This garden statue was much loved by my father. He called her Myfanwy a Welsh name. He was so very proud of her and had her positioned in his garden in a prime position so that she could be admired, if only by him. When it was time to bring her to Frog Pond Farm, I laboured over a position for her and decided that while she wouldn’t be on display as she had once been, that tucked in next to our duck pond amongst masses of greenery would be most befitting. I think I’m right.
Ah, what a weekend we have just had. The forecast was incorrect (tick) so while there were spots of rain, we spent most of the weekend outdoors. As hubby wanted to mulch around trees and as I don’t see much point in mulching over weeds and kikuyu grass, I spent a couple of days on hands and knees clearing below our olives and fruit trees in the orchard. If you aren’t familiar with kikuyu it’s not native to NZ but an import from East Africa. When we first arrived here I used to loath the stuff. It is such a vigorous grower forming dense mats of greenery which will climb over other plants in its way, choking them into the bargain. I have had my moments with this stuff, but I have to admit unlike many varieties of grass here, it is drought resistant, stays green through summer and while not overly nutritious, does a great job at feeding my plump sheep.
I took this pic while I was sitting back admiring my work. Has this olive tree been pruned? Not likely 🙂 What an enjoyable experience it was, getting branches caught in my hair and feeling bits slip down my clothing onto my skin .. and hoping that none of them had legs!
Time for some photos …
A bee swarm … an old queen and her followers have left the hive and are grouping on a Totara tree. Interesting that while there is a mass of them they are less likely to be aggressive while moving house
Flowers on a woolly nightshade, which just happens to be in the same family as tomatoes .. purple is my fav colour
A peep at our chair positioned between two pine trees – perfect to sit here with a glass of vino
A view of our orchard
A beautiful bee enjoying the pollen from a plum blossom
Comfrey growing under a plum tree (Duff’s Early Jewel) – a must to have in your orchard and will pollinate other plums
And this pic, which is my favourite. Petals have been caught in a spider’s web … ah, how delicate
So, what a fabulous weekend it was. I love my slice of heaven!
Again, a big thank you to Amy for reblogging a post of mine. Gosh! that was such a surprise .. and her wonderful followers popped on over for a look at Frog Pond Farm. The blogging world will never cease to amaze me!
Have you wondered about my cucurbits? Well they are doing just fine, sun baking in the garage!
Happy gardening ..
PS a couple of pics of 2 very important members of our family
Lenny
Eric