Summer daze
By Lin Clark
How easy it is to drowse amid the scents of summer.
Whether the garden is our own tangled plot or the ones we pass by on the way to the dairy or the public plantings we are mostly able to enjoy, the sleepy scents of full blown flowers and drying grass make one want to close the eye and drift away.
Away from those seeding weeds and leggy annuals for there's always been tomorrow. 'One year's seeding' goes the mantra, 'seven years' weeding', but tomorrow.
Perhaps in 2016 we can steel ourselves to snip the heads as we see them, carrying secateurs around in one of those belts designed for carpenters, but very useful for gardening enthusiasts as well and easily available.
Sometimes folk cannot imagine what you would like for your birthday...surprise them!
And once the heads are off, it's easier to grab the wretched weed stalks and vent those lurking grumpy feelings that they grow so much more readily than our favourites.
Hybrid lilies in full bloom
Queening it over the garden at the moment are the exotic lily hybrids and their coarser cousin the tiger lily, sometimes seen as a double flowered bloom, somewhat spectacular but lacking the graceful lines of the original.
Lilies will grow easily from bulblets or seed if one can provide patience while they reach flowering size and drainage, drainage, drainage in a coarse peaty sandy soil.
Brightening many a corner though, is the simple and satisfying shasta daisy, generous to a fault with rooted side shoots and well up for a second flowering if you do a dead heading exercise.
The scent is not the best, but daisies of all descriptions are great for the grandkids and daisy chains.
The lawn ones grow longest stems in shade and the shastas make exotic leis, most effective when the stems are cut quite short.
If there's a competitive streak in your brood, consider revisiting the sand saucer of bygone times.
Sand, of course, is not vital. You could use damp soil or sawdust or even floral foam which lends itself to many pokings before it collapses.
Slice a slab to about 5 cm for an all purpose base and allow it to become saturated before the decoration starts.
A circlet of green leaves sourced for example from camellias give a trim start, but really it's best to let those imaginations play.(Don't forget to say what can be picked).
As for the vege patch, riot is the word for most of us.
For 2016 a challenge could be to explore the seed catalogues for new varieties of beans.
I had never struck peans before, and watching them keeps us interested and focussed in a way the good old scarlet runner didn't.
Sunflowers and nasturtiums seem to be natural invaders of the kitchen garden, with sunflowers especially attracting hopeful finches looking for a quick snack.
I like to think they do bad bugs at the same time.
Watching them is another excuse, if needed, to stand still a while and let nature do the busy stuff.