This past weekend I cut back the dahlias in the gardens at the new(ish) house at Struan Farm. It's been so warm that there were still a few blooms here and there, but the plants were falling over and mostly brown. So it was time for their seasonal haircuts. Sixteen huge plants, three trailer loads, with thanks to John and Mike for carting all that away for me.
Next comes long overdue weeding (not quite as easy as cutting back....), then I'll move to the Homestead gardens to do exactly the same exercise. Collateral damage included two bee stings (one on my lower eye lid, yuck!) and sore muscles, but it was good to be alive and outside in the gardens on beautiful autumn days.
And here's the bonus: I noticed that there were still enough flowers blooming to come up with an arrangement for the weekend dinner table:
Hooray!
p.s. It's time to plant delphinium seeds, so I've ordered some special seeds from Dowdeswell's Delphiniums, a specialist nursery in Wanganui. I'm thinking I might plant a line of them along the largest of our new garden beds in blue, white and purple.
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