In the space of half an hour, the sun has disappeared and the good old Waitepeka wind has got up – fit to blow the spots of your giraffe! Perhaps the weather man is right – predicting hail and snow in the next couple of days. Quick dash round the garden and paddock to take some pics.
Finally the weather has settled and warmed up a little. So what is flowering up near the house?
Phew! Most of the day in the daff patch. Winter soft muscles are complaining. A lovely mild spring day with no wind. Some flowering in the paddock below
Very busy preparing for the Dunedin Horticultural Society’s show in Dunedin this weekend. Hope the weather prediction is wrong!
Well the weather man got it right. Managed to get entries in on Friday night and Saturday morning and stayed to help steward the show as the judge couldn’t make it from Invercargill due to the heavy snow. Those who would normally steward were judging. Planned to stay and look at the show before travelling home but stepped outside and it was snowing heavily so I bolted for home, an hour’s drive away. Now I have to get back to pick everything up??????
Below: Sunday morning showing the snow on the daff beds. Oh well, they are only flowers and there are two weeks until the next local shows. Can’t see many being any use for the South Island National at Te Anau next weekend. Of more concern are the poor lambs as we are in the middle of lambing. I have a feeling my budget for buying new daffodils will be very restrained this season!!
Below are some pics from the Dunedin Spring Show. Trophies were well shared among the exhibitors. I managed a ‘NAS’ (not as schedule) – collection of 6 daffs from at least 3 divisions – rushed in my selection the day before and forgot to make certain and recheck the schedule and my entry - I only had 2 divisions covered – doh!!! Snow is cleared from all but the hills but still bitterly cold.
30 September
Things got interesting this evening. A big hail storm hit, terrorised the cat as hail the size of gold balls hit the western windows of the lounge (which we also vacated). We were just preparing to load the flowers into the wagon to enter in the show at Balclutha.
This photo was taken after the storm when we got back from Balclutha – still a good covering of hail unmelted.
Inspection the next day revealed nothing but a mess. Some varieties were left with nothing but a couple of inches leaf left, the rest having been stripped off. It was a very sombre me who gathered up the mess and asked Donald to take down the signs. There’s nothing left to view. The final show of the year was done using anything that had been previously picked and still alive in the barn.
Definitely not the perfect spring this year!!!!
2011 postscript – I was certain I would lose some varieties due to the leaf damage that horrible spring but they came up fine and only a few plants produced smaller than usual flowers. Daffodils are truly plant heroes!
Nursery set in rural South Otago stocking native plants, grasses, perennials, trees and shrubs and bulbs. Specialist in daffodils and welcome visitors in spring to view the collection of over 800 named varieties. The daffodil barn has a photographic display for out of season selection of these spring beauties.
