... Pride of our Alley

A dry day and we have been able to plant the rest of the Cypress trees!

Not that it was easy ... we both have definite ideas as to what is right and what is the best way to do things!!!  But, even though there were a number of discussions as to when a tree was upright ("You've only got one eye" or "Why do people close one eye to see if something is straight?" )  the trees are now creating the look of an alley ...

(and I will be able to nip out late at night to 'adjust' the trees which I find offending).

We Creep On

And so the Cypress Walk begins to take shape.

The plan is to replace the Rose Pergola with 12 Cypress trees and today we started to plant the trees in the holes left by the uprights of the Pergola.  Although it took longer than we had anticipated, largely that was setting up a system and so, we hope to have them all planted soon, after a couple of days of socialising, and a hospital appointment and a forecast of more days of rain!!!

The end of Autumn?

Today was notable for 2 events ... our first frost and the passage of a large quantity of migrating Cranes.  The frost in itself was nothing special, except for the fact that it is quite late this year.  In past years we have had frosts as early as 1st October.  But the overflight by Cranes is not common.  We have seen them migrating perhaps 4 times in 13 years.  It obviously depends on exactly which route they are flying on but when we DO see them it is a wonderful sight ... and sound for they are very vociferous.  Difficult to count but we think we must have seen about 1000 all told.

Meanwhile we are still planting bulbs ... 2400 to go!

Only 4700 to go

We made a start on planting the allium bulbs in the prairie beds yesterday. Rain stopped play several times during the day but we managed to plant 270!! Goodness there is a heck of a long way to go.

Initially we had decided to plant the narcissus Thallia first on the bank under the trees in the front garden. However it soon became evident that if we scattered the bulbs in the long grass we would loose them so we had to wait until it stopped raining for John to cut the grass. Fortunately it stopped long enough late yesterday afternoon so today we made a start. Oh this was a piece of cake compared to the alliums and we zoomed along. The trusty spike was replaced by a broom handle and we were away. In two hours we had planted 600. At one stage we created a bed in this area (it has morphed several times in the last 13 years) so the ground is very soft. Not much rain is forecast after tomorrow so we will be battling on......dependant on our backs.

I don't plan to be so stupid another year but of course Never say Never.

Still Here

Life has been a bit hectic lately......even more so than normal. Betty (my second Mum) died following a stroke in September so we have been in the UK for a couple of short spells recently. Betty was 96 and frustrated by her increasingly failing health so we could not feel sad at her passing as we knew she was ready to go after a very full and interesting life. Together with her son and her grand children we arranged a fitting celebration of her life with lots of laughs, she would have approved of that.

These sad occasions often go along side some very nice experiences. This one gave us the opportunity to stay with Clive (Betty's son) and his wife Mary. Over the past couple of years they have been building three houses on what was their garden. They have just moved into the one they build for themselves...... and we think it's fabulous. Perhaps more than most we can appreciate the work, blood sweat and tears they have put into the project.

However the downside of the trip was that we caught awful colds (presumably on the plane) which we can not get rid of. No doubt we will survive!! Unfortunately we have a lot to do to put the garden to bed and not much "go" to do it.

The weather has remained remarkably mild but wet, so the late garden is blooming much better than it did in the summer.  Still, I must take the bull by the horns and lift the tender plants. Foolishly I have made the situation worse by ordering 6100 bulbs which need planting. Seemed a good idea when I ordered them as they work out very cheap! Well these not so hardy souls started planting yesterday and managed to plant 500 mixed daffodils around the sycamores in the back field......only 5600 to go!!