Kia ora,
Peter was invited to give a short talk on bonsai at a fund raising lunch for the Friends of Hamilton Gardens. The talk was in the pavilion inside the Japanese garden and he put on a display of two bonsai for the diners to look at. A beautiful location on a nice sunny day.
We both had to attend a training day at Hamilton Gardens prior to the opening of the new visitor centre. We’re amongst the youngest volunteers by far and the ‘training’ could easily have been done in an hour but at least we got a free lunch!
Whilst we’ve been repotting bonsai in the garage, Sox decided she wanted to keep us company, but only if she’s allowed to supervise us from the back seat of Ann’s car. Honey couldn’t be bothered and stayed asleep on the deck or sofa.
Our 19 year old mower decided it did not want to work any more – Peter was halfway through mowing the grass along the driveway when it stopped moving so we ended up trading it in for a new one.
Ann spent several hours most days over a week jet washing the drive.
We can tell that spring is here because the tui birds are flying into Pirongia to drink the nectar from the cherry trees planted around the village. The problem is that if they drink too much too quickly they get ‘drunk’ and can fall out of the tree. One morning as Ann drove down the main road she saw a tui sitting in the middle of the road. Expecting it to fly off as the car approached she had to brake quickly when the bird didn’t move! She thought at first that it was injured but no – just drunk. So it was a case of stopping, picking the drunken feathered fool up and putting it on the side of the road to recover.
Our paulownia tree is also a favourite with tui birds. The flowers are huge and stunning.
Peter was on the afternoon shift during the first day of the new visitor centre at Hamilton Gardens.
Since then we’ve done a number of afternoon shifts in the new centre and Peter’s also done one of the new ‘roaming’ shifts where he spent 3 hours walking around the gardens talking to visitors and handing out maps.
Ann’s first shift at the gardens.
Pirongia had its annual craft fair at the end of the month. It was as busy as always and although we didn’t buy any garden art this time Ann found a couple of wood art pieces which will be perfect as bonsai stands.
Our bonsai club show is only a few weeks away so lots of primping, pruning and tittivating.
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