So here I am one day after recovering from lack of Septemberization on these pages and already I am
writing anew... maybe that’s the guilt bit.......... and it is still spring, hence the header.
Such a multitude of spring cameos offer themselves this time of year..... yes well it is spring, but none
the less the exuberance of the season astounds. Great hairy crowns of unfurling fronds atop the punga,
an ecstatic burst of green from the gnarl of yesteryear, pink snow petals in a confetti dance to litter the
mirrored pond rippling quietly on the misty morn, guilty glance of Kereru from among new burst buds of
the merlot red plum much beat upon, and then there are the quail.................. sigh, oh who could possibly
want to live a life such as flows around her and me.
Click the pics for larger views
Spring Fed Guilt
Trips
2015 - October
4th of October
The change to summer daylight savings time, school holidays and a dearth of rain are bringing people to
the valley again and that combined with the infusion of life to all things green has himself tweaking,
raking, and putting a bit of extra effort into the Kauri Pond garden. It survived the rather heavy
winter, an unknown factor when it was created last year, and with confidence now boosted it is time to
expand the concept a little. I was thinking today that it needs a sub script to the sign post,
specifically, “Not House and Garden.” the aim here is to create visuals to please but with emphasis on
the feel. It is working.
So from that you may surmise I have a minor “bee in my bonnet” that drives me to the Kauri Pond of
late to enhance.................. Today it was scouting the surrounds for dead punga to use as assorted plant
containers, I have some ferns in mind, bromelia’s and anything else that would look good sprouting out
the top of punga posts. Photos maybe tomorrow as just now I have been called to sup on
glue fritters.......
yup that was a verbatim quote, “glue fritters”, and they do smell goooood, I guess this is the “Fed” part
of the title....
5th of October
So I was fed indeed, very tasty it was, and now I know where the “glue” bit comes from, and I have the
waistline to prove it even now it’s the next day.
I hinted at possible photo’s of the punga project and did discover they are not the slightest bit
photogenic without their plants growing in the hollow tops. A combination of native ferns and Bromelias
if I can arrange it which should make for a rather nice combination. What was more interesting was
seeing some native orchids Tutukiwi - Pterostylis banksii growing on the side of the driveway, quite
inconspicuous really and not uncommon, but definitely better than naked punga skeletons.
10th of October
Busy busy times around here and coincident with vast realms of fine weather spurring on natures urge
to growth in all those shades of green anew. Since the last post there have been more and different
native orchids busting out of the ground along with the spotting of a New Zealand native carnivorous
plant suspiciously placed alongside the walking track......
The re-metalling of the Labyrinth path has started which in the end will entail around 36k’s of walking,
half of which is uphill behind a full wheelbarrow of gravel...... it has been noted the meditative nature of
Labyrinth walking allows for such pondering as this without too much despair...... sigh :-)
It is pleasing to note the appearance of tadpoles in the big pond and not so pleasing to note the interest
of Kingfishers in said fact, with it not being helped by a sort of Kingfisher “apartment block” some 50
meters away. There is hope the very colourful floaty things, (as vaguely seen in June’s posting), will
provide some degree of safety. They are mainly Golden Bell Frogs around here and have been quite
scarce in recent years so here’s hoping.
..... and here we have one of the ankle biting(?) plants and a burst of colour as the morning spring sun
adorns the vibrant “Nikau Palm” pottery that Heather makes.
28th October - A bit of late month chatter
So it’s most assuredly full on Spring, gorgeous arrays of Rhodies doing their annual show off, fruit
trees abuzz, a massive pear crop starting and unusually high flowering rates on the native trees and
shrubs....... and it is these native flowers that form a secret layer to the garden, generally unnoticed in
the day, but later......
Dusk and onwards, under a silver moon and swoop of the Ruru, the exquisite scents slow roil on currents
of the night to embrace one into the secret heart of the forest and its great billowing wafts of divine
perfume, a most certain upside for sensitive nasal departments, such as the famed “great sniffomatic”
a phrase I have heard bandied around from time to time, but that is another story.
The Labyrinth is finally re-gravelled, barrow by barrow the slow slog up the garden to enter, then the
slow creep to the centre and back with the last run some 650 metres, ever so different from the 78
metre first load and much suppressed thoughts that it wasn’t going to get any easier,
and I wasn’t wrong.
For those florally inclined I can also report that the Clivia in the Kauri Pond garden are looking rather
wonderful many thanks to Heather Glauser for this input. With it being around a year since the garden
was started we now feel confident it will survive despite the meaner winters. Many of the Bromelia are
now showing pups so at least they have a future there. One of the major concerns is the drying weather
from the El Nino, it’s action is noticeable.
We are contemplating the creation of discrete black bamboo fences here and there in the Kauri pond
Garden, (well I am as I can rarely leave well enough alone), my excuse being that it is for ambience
reasons, to help divert some of the cold air that pours down from the car park area in winter, and to
create little enclaves of micro-climate for things delicate and exotic, and no I do not mean me after too
much wine.
As a final word here we have some of the latest garden pottery creations by Heather.
Just perfect they be for placing on assorted poles, posts, racks etc for that added twist and focal
point to a garden space. These samples are freshly baked and not long out of the oven
So here I am one day after recovering from lack of
Septemberization on these pages and already I am
writing anew... maybe that’s the guilt bit.......... and it is
still spring, hence the header.
Such a multitude of spring cameos offer themselves
this time of year..... yes well it is spring, but none the
less the exuberance of the season astounds. Great hairy
crowns of unfurling fronds atop the punga, an ecstatic
burst of green from the gnarl of yesteryear, pink snow
petals in a confetti dance to litter the mirrored pond
rippling quietly on the misty morn, guilty glance of
Kereru from among new burst buds of the merlot red
plum much beat upon, and then there are the
quail.................. sigh, oh who could possibly want to live a
life such as flows around her and me.
Click the pics for larger views
2015 - October
4th of October
The change to summer daylight savings time, school
holidays and a dearth of rain are bringing people to the
valley again and that combined with the infusion of life to
all things green has himself tweaking, raking, and putting
a bit of extra effort into the Kauri Pond garden. It
survived the rather heavy winter, an unknown factor when
it was created last year, and with confidence now boosted
it is time to expand the concept a little. I was thinking
today that it needs a sub script to the sign post,
specifically, “Not House and Garden.” the aim here is to
create visuals to please but with emphasis on the feel. It
is working.
So from that you may surmise I have a minor “bee in my
bonnet” that drives me to the Kauri Pond of late to
enhance.................. Today it was scouting the surrounds
for dead punga to use as assorted plant containers, I
have some ferns in mind, bromelia’s and anything else that
would look good sprouting out the top of punga posts.
Photos maybe tomorrow as just now I have been called to
sup on
glue fritters.......
yup that was a verbatim quote, “glue fritters”, and they
do smell goooood, I guess this is the “Fed” part of the
title....
5th of October
So I was fed indeed, very tasty it was, and now I know
where the “glue” bit comes from, and I have the waistline
to prove it even now it’s the next day.
I hinted at possible photo’s of the punga project and did
discover they are not the slightest bit photogenic
without their plants growing in the hollow tops. A
combination of native ferns and Bromelias if I can
arrange it which should make for a rather nice
combination. What was more interesting was seeing some
native orchids Tutukiwi - Pterostylis banksii growing on
the side of the driveway, quite inconspicuous really and
not uncommon, but definitely better than naked punga
skeletons.
Spring Fed Guilt
Trips
10th of October
Busy busy times around here and coincident with vast
realms of fine weather spurring on natures urge to growth
in all those shades of green anew. Since the last post
there have been more and different native orchids
busting out of the ground along with the spotting of a
New Zealand native carnivorous plant suspiciously placed
alongside the walking track......
The re-metalling of the Labyrinth path has started which
in the end will entail around 36k’s of walking, half of which
is uphill behind a full wheelbarrow of gravel...... it has been
noted the meditative nature of Labyrinth walking allows
for such pondering as this without too much despair......
sigh :-)
It is pleasing to note the appearance of tadpoles in the
big pond and not so pleasing to note the interest of
Kingfishers in said fact, with it not being helped by a sort
of Kingfisher “apartment block” some 50 meters away.
There is hope the very colourful floaty things, (as vaguely
seen in June’s posting), will provide some degree of
safety. They are mainly Golden Bell Frogs around here and
have been quite scarce in recent years so here’s hoping.
..... and here we have one of the ankle biting(?) plants and a
burst of colour as the morning spring sun adorns the
vibrant “Nikau Palm” pottery that Heather makes.
28th October - A bit of late month chatter
So it’s most assuredly full on Spring, gorgeous arrays of Rhodies
doing their annual show off, fruit trees abuzz, a massive pear crop
starting and unusually high flowering rates on the native trees and
shrubs....... and it is these native flowers that form a secret layer
to the garden, generally unnoticed in the day, but later......
Dusk and onwards, under a silver moon and swoop of the Ruru, the
exquisite scents slow roil on currents of the night to embrace one
into the secret heart of the forest and its great billowing wafts of
divine perfume, a most certain upside for sensitive nasal
departments, such as the famed “great sniffomatic” a phrase I
have heard bandied around from time to time, but that is another
story.
The Labyrinth is finally re-gravelled, barrow by barrow the slow
slog up the garden to enter, then the slow creep to the centre and
back with the last run some 650 metres, ever so different from
the 78 metre first load and much suppressed thoughts that it
wasn’t going to get any easier,
and I wasn’t wrong.
For those florally inclined I can also report that the Clivia in the
Kauri Pond garden are looking rather wonderful many thanks to
Heather Glauser for this input. With it being around a year since
the garden was started we now feel confident it will survive despite
the meaner winters. Many of the Bromelia are now showing pups so
at least they have a future there. One of the major concerns is the
drying weather from the El Nino, it’s action is noticeable.
We are contemplating the creation of discrete black bamboo
fences here and there in the Kauri pond Garden, (well I am as I can
rarely leave well enough alone), my excuse being that it is for
ambience reasons, to help divert some of the cold air that pours
down from the car park area in winter, and to create little enclaves
of micro-climate for things delicate and exotic, and no I do not
mean me after too much wine.
As a final word here we have some of the latest garden pottery
creations by Heather.
Just perfect they be for placing on assorted poles, posts, racks
etc for that added twist and focal point to a garden space. These
samples are freshly baked and not long out of the oven