Days like this

After a week of crazy winds that blew out some of my recently planted gazanias and rain that did not want to rain but instead hung about undecided, damp but not wet, we finally awoke to a brilliant, bright winter’s day. With not a cloud to be seen in the sky, everything looked greener, bluer, and brighter.

Looking up at the African blue sky through the opening apricot blossoms, I am reminded of the series of paintings of almond blossoms that Vincent van Gogh painted in southern France. I can understand his inspiration to capture the lines, colours and textures of the dark branches edged with white blossoms on a bright blue background. 

Almond blossoms, Vincent van Gogh, 1890

We managed to change several things in the garden. Replacing the Bougainvilea hedge with a spekboom hedge, brought endless sunshine into the orchard. The new almond tree that was not happy growing in the shade of the Bougainvilea hedge, finally looks determined to follow in his sibling’s footsteps and become a larger tree. The two almond trees were planted at the same time. The one that was planted in a sunnier spot in the orchard has become a proper little tree in one season, whereas the one planted in the shadier spot in the bottom of the orchard has hardly showed any growth. The magic which sunshine brings to the garden.

We decided to re-plant potted hydrangeas directly into the soil on the old front side of the house. With four empty terracotta pots now available, we decided to replant the Veillchenblau rose in two of them and get them into the sun. Their original spot used to be very sunny, but the sprawling oak tree had increasingly eroded most of their afternoon sun. We hope that this move will give them a new lease on life.

The two remaining pots we moved to the stone stoep in front of the cottage. I planted two Cara Cara oranges in them. The Cara Cara oranges are a cousin of Blood Oranges, and we thought it might be interesting to introduce them into the garden.

The garden feels new and fresh. We replaced 37 roses in the rosarium and continued using Mycorrhizal granules in the re-planting of the roses. This year we are introducing guano into their feeding program in the hope that it will help them stay healthy and strong.

After about 25 years, we had to rescue the rosemary bush in front of the cottage by cutting out the deadwood and trimming it back to a more manageable size. The idea was to replace it with a new one but after we trimmed it back, we decided to give it another chance, this time as a Rosemary tree. Most of the lower branches were dead or dying and after we removed it the plant looked more like a miniature tree than a bush.

August is a time of renewal at Towerwater with constant changes and improvements in the garden. With the garden bursting into blossom and new growth, it is fitting that I celebrate the birth of this blog nine years ago. It is astonishing that so many years have passed since the first post. At the time, I thought recording country life in a traditional Cape farmhouse might interest a small group of people.

With more than 176 000 visits to the blog to date, it has proved that there is a larger audience who have an interest in traditional building maintenance, food and baking, gardening and nature, Cape furniture, art, and antiquity. I enjoy the interaction and the sharing of ideas with readers and through the posts I have met so many interesting people with interesting stories.

Enjoying this glorious winter’s day and reminiscing the time spent recording a country lifestyle, reminded me of the song “Days like This” by Van Morrison.

“When it's not always raining there'll be days like this

When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this

When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch

Well my mama told me there'll be days like this”

 

Happy ninth birthday Blog!

Previous birthday posts,

Our marmalade malady - 2022
Still life with oranges - 2021
Almond trees in August -2020
Of birthdays and blossoms - 2019
A life imagined - 2018
Looking back to the future - 2017
Reflections - 2016
Happy birthday blog - 2015
Heading for spring -2014

Rejuvenating the rosarium

With our focus on the maintenance of the buildings at Towerwater in 2022, the garden had to take a bit of a backseat. We could not give it our full attention and only crucial basic maintenance like cleaning and pruning continued unabated.

We did not replace any roses in 2022 because of our negative experience in the purchase of roses in 2021. We normally buy new roses when we prune to plant them immediately after the pruning as part of the annual rejuvenation of the rosarium. Unfortunately, it transpired that two of the pruned roses we bought in July 2021, produced different blooms from what we thought we had bought. When they flowered in spring, we were startled by two pink roses flowering in the wrong colour sections of the rosarium. One in the yellow section and one in the white section. The roses were marked with the names of the roses we had carefully selected but “Randburg Gold” (yellow) and “Pascali” (white) both flowered in different shades of pink, showing clearly that they had been incorrectly labeled.

As luck would have it, the pink “Randburg Gold” in the yellow section of the rosarium turned out to be a stunningly strong grower and we decided to live with the nursery’s mistake, for now. Nature took care of the mistake in the white section and the pink “Pascali” did not perform well and needed to be replaced after two years.

With the mistakes in mind, we decided to delay the major renovation of the rosarium until we could give it our full attention this year. We have bought roses for nearly 30 years in their dormant state to plant them in July after the rosarium has been pruned. Up to this point, we never considered the possibility that we might be supplied with an incorrectly labeled rose.

The first flush of the new rosarium in 1995

After we reviewed the performance of the roses over the last couple of years, we decided to replace 37 for a variety of reasons. The large order of roses needed careful planning. To avoid the risk of repeating any mistakes as in 2021, we decided to buy the roses in May (autumn) while there were blooms on the plants that could confirm correct labeling.

The rosarium in late Summer 2023

With the nursery located at about 140 kilometers away from Bonnievale, the trip to Tulbagh had to be planned. We had planned to visit the town of Ceres on our way back to Bonnievale. But buying 37 different rosebushes turned out to be a time-consuming exercise. We did however stop for a late lunch at Nuy on the Hill on our way back.

The rose section at Tulbagh Nursery

We were pleased that we had decided to buy the roses in May. Some of the roses on our planting scheme were no longer available. Deciding on appropriate replacements could be better informed by the showy blooms on alternative replacements that met our various plant criteria.

The visit to Tulbagh Nursery was exciting as always. The selection of healthy roses in leaf and in bloom is particularly exciting. Excited and exhausted we headed back home with 37 rose plants, one eureka lemon tree for the empty spot in the citrus row, and two Cupressus Strictas for our friend Susan.

The planting of the roses was a bit more difficult with the rosarium still in late bloom. Each new rose received some Mycorrhizal powder. The powder contains indigenous strains of mycorrhizal fungi, which work in symbiotic harmony with plant roots to promote plant growth and health. Mycorrhizae colonise plant roots and then function as an extension of the plant's root system, increasing the absorptive surface area of roots by up to 700 times. This healthy boost greatly assists roses being planted in positions where roses have previously grown.

Keith decided that he needs to be able to identify each rose at a glance instead of consulting the map of the rosarium in the library. We decided on a small plant marker for each rose on which the name of the rose, the variety of the rose, colour, position in the garden, and planting date can be displayed. It was a rewarding exercise that gave us a clearer indication of how many of the original roses from the 1995 planting are still in the garden. Now a walk in the rosarium is more informative and one can more easily identify the strong growers by name and variety. It also helps to identify which roses need more care and which are more susceptible to disease.

In our efforts to keep the garden as organic as possible, we have decided to switch to Guano organic fertilizer granules in the rosarium this year.  Combined with our own organic compost, we hope that the guano will help to regulate the pH of the soil to an acceptable level for the roses.

Spring 1995

With the new interventions we hope that the Towerwater rosarium will reward us with a delightful display. We fondly recall the first display of the new roses in the spring of 1995.