Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Hedge, the Table and the Redhead

My garden has conifer hedges on 2 sides, one on the side of the conservatory (see pic above) and the other one alongside the kitchen garden.
A conifer hedge is not the most exiting thing to have in a garden, but as it affords me lots of privacy I'm not complaining, well, not much anyway. Let's take a closer look at the kitchen garden hedge, in fact let's take it a step further and look inside that hedge. Come on, I'll hold your hand so nothing bad can happen. You know it's no more scary than stepping inside a wardrobe, right? Even though you'll never know what you may find or where you'd end up.
Watch out, there's some barbed wire. Be careful, I don't want you to hurt yourself.
And look what I found here, it's the under-gardener! What on earth is he doing inside that hedge (never mind that we are there too) and why is he moving about so, that way I'll never be able to take a decent pic of him.
Hmmm, let's get out of that hedge, shall we, as it's getting rather crowded in here, and see what is going on.
Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Yep, that is quite an enormous elderberry growing smack in the middle of the conifer hedge, which is something that we don't want, so out it has to come.
And that's exactly what the under-gardener did and the elderberry as well. Now there's only a stump left (of the elderberry, not the under-gardener) which cannot be removed. But what could be removed has been, as you can see here
and here.
With all that wood we'll be able to keep the home fires burning for quite a while, once the wood has dried sufficiently in a year or two.
There, that looks much better; now we only have to give the hedge a bit of a trim on top and all will be right as rain again. BTW did you notice that hole in the hedge through which we came? Don't worry about it, it will be gone soon.

And while the under-gardener was removing the elderberry from the hedge, the head-gardener was hard at work too. Last Spring I had bought some new garden furniture for the new decked patio and how very pretty it looked.
But, after being outside in all that rain during the winter months, the garden table had acquired a bit of patina, but not the kind you'd want.
See what I mean? And here's a closer look.
Horrible, isn't it, and yes that is a bit of bird poo as well. Disgusting!
So the head-gardener got cracking too and with the aid of a big dollop of elbow grease the garden table was soon sorted.

There, as good as new again.

And while the head-gardener was hard at work, she got a bit distracted by a handsome little redhead, Macavity, who was paying a visit, felt rather peckish and wanted to be fed NOW! So he was, pronto!
Macavity has been AWOL for the last couple of weeks so I was very relieved to see my boy safe and sound in the garden once again. I think that because of the mild weather we'd been having lately, all the outdoor cats thought it was Spring too. Macavity is a full male so he probably has been running around after every pretty feline girl he could lay a paw on these last few weeks. But, unfortunately for him, somebody else has been laying a paw or two on Mac as well.

Take a closer look at his nose; he's got quite a collection of scratches there. Luckily they are all on his nose and not in one of his eyes.
I suppose those scratches on his poor nose are his badge of honour; if he were a coward they would be on his cute little behind. ;-)

copyright 2008: Y.E.W. Heuzen

To be asked what is my favourite this or that always throws me. Among my favourite replies is, 'The plant I'm looking at.' Otherwise why grow it?
Christopher Lloyd

28 comments:

gintoino said...

Nice to see Macavity back :-) I'm sure he has been busy with the ladies these past few weeks (its that time of year). I love your garden table. What did you use to paint it? Just ordinary white paint? I have a similar one (made by me) but its stained in dark brown, maybe a lighter color wouldn't be bad idea. As always yolanda, I love the pictures of your garden.

Anonymous said...

De voorbereidingen voor een hopelijk geweldig tuinseizoen zijn bij Bliss reeds begonnen...wat groeit zo'n vlier snel hè..!(Zelfs babelfish wist niet wat Elbow Grease is (elleboog vet :-)))) Groene zeep??
Leuk dat Mac weer kwam buurten- met zijn bewijzen van heldhaftige moed op zijn snoet ;-))

Lisa at Greenbow said...

That Macavity is a handsome brute.
Last night in the storm a pine tree blew down in our garden. Too bad you couldn't use the wood from that in your fireplace. Maybe you wouldn't want pine though some think its sap is not good for their fireplaces. A nice big tree. Sad.

Frances, said...

Welcome back from the wars of courtship, Macavity! Your patio set is lovely, especially the chairs. They look very comfy and inviting. Thanks for bringing a smile with the look inside the hedge. Who knows what one will find in such a place?

Frances at Faire Garden

Der Garten said...

Deine 3 Post-Themen zeigen auf ungewöhnliche Weise, dass der Frühling naht!
Hoffentlich verheilen Macavitys Wunden schnell wieder. Denn dieses Frühjahr scheint ja wirklich recht lang zu werden, da sollte so ein stattlicher Kater bald wieder ganz fit sein!
Liebe Grüße
Silke

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I like conifer hedges. They provide a great backdrop to a garden that lacks interesting or attractive borrowed views. Don't you wish there was some kind of warning device that would let you know of weed tree seedlings having sprouted in the hedge so that you could rip them out when they are small?

Anonymous said...

Jij krijgt ook echt weer zin om te beginnen! Ik kan ook bijna niet wachten.
Zondag heb ik toevallig ook een hele grote vlier gesnoeid. Ik wil hem graag houden op die plek maar hij groeide wat al te enthousiast. Het zijn mooie struik/bomen met de leuke bloemen en later in het jaar de besschermen.

Mac heeft een echt katerhoofd. Leuke vent :-)

Angelina said...

Macavity is a very handsome guy!

You are reminding me that I need to trim my own hedges.

Anonymous said...

That Macavity is a scene stealer- what a beautiful boy. I hope he stays around in your lovely garden.

Garden Cats + Crafts said...

Armer MacAvity! Hoffentlich ist er bald wieder fit und alles ist wieder heil bei ihm. Wenn die Katzen, aber eigentlich alle Tiere leiden, leiden wir mit. Auch bei den lieb gewordenen Netzkasten, wie bei dem Bliss-Team.

Ja, der Frühling kommt bald. Die Vorbereitungen werden getroffen bei Dir. Ich wünsche uns allen einen schönen sonnigen Frühling. Wir haben es, glaube ich, alle sehr nötig.

Liebe Grüße, Birgit

Anonymous said...

Yolanda,
I usually never post comments, but today I am really tempted to ask you, if you would be willing to do the long distance garden design consulting job.
Your garden is so beautiful and I can not find a thing that I would not like about it.

I have no problems designing inside, but I am completely uncapable when I have to deal with outside. So my garden look like somebody just dropped several flower beds here and there.

I am serious! If you are interested, you can reach me at zoechkay@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Who said 'Love hurts' and Macavity is living proof. I love his picture to the right where he is licking his lips. Good job on the maintenance task! I still love your bird chandeliers!

Anonymous said...

ja dat ken ik de vlier die de vogels wel poten voor je in de heg ;) die blijft terugkomen hoor let maar op !! En een coniferenhaag niet mooi ?? zitten allemaal vogels in te broeden , dus houden die hap !!!!
als ik dat overijverige gedoe bij je zie ....arghhh dan moet ik hoognodig de veranda schoonpoetsen , na de storm die er aan komt .....dan ga ik het doen en kan ik nu even verder verven ;)))

Unknown said...

That undergardener is a speedy one, isn't he? Maybe next time you'll catch him in freeze frame. Meanwhile, it's great to see MacAvity back, even if a bit battle-scarred. Some of ours, even though neutered, occasionally sport such scratches here in the house when they've been playing a bit too hard--or are mad at each other. (there are a couple of purrsonality clashes, by times.)

Aiyana said...

I've never heard the term under-gardener. Does that mean he works under the head gardener?
Aiyana

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Love to see a gardener who is loaded with cats ! They are all beautiful ! ..
We lived in South Limburg, Brussum .. Schinveld was where we literally lived. Loved the beautiful Dutch Spring .. so much quicker than our Canadian one .. well in Ontario.
Pretty garden and a great hedge to have !
Joy : )

Betty said...

Yolanda,
Your hedges make wonderful back drops for your gardens....I don't have a hedge but maybe I will start one....

Your garden furniture looks very nice.....I'm glad your kitty is home safe and sound.....

Thank you for visiting and commenting on our sweet Lucy....we also had a Shitzu, Bandit, for 12 years....Betty

Felicia said...

Loved the tour! And I'm so glad kitty is returned safe and sound :)

Piondröm said...

Hi!
I like to read your story.
You must be glad that it was only poo from a bird and nothing other ;)
We have a big problem every year with our garden furniture.
The pionys we have order is only one whith scent, Peony Clown.
You can seek on goggle on Pionexperten.dk and see what they have.
Have a nice weekend Ken

Robin's Nesting Place said...

That must be some seriously large hedge. The outside looks so healthy and green, you would never know that from the picture of the inside. What a huge difference!

Kylee Baumle said...

Glad to see Macavity back where he belongs! I'm sure you were worried. Max will go missing like that for a couple of days at a time, but he always returns. He knows where he is loved, as does Macavity. :-)

Matron said...

I'm sure I read about a garden product which disolves and cleans off green algae from patio furniture and concrete. I think it came from New Zealand. Have you heard about it? saves a lot of elbow grease.

kate said...

Your garden table looks bright as new and your hedge is much better off. Thank goodness for the under-gardeners of the world. They do an amazing job.

Good for Macavity - I think he must be related to Hazel's old buddy, Red. Red looked exactly the same as Macavity and wore his scars as badges of honour.

Anonymous said...

Vind je dat niet verontrustend, dat-ie zo lang wegblijft? Dat snoetje, oemf... Wij hebben er ook nog eentje die helemaal man is, en eigenlijk willen we dat zo lang mogelijk zo houden omdat dat beter met gruis en nieren en zo gaat, maar het is niet de meest plezierige tijd van hat jaar nu!

Mooie tafel, ook nu weer ;-)
En soms is het prachtig tuinweer idd, ik heb al de appelboom gesnoeid en verbena's weggeruimd, wachtend op ukkies...

Anonymous said...

Hi Yolanda,

A lof of work has been done in your garden I see. Handy to have an under-gardener, for the heavy duties. Your garden table looks new again. Well, ther is always work to be done in a garden.

Bye,

Bert

joey said...

Love your outdoor dining room! What did you use besides elbow grease to remove the mossy gunk?

Libbys Blog said...

Would it not be a good idea to get Macavity 'done'? especially as he spends so much time with you. It would be so sad if he disappeared totally and you never knew what had happened to him?

Outdoor Garden Furniture said...

Awesome and beautiful garden you have.I feel glad to see the clicks of your garden.The furniture stuff for the garden place is really adorable,I read some your blog entries and found them interesting.