Lavender and neighbours

"Lavender blue dilly dilly ..

Lavender blue .... "

I love lavender ... have tried it in various spots in the garden but this is the most successful. This is the Margaret Roberts variety .. there are seven in a row here. Towards the end of last summer they all got 'rust' .. I was devastated and thought I'd 'lost' them but the lady at our local garden centre gave me a magic potion and viola! they recovered. Instead of spraying them, I poured the 'potion' on them - drastic - but it worked!



They are in the back garden, which used to be very ordinary - patch of lawn and very large evergreen shrubs to hide the neighbour below. The ground slopes slightly and from my kitchen window I can see into the house below, hence the need to block them when we first planted out the garden (we built the house 28 years ago!!!!!!) Time passed and the shrubs got HUGE and hubby was worried about the roots attacking the sewage pipes so they all came out. I then had space .. what to plant next! I am not good at veges but have herbs. Tried going 'indigenous' but I needed roses and other stuff too.

So now I still look into the neighbours house - again (!) but I have a pretty garden that I look at first through my kitchen window whilst I wash dishes! On beautiful mornings like this one, the flowers are bright and fresh, bees buzzing and the garden birds come to the bird feeder.

And my goodness - that house has had interesting folk! The husband of the first young couple, Gerry, was fanatic about the moles that popped up and would wait, sitting on the ground, with large garden spade in hand .. and he would wait .. and wait .. ! Very occasionally he would pounce with his spade but am sure the clever little moles were just teasing.

A variety of occupants since then, including a brothel!! Fortunately they - the brothel - didn't take care of the garden so it went a little wild and bushy, hiding most the activities - thank goodness. Once they left, the present owners took over - gave the house a good cleaning and a coat of paint inside and out. Now it looks like a nice warm family home with a young couple and toddler - as it should be.

Off to visit my Mum in the Cape tomorrow ... will take a bunch of lavender ..