Monday, November 21, 2005

I Should be More Careful...

Yesterday seemed like a good day to deadhead the Arctotis in this garden and also trim it back off the footpath.

But by the end of the day .....

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...... it looked like this!

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I trimmed along the footpath then started trimming at the back, followed by thinning out, thinking I would leave a few small clumps, but then "Why don't we try something different?" So the 'something different' is now new compost and mulch planted with white Petunias, yellow Nasturtiums and blue Convolvulus. The latter is expected to cover the area soon/eventually. There is still a large clump of the burgundy Arctotis at the far end of the garden.

18 comments:

Miss Robyn said...

I do that all the time !! trimming stuff and then it looks disgusting so I rip it all out!
thank heaven I am not a hairdresser :)

Rachel said...

I wish I had your gardening know-how! Oh to have a flower garden like yours!

Judypatooote said...

Beautiful....is it summer there now?

Alice said...

Judy - it's almost summer. Officially starts on 1 December.

Robyn - I have visions of you as a hairdresser. It really doesn't bare thinking about!

Stuart said...

The footpath looks a little drab now!

Alice said...

Yes, Stuart, it does look a little drab now but think how stunning it's going to look all blue, white and yellow. I actually have some dwarf yellow marigolds in flower so I might put those in to help brighten it up a bit.

Miss Robyn said...

haha Alice - I could be like Edward Scissorhands !!!!

Jellyhead said...

The person with no idea about gardening says...Good Lord woman, what have you done??!

I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing. Maybe you can post a photo of the same area in a few weeks' time to show us the end result?

Peggy said...

I would be happy to have a garden with your cast offs! Everything looks so lovely in your garden no matter what you do.

Susan Tidwell said...

You must have missed puttering in the garden while you were gone. Does it feel good to 'play in the dirt' again! Looking forward to the new flower bed.

Sandy said...

I love changing things around sometimes! It is going to look great. Thank you Alice for the photo link. I have checked it out a few times now and have been enjoying Diane's Daily Walks!

Maggie Ann said...

Alice, you are an amazing gardner...I wish I had 1/10 of your know-how. I did plant some bulbs this afternoon. Ruffled tulips or was that double tulips, pretty anyway. If they turn out like the picture on the carton, they'll be gorgeous. *smile*

sharonb said...

LOL - I won't be inviting you to dead head anything in my yard - actually its the sort of thing I do to so I was laughing when I saw it

Calidore said...

Yipee, someone who prunes like I do. Got ta love your pruning girl...hehehehe.

Alice said...

To everyone who may be thinking I pulled out perfectly good flowers (well, there were some) but most had finished flowering, although I could have coaxed a few more weeks of more sparse flowering. The photo of the arctotis in flower was taken a few weeks ago and if there's one thing I can't stand in a garden it's plants that need to be deadheaded. Spent a couple of hours in a lovely park at the foot of Edinburgh Castle a few years ago and how my fingers itched to deadhead the roses.

Since our friend in the West thought the footpath looked a bit drab now - and it did - I've also planted yellow marigolds and blue lobelia.

Diana LaMarre said...

Alice,
I literally gasped out loud when I saw the bare earth! I thought it looked beautiful in the first pic, but then I like things spilling onto the pavement.

Your new planting sounds like it, too, will be beautiful. Can't wait to see it.

How wonderful to just be starting summer! I am so envious.

Alice said...

Zoey - I like plants spilling onto the path a little too, but in this day and age when you can get sued at the drop of a hat one can't run the risk of having pedestrians trip on the plants and getting injured.

OldRoses said...

I just finished my clean-up for winter and had to run over to your blog and get my fix of flowers. Thanks! Your gardens are gorgeous. Just what I needed as New Jersey heads into winter.