Off The Edge Gardening

“Today an emu showed me what he had just eaten for lunch”

Fuchsia and friend.

After yesterday’s wall to wall sunshine today was the flip side of the coin, floor to ceiling rain.  Unfortunately this meant I had to cancel my visit to Max’s, disappointing as we are only just getting to know one another.  He had bravely been out for his constitutional and luckily agreed that it was a little soggy today for digging in the soil.  So it was a day confined to barracks.  Soup was made, a writing project completed and the chores list is now a little shorter; prevarication was also indulged.  This beautiful grass, Hordeum jubatum or squirrel tail, was yesterday shamelessly waving its silver pink tassels in the balmy breeze.  Today I am guessing it will be looking a little more like a water rat!

Sweet peas, the scent of which takes us back to summers past and gives us hope for those to come.  These fine specimens have been tended by Lady Mantle who has taken her role of guardian very seriously.  She has diligently removed tendrils before they could contort and sully the blooms, tying in the now anchorless stems to sturdy canes.  She has picked on regular basis encouraging a steady flow of flowers and scanned for foes who wish to nibble on the new shoots.  The upshot of this dedication is that the Mantle ancestral home is full of fragrance and there have been plenty to share with friends, neighbours and serfs.

Arbutus unedo is strawberry by name but definitely not strawberry by nature.   Admiring the peeling cinamon bark, ivory bell flowers and luscious looking fruit will have to suffice as the Strawberry Tree is not a tasty specimen.  Pliny the Elder apparently commented after tasting just one of the tempting berries “unum tantum edo” meaning “I eat only one”.  Enough said.

The much maligned lily stamen, replete with granules of rich ochre pollen.  Often ceremoniously snipped before they can stain your best frock, drop onto the cream pile carpet or mar the Maltese terrier.  This is a great pity, they are as beautiful as the exotic blooms they bless.

Today I was digging up couch grass at The Farm.  If you laid all the roots that I painstakingly removed end to end it would stretch to the moon and back.  No exaggeration.  On the plus side we picked the first apples of the season, the forecast doom and destruction didn’t arrive until the end of the day and we had quadruple chocolate biscuits (yes quadruple!).  Just as the monsoon got going, and I was planning my escape, Mrs Duck waddled past with her new brood on the way to the pond.  Looks like she is taking better care of this lot.  Please forgive the quality of the picture, it might have been fine for ducks but it was dreadful weather for photographers!

It was my first day at a new job today, which is always a little scary.  It is one I have talked about previously, you may remember, the one with all the exotic plants and a puppy called Max.  For some reason I was more nervous than usual and couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  Perhaps it was fear of the unknown, or fear of failure, but more likely it was the abject terror of negotiating the hairpin turn and vertiginous drive.  So when the approach was mastered, albeit in an inappropriate gear (will do better next time), I felt a little better.  As I reach the house I noticed a shining white sail in the garden behind.  I was grandly welcomed by the gorgeous Max, who ensured I was fed, watered and looked after for the whole day (which I might add was as glorious as a cliché summers day).  What is more, my introduction to this lovely garden was working beneath this beautiful eucryphia, the alabaster sheet spotted earlier, where I was serenaded by an avian choir.  I really had no reason to be worried.