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Friday, February 08, 2013

New house, new garden, new book...



We moved house last year. The summer was a confusion of excitement, fear and exhaustion and then, once we’d shifted twenty years of accumulated “stuff”, rehoused a ton of books and offloaded quite a bit of furniture, we settled into our new home. Which is great.

Then came the garden. It was small – downsizing the garden was a major reason for the move – but it was, there is no other word for it, a mess. Neglected. Unloved. I have never seen so many dandelions in one small patch of grass. We had a contractor in to do the really heavy stuff – digging up the dandelions and laying a new lawn, putting down new paving, building a little wall. But then we started planning. And planting. Bulbs, roses, fruit trees, a lavender hedge…

There’s a lot still to do. There are perennials to plant out as soon as the ground dries out a little. The garage is loaded up with trellis to take the clematis which will arrive soon, bags of compost for the dahlias and lilies, ditto. And I’ve my eye on a couple of those tall thing pyramid thingies for sweet peas. I love sweet peas.

It’s all been bare earth and waiting so far, but this week, despite freezing cold winds, it’s very obvious that the plants are gearing up to do something magical. The bare branches of the roses and fruit trees are budding. And we had our first flower. This tiny iris took on the icy and wind and said, “Your time is up, buddy. I’m declaring winter is done!


Liz Fielding's latest release in the sparkling new KISS series, ANYTHING BUT VANILLA, is available to preorder from Amazon US  

12 comments:

Fiona Marsden said...

Sweet Peas were my favourite flowers as a child but I'm not a gardener so everything in my garden is hardy and perennial.

Mary Preston said...

I'm in the middle of Summer here right now, so it's just a matter of trying to keep things alive.

Annie West said...

Liz, I'm looking forward to 'Anything But Vanilla'! Good luck with the garden. It sounds like a challenge but so rewarding. We're in the mid summer growth spurt and it feels I need to hack a metre of growth off everything in my jungle. Love the garden though.

TashNz said...

Hi Liz, congratulations on surviving Moving... it's the one thing I loathe! I think if I didnt have so many beloved books to move I probably wouldnt mind it... Good luck with the garden, I bet it's inspiring to look at once it's done :)

Liz Fielding said...

Hardy and perennial are my best friends, Princess!

Liz Fielding said...

Can't wait for the summer to arrive, Mary - desperate to get out there without freezing my butt off!

Liz Fielding said...

I've no doubt, I'll be hacking and slicing before I know it, Annie!

Liz Fielding said...

I left some lovely stuff behind, Tash, but having everything new is very exciting!

Kaelee said...

Hi Liz ~ Right now we have a good amount of snow on our garden but spring is coming. I love perennials and bulbs. Just love seeing the first shoots in the spring. Your iris is lovely. I'm looking forward to your book.

Unknown said...

Thank you for this great story TBn'B- I have had to move many times in 20 years and each time I hate to leave my flowers and friends. However there is something fun about re-doing a new space. Do new homes equal new opportunity? Love the flower photo!

Anne said...

Gorgeous Iris Liz. All the best in your new house and garden. And may they inspire many more wonderful books, please.

Pat Cochran said...

Beautiful iris! I'm going out to check my iris beds to see if they have started to come up! Thanks, Liz!!

Pat C.