Topiary.

I have been busily putting in the hard yards in the garden:

Weeding, weeding, weeding and mulching.....and weeding. Last year, when I was desperately trying to eradicate an outbreak of twitch in this very same garden bed I stumbled upon Organic Sugar Cane Mulch....it is fabulous as it turns into a sort of garden carpet which smothers weeds.....well, for a while at least. My husband snickers and says that it may be labelled 'organic' yet once a chain smoking truckie has driven it all the way down to Hobart from Queensland, he is sure that it's not good for the environment.

It's good for my gardening state of mind though. Look how miraculously neat it's made my topiary border look:

Along with the hours last week that I spent trimming it all with a pair of scissors. I have a bit of a thing for English Box topiary and grew all of my own from cuttings. It only took about six years for my hedges to join up:

And long periods of time were involved in creating these standards:

This poor rooster that looks like a reindeer is in a bit of trouble as it's roots somehow became waterlogged:

I'm hoping that I can resuscitate it by re potting it with new compost. Fingers crossed, as I've been cultivating it for eleven years.

Gardening is all about patience. A virtue I'll admit I'm not very good at, and I know this for a fact because I have a garden and four children. I'm working on it, though.

Rx