I’ve been working in the garden since early this morning rather then writing “Dallying” because it was supposed to rain this afternoon. Settled into my deck chair late this afternoon, in the deep shade to escape the warm sun, suddenly the sky darkened, the wind blew up and the temperature dropped several degrees in a few moments, I escaped from the deck into the house just in front of the rain. It could have come a little earlier in the afternoon and shortened my hours in the garden, not that I was doing much that was that physical. Having the garden in such great condition for the garden tour has afforded me the delight of actually puttering out there. Water this, fertilize that, prune something else and a fair bit of just wandering around admiring and inquiring what strange and wonderful things Mother Nature can do. Some things are infuriating such as the suddenly dying Eggplant, that has no obvious cause. The ones farther down the garden appear to be fine. Some things are marvelous. One of the Tuberous Begonias is more than twice the size of its container and has 10 huge salmon coloured blooms that stop visitors in their tracks. Some are just weird. One Cucumber vine, on an obelisk that has eight vines, has developed into a very thick flat stem with multiple flowers at each node and a growth that is much faster than any of its neighbours. I finally cut it out because it was taking over but not producing much fruit. We won’t even discuss the dietary habits of the Rabbits, one of Mother Natures cute but infuriating creations. Every year, about this time, my dietary habits change. I buy a kilo of bacon. Rarely eat the stuff for 10 months of the year but with the arrival of fresh Tomatoes the bacon and tomato sandwich becomes a constant and delicious part of my diet.




At the entrance to the side yard I have inadvertently created an interesting plant. It’s actually two plants that I planted much too close together. Hydrangeas have been the shrub of choice for plant breeders for a few years. One of the first new H. macrophylla introductions was Endless Summer. I planted my sample in a small space near the house at the front of that side yard. A year or so later I planted a Hydrangea, Pinky Winky, a new H. paniculata type, in that same small space. Now they are both thriving with Pinky Winky becoming a small tree over top of the shrubby Endless Summer. The combination was quite accidental, a result of too many plants and too little space to try them all but despite the fact that they are both doing very well, I think I might just leave them commingling for the unusual effect it provides. Several other of the new Hydrangeas that I have tried, produce some wonderful green foliage but not much else but these two have proven to be reliably consistent bloomers.