden Centre for cleaning such bark. I laughed out loud when I saw it and wondered who would buy such a thing. But there I was today, doing the same job. I have taught my Sammy to pull off the bark whenever he sees it because he enjoys that. But one day he got in trouble with hubby who thought he was damaging the trees and wouldn't believe that mum let him do such a thing : ) Poor Sammy!
Raised my spirits in the afternoon with a trip to the Coolaught Nursery in Clonroche. It is lovely to visit at this time of year as the owner is not overrun with customers and has plenty of time for chat and to give tips.
PS. The photo is for Mary if she is reading this. Mary was showing me her Velthemia and mentioned what a beautiful plant it is and worth having. This is mine - just 1 year to flowering now - so I will get to see its flowers soon myself : )