Last week I rivalled Tolstoy in the length of my epic. This week, I’m aiming at Chopin. Set your stopwatches and see if you can guess which of his compositions I have in mind.
1 Forsythia
Kept small and neat. Just right for its space.
2 Ribes
Not kept small and neat but still nice. Photo-bombed by crap behind the fence.
3 Garden Tool
Wolfgarten stuff. Interchangeable handles. Remove handle from hand fork. Replace with long handle from rake. Result: just right for forking around in little spaces where there’s no room to kneel down. Idea copyright © Granny. Ta.
4 Decision
Chrysanthemum ‘Vagabond Prince’. Reputedly very sturdy and has even been used as a hedging plant! Won in a plant raffle. Now do I cut down those two long straggly bits or not?
5 Prunus Kojo-no-mai
This has been flowering lightly for three weeks but is now in full bloom (or is it full blossom?). This has reached the size I want it to be so will get pruned a bit once flowering is over.
6 Prunus Nipponica Ruby
Another cherry. Planted last year. Was two feet high. Now four feet high and flowering for the first time. Not really “ruby” but a nice pink.
Now you’ve read that lot, pop over to Mr Prop’s place and have a look for other contributors.
See you in 10,080 minutes.
PS The You Tube video of Lang Lang playing the Minute Waltz runs for two minutes and 15 Seconds.
PPS Chopin didn’t call it the Minute Waltz. It’s real title is “Waltz of the Little Dog”, in French.
PPPS I play the Minute Waltz so quickly that no-one has ever heard beyond the first note – the brain needs time to process that note.
PPPPS The piece should correctly be played in two parts, with a long pause in the middle whilst the little dog cocks his leg.
I have seen some wonderful displays of Forsythia this year. I know it is not every bodies favourite.
Lovely, right up at the brevity end of the spectrum! I hanker after a long handled fork. Used mine to dig some fence post holes, it broke…
Granny has some amazing tools! I like her little trowel this week. As for the Chrysanthemum I would definitely cut those straggly bits off, but then I am a ruthless sort of gal.
Yup. I think they’re for the chop. The base is growing strongly so I suspect I’ll still get lots of flowers. I just wasn’t sure if this sort of growth was typical of the variety.
Nice cherry trees. Did you hear the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 about them?
I haven’t listened to radio 4 for about 10 years! Is that a crime?
Pretty spring shrubs this week. I will also prune my kojo after flowering. Every year I do it, but the more years pass, the more it grows up and I tell myself every time I have not prune it enough. It remains reasonable however
I’ve been doing the same – just nipping bits off. This year, though, I’ll take at least 30cm off the top and probably 10-15cm around the sides. And see!
When I first read about Chopin’s waltz, I thought it was the Minute Waltz (as in “My newt” pronunciation, but meaning tiny). The English language has some strange quirks, or maybe I have. Pretty Six-on-Saturday, I think I need some more spring blossom trees.
Technically mine are spring blossom shrubs though I suppose they could reach small tree proportions if I don’t keep them under control. My version of your tool is getting a lot of use at the mo. Now why didn’t I think of that before?