After spring has sprung and the flowers have done their thing, the wife gets rather excited about trimming them back and weeds get special treatment too.

We have an annual debate about the pros and cons of weeds! Mary reckons they should go! I reckon they should remain! Mary says they rob the plants of nutrients. I say they protect the soil from the sun and mulch the soil. Where in Nature do you see "weeding" being practised?", I ask ... all to no avail! I always protest loudly, and often about weeding, that's if I condescend to do it all! However, one glance at "She who must be obeyed" with stock whip in hand, I usually find something "very important" to attend to ... well away from the garden ... and the weeds!

Now, the soil out the front is very poor, so we have switched to having our garden in pot plants. Oodles of them ... that's quite a lot, OK? We've potty trained everything, from Apple trees to "you-name-it". I prefer the "you-name-it" variety, because unless they wear an I. D. I have absolutely no idea what the heck they are! To me a flower is a flower is a flower! Mary can rattle off names a mile long. Me? I'll stick to Weed Protection and you can call it what you darn well want.

The great thing about gardens is that you can do so much with them! There's the "All Lawn" approach; Tree and shrubs; Flower Beds Galore; Native and even the humble "Wild Oats". A matter of "To each his/her own"!

Our front garden is not of the Gob Smacking variety, more of the "Bloody Hell!!" type! One of those gardens that upsets the rhythm of the early morning joggers as they gawk in wonderment that someone got away with having such a display! A display not necessary of brilliance but more of outright eccentricity!

Here's a photo of Mrs Blue Titties. A favourite of visitors to our front garden. When the very first "creature" appeared out front an elderly gentleman was so intrigued by it that he very nearly drove into a neihbour's fence! When another creature appeared slumping over the handle of a lawnmower another passerby thought he'd had a heart attack and went over to assist! Other creatures followed and the press got onto them ... and so did the vandals! One creature was kidnapped and discovered in a phone booth in town and returned by some young ladies from the hockey team. I still have visions of that creature making a phone call!

Mary, showed me an advertisement for a childs "Sand pit". It was a blue Plastic Clam shell. The sand was meant for the base and the other half, the "Lid" to protect it from cats and dogs. They make excellent fish ponds! Cannas were inserted into tubs (plastic pot plants), of gravel stones and placed into the Ponds. Lettuce were added later. Lettuce lend themselves very well to hydroponics. Wet feet don't bother them at all. Just the occasional mist spray of a weak liquid fertilizer and they're happy as Larry!

Every now and then you think to yourself that Mother Nature got it wrong!

Well, that's what I thought when I painted the lower branches of a shrub a nice golden bronze colour! A passerby asked me what variety it was and I told her it was a quite rare "Golden Branch Australis". She enquired at the local garden nursery who in turn informed her that no such shrub existed! And she told me so too!!

Not long after this edifying event I was doing some Art work and discovered I had an excess of paint. It was a beautiful purple colour and for the life of me couldn't think of any use for it. That is until I spotted the Gum tree out front!! My friend Dani has a thing about all things purple and I thought how nice it would be if she had a Purple Gum Tree dedicated to her!

Sometime later I was standing back from the tree admiring my latest bout of eccentricity when a voice next to me said:

"Never seen a Purple tree before!!!"
"What purple tree?"
"That one...there!"
That's not purple!!"
"Yes it is!!"
"No it aint!"
"Well, what colour is it then?"
"Brown! Those over there are purple!!" I said, pointing to brown branched trees over the road.

The old codger looked over at the trees then back at the purple tree, repeating this a few times and then slowly shook his head. "I need my bloody eyes tested!" He mumbled to himself as he walked away!

One of the joys of life is to see how children enjoy "interesting" objects in your Garden. It is a great Blessing indeed sharing these things with the young, and the young at heart! To see their eyes light up and the smile on the face as they see something they love and can relate to. Everything has its own reward and their joy is our reward. What more could you ask for?

T®P

Start Over

T®P