Garden awakens to greet early Spring

With the arrival of an early August  spring, I seem to be living in a bird aviary, so prolific is the birdsong.  The plumber who is installing a tap in readiness for summer, comments; “Those birds are the noisiest I have heard.’’  And ,speaking above the chorus around us, I agree.

The sun shines in a cloudless blue sky despite the chilliness of the dregs of winter and on all sides, the garden is waking up to the gentle touches of Spring. The lillies are blooming their trumpets of  wonderful white velvety flowers and the snowdrops their tiny bells bobbing throughout the garden.

A solitary jonquil flowers by the letter box.

The tender green tips on the bare pruned roses promise a Springtime flower burst and the neighbouring Manchurian Pear tree is pregnant with fuzzy buds sprouted along the still leafless branches.

Nest-building is the order of Spring according to the mutton bird which is diligently tearing strips off the torn stocking, binding the barren gledisia tree to its stakes. Time and time again he returns pecking until yet another shred comes loose.

Those kookaburras, too, have returned to sit on the same gum tree branch, which hangs over the side fence and their raucous laughter makes me happy to be alive. A solitary black crow hops from one side of the garden to the other, perhaps looking for the population of caterpillars crawling on everything or else seeking out the snails hiding under low leaves.  And above, lorikeets streak like multi-coloured lightening bolts around the house, settling in a deciduous tree along the driveway. They shreak their pleasure.   And always there are magpies galore.

My side garden

However, the sign of Spring which means so much to me is outside my study doorway where Olivier planted masses of ordinary irises as soon as we moved into the new house.  Jammed in behind the retaining wall, they seemed doomed, but here they are sprouting their striking purple blooms as a living memory to my late husband’s green fingers.

Now, as I have written before, it is becoming a memorial garden for Olivier.  I have a regular gardener who has made such a difference to the hillside garden planting the carpet roses and transplanting borage and statice from the front garden.  This week, the landscape designer, Diana McGregor visited to inspect the lavender hedges, which do not seem to be thriving like they should on the threshold of Spring.  One border hedge is English lavender, the other is a rarer French lavender. Four have died since last Spring , leaving gaps in the borders.

Diana is not pleased with the lethargy of the garden overall and because of its dripper system,  which should be delivering sufficient water, Diana decrees the soil is stale and lacks nutrients. It desperately needs fertiliser. She delivers her verdict with the serious tone of a GP giving bad news on one’s health.

“It all lacks a kind of lustre for early Spring,’’ she says.

Kookaburra pays a visit

“Those leaves on the Christmas bushes should be glossy instead of flat. It all needs a good fertiliser and about this much mulch’’, she says, indicating a layer of about 10 cms with her thumb and forefinger.  This is as mandatory as if she had written out a prescription.    Each plant – and there are countless varieties of perennials, shrubs, climbers, herbs and grasses – is still only moving into its second Spring and as with anything tender and young, it needs to be nurtured, especially when trying to thrive in soil which not too long ago was a building site.

Meanwhile, I have bought a stunning  statue of an angel watching guard over Olivier’s beloved pond (his unfinished business as he intended to renovate it.) The angel is deliberately rusted to look old and stands sentinel over all of the happenings in this challenging fledgling garden which is giving me so much pleasure.

 

 

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2 Comments to “Garden awakens to greet early Spring”

  1. By Amanda (@lambsearshoney), 19/11/2013 @ 6:12 pm

    What a lovely garden you have Nadine. I’m sure it must bring you much joy. It was a pleasure to meet you today and I hope our paths cross again.

    • By nadine, 28/11/2013 @ 11:05 pm

      Dear Amanda, Thankyou and yes I enjoyed meeting you too and let’s hope we meet again soon.

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