A busy weekend before I return to work.

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Well here I am, four weeks & four days since my surgery & will return to work on Thurs … so just 3 days more of freedom. In one way, I am looking forward to returning, as I have been growing increasingly bored on my own at home all day. I miss the socialising I get working on a busy hospital ward. Yet peversely, there is a small part of me wishing I was already retired & could spend more time creating our new garden … & also the small niggling fear of wondering if I will physically stand up to the demands of the ward so soon after surgery. Dramatic, I know ….. I’m only going to be working Thurs & Friday & then have the weekend off, before back for my four day week. This weekend has seen my wonderful OH making a start on the back garden …. up two hours before me on Saturday, so that when I arose sluggishly from bed, he had already been hard at it & made good progress. As I am still not able to do anything too physically-demanding, I sat in the sunporch flicking through gardening books, sipping on my coffee & feeling guilty everytime I looked up & saw my OH working away on some rather damp ground, as it had rained heavily the night before. But this spring is fickle with its sprinklings of sunshine, so one must grab every opportunity. This is what the area looked like before my OH starting swinging that pickaxe & wielding that spade.

The photo below shows my OH David in action He worked on three separate areas which will eventually join up to be one big shrub/herbaceous bed, behind which a woodland path will wind its way to a secret native-planted area planted all along the fenceline & into the corner.

To ensure my OH didn’t spend the entire day working & exhausting himself, I suggested he join me on a pre-arranged visit to a friend of ours, who lives way out in the country, several miles from the small rural town of Bulls along the highway ….. she is a 25 min drive from where we live. So early afternoon saw us heading off to Bulls, where we had lunch at McDonalds … it was a toss-up between that & Subways. I voted Subways, but we somehow ended up at Macs. Then we drove deeply into the lovely countryside of Rangitikei, which is the district (county) both us & our friend live in. Her garden is very well established … she & her husband moved onto the property 30 years before, & all there was in the way of a garden, were some mature very large trees & two big palms. So they built up their lovely garden from scratch, as we are doing, but now that they are in their mid-seventies the 10 acre block is getting too much for them & they have it on the market. Below are some photos I took of parts of her garden.

Top photo shows a lovely choisya. Second photo down shows one of my favourite plants … the beautiful echium fastuosum with it wonderful big blue spires enticing bees to buzz around them.

After a lovely visit, we headed back towards Bulls, discovering a little private nursery en route, which of course we could simply not drive passed. Having purchased four lovely shrubs at lower than we would have paid at a commercial GC, plus 20% off for a spring sale, we actually made it back home without any further shopping excursions. The day had turned into a blazing hot one, but did that deter my OH? No it did not. On went his gardening clothes & he headed off outdoors to swing that pickaxe for another couple of hours. Then it was my turn to do something productive, as he finished turning over the exposed earth, & asked me where I wanted our new shrubs planted. The first to go in, was a native Grevillia Robin Hood I had bought from a GC the day before, to entice the lovely Tui bird into our garden. Next to go in was the Olearia Cheesemanii, the gorgeous nz native tree daisy, which will grow to 1.5 metres & is covered in the most delicate tiny white daisies … each perfect daisy measures no more than half an inch. I have been wanting one of these for a long time. After that, a very pretty pink weigela with a variegated leaf was planted in … this one is very aptly called Apple Blossom & will grow up next to the lovely tree daisy as they are both delicate & grow to around the same size. Last, another nz native plant Leptospermum went in not too far from the grevillia. This one has very lovely bright pink & white blossom-type flowers … others have white or pale pink flowers. As mentioned above, these two areas seen in the photo will soon join up, with the glazed birdbath in amongst the growing shrubs.

Last photo is off a nz native tree with a wonderful Big glossy leaf, which was planted into the 3rd area my OH had been working on. This tree will grow 4-6 metres high & will be one of several small trees which will eventually find their way into the garden. Another loooooonnnnnggg blog. My apologies. I need to take lessons in short blogging.

• 30 Oct, 2011
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