Too busy gardening to be writing

Last year, I started this blog - A Sprig of Parsley - as the days were getting warmer and Spring was approaching. I thought it would marry my love of writing with my love of gardening. I had planned to post regular updates and all things botanical. Not just in my little patch, but in other places I saw or visited. Well, what happened? The weather go too nice to sit at a desk, got a bit busy with the demands of little people, getting a big girl ready for high school and who knew graduating from primary school would be such a big deal? Then there was Christmas and holidays and a wonderful trip to New Zealand's beautiful South Island. Is that enough excuses? So here I am, back at my paid job and back ferrying kids from tennis to netball to swimming and cricket and so on. But I doubt I would change too many things. I am also back surveying my garden and looking at all the little jobs I need to do. First cab of the rank, before an Easter trip to Coffs Harbour, is to prune the hydrangeas. I have mentioned these before. I lovely mass of pink at the front, near the verandah. They are tough as old boots. The house was built around 1910 and I am guessing that they were planted not too long after. I am not in any great rush to chop them. There are still some bright pink blooms mixed among the reddish-green autum coloring of the faded blooms. I will, as my taught me so many years ago in our garden in Ballarat, prune just above a sprouting shoot. I also will only prune the branches that have borne a bloom this year. I am not a great garden waterer but so far, after 12 years owning this house, this bush has survived through drought and excess rain. May it outlive me.