The rains have well and truly come and whilst we have slipped into June and supposedly Winter, the plants and grass are still feeling quite frisky and obviously feel the need to make up for lost drought time. I was really hoping this would happen, like it did after last Autumn’s terrible (but minor compared to this year’s) drought.
The Autumn flowering bulbs, like Nerines, that had a few pitiful flowers in March amidst sad looking leaves, are now covered in bright blooms amidst lush green foliage. Alongside them the Spring flowering bulbs are emerging at a great rate too! To add to the confusion I noticed both my big banksia roses were budding up in parts yesterday! This is before they have lost all their leaves for Winter…
Many Autumn flowering plants like roses and irises are now setting about making new growth and blooms. Hopefully the Winter doesn’t get too harsh anytime soon and ruin their bounty.
We had a great turn out for the Open Day and sold lots of perennials and roses which were begging for homes. The eternally fine Autumn broke down into rain that day, but kindly waited till after lunch when most of the punters had been and gone.
June 1st is Gypsy Day amongst dairy farmers and also is the time for the annual “Rose Movement”. Invariably in the space of nearly 12 whole months, many roses have out grown their spot, or look unhappy or have failed to fulfill promise or indeed have outdone themselves and deserve a more prominent position! So many reasons to move roses! Also happening this year, is the formation of a new garden for my “Rose Partner”, Mary Ellen. We both moved from East Coast Road, North Auckland around the same time and many of her roses ended up at my place as she was moving to an apartment in the city. Any that were rare or special we transplanted here, often they were repeats of ones I also had. Now she and her husband have finished building their new house in Miranda, about 20 minutes from here and the landscaping is all complete. Therefore she is reclaiming lost property and freeing up space in my garden for new and different roses!
We are both slightly past our prime, so the digging up of established roses is a drawn out affair, with many coffee and wine breaks involved. I’ve got to say it’s a lot easier digging them out of prime dairy topsoil versus the hard yellow clay we both gardened in for 30 years up North! Lucky we were more primal 5-6 years ago…