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June 2022
Ah, June. The first month of Winter. Everything slows down and, as Jenny so succinctly puts it, “looks dead”. June was a slow month in the garden. Sickness ran through the family causing chaos and short tempers. The garden retaliated by growing weeds in a Spring-like manner. We couldn’t remember seeing so many weeds. Of course, when you feel unwell everything is much worse but it was looking pretty bad. At least there was no watering to be done. That would have sent Jenny over the edge, I’m pretty sure. The garden is Jenny’s garden, and when she is not working in it, or planning something, or declaring how much…
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May 2022
The last month of Autumn was a stunner. Crisp but full of golden sunshine. In a dream world it is the time to sit, bask in the light and have a cup of tea (or mulled wine). Reality is very different. The weeds keep growing, there is always something to clean up, trim, prune, wood needs to be cut in the bushland and all needs to be done by at least 4pm because it gets too cold and too dark to be out beyond then. The shining light within all these ‘chores’ is that magical word ‘propagation’. Autumn is the perfect time to take hardwood cuttings and sow seeds. Jenny…
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April 2022
It may look lovely but April can only be described as a month of destruction in our garden… It began with the apple step-overs. One of the first things we planted when we arrived at Crofton over 20 years ago, this is an old espaliering technique where you cut out the leader at the first pair of lateral branches so it is low enough to step over (hence the name). It is only small garden area, one we walk past daily and yet had slipped beneath our view over the years, until now… To be honest the makeover was fuelled by an idea that had been brewing for a while.…
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March 2022
March rolls in with cool mornings and evenings, which means the watering frenzy is slowing down, thank heavens. Despite this, the garden is not really slowing down, the Lasiandras are starting to flower as is the lovely Plectranthus ecklonii. The Crocus and Colchicums are nearly at their best. Even more exciting, the bulb catalogues have started to arrive. There is nothing like buying plants by mail. The impatient waiting, the fear they may be left in some post office somewhere too long, the excitement on their arrival. Bliss. We made some purchases from Tesselaar this time – Cottage Gladioli Mix for cut flowers, Tulip Turkestan because it’s an unusual shape…
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February 2022
It did not bode well for the month of February as we stood staring at the snapped trunk of the Robinia ‘Frisia’ mop top. We had planted it the week before in a nicely protected spot, making heartfelt promises of watering it daily so it could survive the end of Summer. It was a bit whippy, so we staked it in the proper manner at the base. ‘That should protect it from the wind’ we declared. We failed to consider the possums. In our defence, possums are not high on our list of priorities. They run about the roof having fun at night, they did nibble one of our Oak…
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January 2022
If there’s one thing you could say about Jenny, it’s that she never does things by halves. Sometimes it’s a bit half arsed but never halves. January is never a good month at Crofton Garden. Sandford is the second driest place in Tasmania and relies on tank water so it can get totally depressing watching the garden get dry and crispy and only have a limited amount of control over it. So within this context you could say we were desperately looking for a distraction. And distraction we found via Monty Don’s Adriatic Gardens series, which included a Japanese influenced garden, which reminded Jenny how much she loved them, which,…
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December 2021
Well, December has come and gone. We had quite a bit of rain and it’s been cool so the garden is looking ok. This is evident by the generous growth on our Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’ and Cornus collection, who usually have started showing signs of crispiness by the end of the first month of Summer. Earlier in the year we planted a hedge of Hydrangea ‘Blueberries and Cream’, one of our better moves. Unfortunately, we forgot that it is near a group of Clivias, orange flowering ones. Not the best combination. They were given to us by a friend and at the time we were grateful. We would never have…
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November 2021
November has been a different November to what is usual. There were no temper tantrums about not having enough water and wanting to move, despite being reminded that a water metre would be extremely expensive. No. This November was beautiful Clematis flowers growing bigger that ever, we could hear the trees sighing with relief, metaphorically of course, we’re not quite that daft. There was a coolness and calmness to the garden. For the first time in 20 years we could sit on the veranda enjoying our spritzers and watch the birds revel in the abundance of insects and berries. Our Open Day must have been interesting (and slightly confused with…
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October 2021
Opening your garden to the public is a simple decision. It’s the aftermath of that simple decision where things go a bit awry. Elements of the garden that you were perfectly happy with 2 weeks ago suddenly become complete eyesores and need to be replaced, immediately. We had a number of dramas in the lead up, probably the most traumatic was the death of the mushroom shaped Malus, a major focal point of the Stone Wall Garden. No reason. Just died. Numerous sessions of standing around it, snapping off twigs and branches brought us no closer to a diagnosis, it was just dead. Once cleared, it was obvious we would…
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September 2021
Wind, rain, a bit of sunshine and weeds. That pretty much sums up September. So many weeds. I try to philosophise to myself that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place and sometimes I actually enjoy the solitude and methodical nature of weeding, but when I am on my knees in damp dirt, fork in hand, carrying out an extensive archaeological excavation of an evil Vinca root because I know, I KNOW, any root left behind will create a million of new Vinca plants, I feel a tad resentful about it all. But still, it’s Spring and somehow you can’t help but feel optimistic about the seasons…
