Saturday 4th July 2009

The first week in July always means the start of intensive gardening as it is the time to prune my roses. I have had a very busy week and some nice sunshine has been very helpful.

Sunday was a lovely day for golf. The course was still very wet underfoot but we have a nice day with our playing partners Ron & Lynn Puiatti. The boys played well and won the keno ticket.

Sunday evening was a meet and greet night for all the lady Veterans participating in the two day vets tournament held on Monday and Tuesday. I opted to play on Tuesday so that would leave me free for F-Troop work on Monday.

Monday I finished trimming back all the crepe myrtle trees on the 9th and tidying up an area that was well away from the girls golfing. Then I tidied up the Ladies garden on the 13th so it is all finished and up to date until spring.

Tuesday I had a nice day at golf playing with Margaret Eisner who was an ex member of Gosford now playing in Sydney and two visitors Annette and Jan. Jan was with a group of 22 visitors from Nelson's Bay. It was a cool and overcast day but fortunately did not rain. After golf we had a scramble to get the display plants (on loan) back to the nursery & still have time for drinks and nibbles and presentation. It was a big tournament for the vet's ladies having about 170 players participating.

Wednesday I had a relax day - hairdressers in the morning and a "Joel" fix in the afternoon.

Joel is doing well and getting cuter every day. Anne and Rod are both managing well and are great parents.

Thursday I launched into my rose pruning mode - starting with the roses at the golf club and moving to my own garden in the afternoon. All this rain has been great for the garden but also encourages the weeds so I have a big job ahead. I managed to fill a green bin & put a small dent in the front gardens. It was a freezing cold day with a very bitter wind so I was not too keen to stay out there all day.

Friday was another onslaught on the front gardens filling another green bin. The wind was not as cold today so I managed to get a bit more done before my energy levels dropped.

Today, Saturday after a grocery shop , was a repeat of Friday filling yet another bin and managing to get most of the roses and weeds in the front garden under control.

I have been amazed at how many roses have been blooming right up to the first week in July.

My "Perfect Moment" rose and "The Childrens Rose" are the first to bloom come spring and are the last to stop flowering this year. I still had a bloom on the climbing "Brandy".

All the camelias are out in bloom (photos attached), the pansies are flowering well and I have some nice "snappies" and "Jonquils" are starting to flower so there is plenty of colour in the garden until the roses come back in spring.

I am about one third of the way through the roses - so guess what I will be doing next week!