October 2012

Three months have passed, in such a rush – the arrival of Monty, grandson number three - a bonny little boy who looks just like his father – dimples from his beautiful mother…..While babies were arriving our No 2 daughter flew in from Dubai with her husband and two little boys – both families together – five children under three and a half …….there was little time for the garden – or An Arty Gardeners Scrapbook….but such fun with all the little people and their lovely parents….how very lucky we feel….

The end of June was also the end of our rainfall – we have just bought 1200lts of horrid water – it’s so full of chlorine that one cannot drink it …..I have to eek it out and put it on only the most special plants…..the newly planted camellias and magnolias – also I have been collecting the shower water in a bucket – what one does to keep precious plants!!

I should explain that we are reliant on the rain that is collected from our roof – we have an underground tank that holds about 13,000 gallons of water – don’t know what that is in litres – we usually have enough water to get through the year – except when we are putting in lots of plants – and it refuses to rain!! The soil here is acidic and red with some clay – but also has wonderful drainage – sadly we do not have any ground water - we did have a water driller here years ago but he did not find any underground water.

The Garden

The cherry trees, camellias, wisteria and magnolias have all come and gone – I forgot, the bulbs – mostly snowflakes and freesias – with a few fabulous blue babiana . Now the clivia and hippeastrum are in flower – the poor roses are struggling due to lack of water – but as soon as it rains they will feel so much happier…the one rose that has not realized its dry is R. Fortunana - I guess I should also mention the Montville and Mutabilis roses – they are really tough!!

Much more than three months have passed now - we have had seven months without rain - and have stopped watering all plants other than the pots that I water from the shower...Poor garden..... we will loose some of the Camelias and Magnolias planted only a few months ago......gardening without water is so frustrating - I fear I have sulked for the last few months and stayed away from the garden!!!!