Visit 23rd/24th August

Many thanks to Isaac for the Lugano banner!

Good recent rain. 55 mills in the gauge. Lovely fine late winter days although very frosty overnight, no water in the morning with pipes frozen.
Although the Magnifique daffodils are starting to die back, others are coming into their own. Another couple of weeks should see the garden at its Spring best. Several years ago, I planted a punnet of the miniature tete-a-tete daffs. Now there are hundreds of them.

The blue of the Winter Joy wallflowers and the red of the flowering quinces, and red hot pokers, and leucodrendrons combine well with the yellow of the daffodils.

The leucadendrons are looking particularly good at the end of winter, particularly Safari Sunset.

A surprise this time was the appearance of a lovely blue crocus. Where it came from I have no idea. I certainly haven't planted any. 

I planted more Danish Flag poppies and cornflowers, more maroon coloured asters and light blue campanulas.

The Mt Franklin Grevillea had come to the end of its lifespan, must be 15 years,  so was lopped, giving the viburnum room to breathe and show off its white flowers. Unfortunately not a perfumed variety. Also the perennial yellow lupins had grown into small trees and needed to be tied up. 

The Snow in Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) was starting to crawl over everything so half of it was pulled out. Salvias, Hots Lips, Pineapple Sage and Bog Sage, were all chopped back to new growth.  

Cuttings were taken of a red and white flowering Sims carnation and more campanulas potted up.

Another rhubarb was lifted and transplanted, this time into the vegetable plot, with loads of manure.

The last of the roses, the climbing Gold Bunny, received its pruning.

I again spent half an hour on the sprawling Portuguese Laurel in the paddock. I wonder whether I will ever remove it completely.

Visit 9th/10th August

5 mills in the rain gauge, the lowest fortnightly reading for some months. However, it started raining shortly after my arrival and a further 10 mills had fallen by next morning. The rain was frustrating but I've been lucky with the weather this winter so couldn't complain.
After many years of working on having colour in the garden all year, I feel I've just about got there

So many things flower even in a cold winter, with the wallflowers, winter iris, hellebores, early daffodils, 'Winter Cheer' pokers flourishing in Daylesford. 

This visit I planted a euphorbia, 'Thorn' penstemon. seedlings of the unusual poppy 'Danish Flag' (Drapeau danois) which should be spectacular. Plus more cornflower seeds. For some time now, I've had a bit of a craving for stewed pears, so took the plunge and bought a 'Williams' Bon Chretien Pear and planted it in the paddock. Hopefully the horses won't also develop a liking for the fruit.

4 more roses were pruned and some of the cuttings planted in the vegetable plot.

It was pleasing to note that the 'Bulbinella nutans' is beginning to flower, surely earlier than usual. Such a delicate flower. Also my one camellia is doing well, the best ever. It really seems to have benefited from all the rain this year.

Much time was spent chopping perennials back, chrysanthemums, bog sage, penstemons and scabiosas. 

Also, the time has come for the feijoa to get the chop. It was producing plenty of foliage, never fruited and was beginning to cover some nice day lilies and irises. This time, I took cuttings of the blue and white penstemon, the pink buddleia, and divided the maroon aster for potting up. 

The rain prevented me lopping as much of the laurel as I would have liked but a bit more of it was removed. I noticed the horses tasting some of the cut foliage. They must be looking for more variety in their diet. One of them popped around to check out what I was doing in the garden but didn't offer to help!