Tidying up

We realised this week that we have been in our current home for nine years exactly. I used to be quite a nomad, rarely settling in one place for long so I suppose this is evidence of the 'pull' that this place has had on me. Despite that, I've been feeling very restless lately and talking about moving on. I think my husband wanted me to banish these thoughts by making me so tired I would drop the subject so he suggested we get started on the annual clear up in the garden. The ash trees have started to shed their leaves everywhere and the ground is littered with ash keys and sycamore wings. It is certainly time to get on with things as you can see.

In the time we have been here we have made beds. moved beds, planted cuttings and seeds, watched them get huge, moved them, split them. composted them etc etc.... and the garden has done what they all do... it has evolved and changed and I have always loved every part of it at all times of the year. In fact we often say we bought a garden and the house was an afterthought.

There are two borders halfway up my garden that are planted with lots of grasses and architectural plants i.e large overgrown things. It is time to get in there and make some semblance of order but we usually leave things to provide seedheads for the birds in winter, plus nothing beats tall grasses covered in frost..... so the plan yesterday was to get into our front garden and tidy it up as I noticed our postie has suddenly taken to coming up the path with a machete....

Well, that was my husband's plan but I got sidetracked. First off I found a frog hidden in the undergrowth to study at length , then I found the wing of a swallow (not attached to the swallow unfortunately) and then I noticed the huge number of butterflies swarming over one of the eupatoriums in the overgrown middle borders. I am easily distracted when this is the reward.

Working on the premise that 'if you can't beat them, join them' my husband then provided me with a tray to 'collect' my treasures in. He started off my collection with some fabulous leaves from the paeonia lutea in the front garden. They are already being pressed for monoprinting sessions but these are the seedpods. They are about three inches long and all knobbly and chunky. The colours are fabulous and the seeds inside are shiny, black and hard as marbles. They cry out to be drawn or painted don't they?

There is more 'hacking' on the agenda today. I ended up more fired up by finds than physically exhausted yesterday. I might have to show willing and put in a bit more effort today but I have my 'collections tray' at the ready, just in case I am lucky enough to be distracted.....