And now it’s your turn – a bunch (now there’s a good gardening term that also sounds appropriately Texan) of Austin garden writers have collaborated to create the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling 2008 Saturday, April 5, 2008. Sadly, I am unlikely to be able to make it – we only got back from Austin in December – but you’ll kick yourself if you don’t get there. My previous experience with BlogTalk Downunder, which lead to us organising and running Blog Hui in 2006 has demonstrated how, in ways unexpected and quite unprecedented, attending and participating in blog events can be literally life changing. If you are, in any way, able to attend, do yourself a favor – get along.

Plant bulbs – now getting increasingly urgent to get the last of them in

I did manage to get the last of the bulbs in place. I’ve planted tulips (assorted), purple crocus, daffodils (assorted), dutch iris, cyclamen, muscari, blue hyacinth, gladiolus byzantium (the cerise ones), narcissi (assorted), and some white Amaryllis belladonna (not to be confused with Hippeastrum – the ‘amaryllis’ of the floral trade). The Tea Garden has rendered up a lawn of muscari, pink amaryllis (naked ladies), Nerine sarniensis (crimson) and swarms of freesia – possibly that most New Zealand of New Zealand – the sport, Freesia alba ‘Burtonii’. Time will tell. I had hoped the lawn of muscari might’ve been Narcissus obesus – but I don’t think so. Again, time will tell. It’s quite interesting to see what creeps out of the corners of the garden.

This crocus flower jumped out of the ground a week ago – we’re still waiting for the others. I love the soft mauve colours of the petals, and of course, the rich saffron stamens.

Trim back the dead and dying flowers

This has been the warmest May on record, so the ‘dead and dying flowers’ is more about dead-heading the roses and less about plants dying back as the Winter chill approaches. In many respects Autumn is evident more from day length than temperature – leaves are changing colour, the roses continue to bloom, camelias are starting to bud up, it’s all a bit confusing as to what the plants should do next. Meanwhile, the aphids are breeding and carrying on happily.

Make friends with the lawn
* level out some of the holes
* spread the topsoil to reinforce the thin topsoil layer
* sow grass seed
* groom up the lawn
* spray weeds

Photos to follow – the topsoil turned out to be terrific – more on this soon. Have yet to sow the grass seed.

Start planning the herbaceous border garden
Start planning the native garden
Trimming, trimming, trimming
If the leaves finally fall from the plum, prune it.

What would a list of things to do without a list to carry on to the next list? The leaves are still very firm fixed to the plum. It seems that rather than a day length trigger like the ornamental cherries, the plum might be more attuned to temperature. And it’s warm. Trimming – never stops – including a re-tune of the hedge to drop the height a little – it’s close to the house and a little less hedge lets in more light. A little lower is a relative term – I’m still standing well up on the ladder. I’ve started to form some ideas about the native garden – but much research is required. The herbaceous border garden – I’ve been reading anything by the goddess of herbaceous, Miss Gertrude Jekyll, and started to form a few designs. Keep it on the list, meanwhile, we’ve started weeding and looking at what is starting to show there already.

When we moved in here I had expected to find a fine selection of bird life – open lawns, sheltered gardens, shrubs, and trees – ideal for a cross section of urban bird species. I was surprised to find little in the way of bird life. Initially I thought it was cats, but apart from the occasional slinker, not much in the way of cats either.

And then my neighbour informed me there was a population of Tui that used most of the Tea Garden as part of their territory, and that the Tui not only saw off most birds, they were happy to dive bomb the cats and send them on their way too.

I love Tuis for their edgy acrobatics, noisy flight, and mad singing, apparently much of which is too highly pitched for humans to hear. This morning there was a real treat – three Tuis – not three metres from our front door, with one working up his repetoir. I believe Tuis breed in Spring – say September/October, and the territory setting/mate attracting is done by singing. I think we’ll have front row seats for the concerts, which will be fantastic.

My projects for May are:

Plant bulbs – now getting increasingly urgent to get the last of them in
Trim back the dead and dying flowers
Make friends with the lawn
* level out some of the holes
* spread the topsoil to reinforce the thin topsoil layer
* sow grass seed
* groom up the lawn
* spray weeds
Start planning the herbaceous border garden
Start planning the native garden
Trimming, trimming, trimming
If the leaves finally fall from the plum, prune it.