The last of my proposed climbers to be planted in the yard in 2024. I checked on-line and most nurseries were out of stock. I was also checking when to plant. Early autumn while the soil is warm was the advice. So basically the time is now. My long term goal is for all the climbers to mingle. Exactly as in the illustration below.

Clematis Avalanche should head towards Wisteria Amethyst Falls. Hopefully they land safely together. Sprawling elegantly across our garage roof. Turning something fairly ugly into something fragrant and beautiful to herald the arrival of spring.

Being a climbing plant in my yard is like accepting an arranged marriage. The chain of mingling stretches from a very happy free gift from a friends garden, a winter jasmine, in the most exposed part of the yard and travels via a semi subterranean garage to a golden fruit producing passion flower that was a gift from Dan, the man who built our boundary extending trellis in May.

In between there are climbing roses, evergreen honeysuckle, more jasmine and a potato vine.

Just like an interfering busy body I am often out in the yard trying to introduce plant tendrils to one another

Sometimes they get the idea of mingling but other times I need to interfere with hairy garden twine.

This morning I decided not to wait for on-line nurseries to restock and called into a local one on the off chance of them having an evergreen clematis. Just one rather sad looking individual was skulking behind much showier climbers. She came home with me and a new ball of hairy twine. My planting of climbers in  2024 is done. Just the mingling to sort out now.

This Instagram post made me chuckle. Excited one step removed really. My dad loved to store pieces of wood. He even bought wood from a wood merchant that he loved with no actual project in mind. His dad and brother were both avid storers of bits of wood. When my grandad died they would have shared the bounty.

When my dad died my uncle told me not to ‘worry’ about the shed ( or wood store) . I didn’t worry. The random bits of wood were guaranteed a good home even if they never made it to an actual construction. I still love the smell of a well kept wood store. Curiously I never photograph them. So some grotty old pallets will have to do.

My name, Juliet appeared in the middle ages. The feminine form of Julian which itself derives from Julius a Roman name.

I got my name as an accident of birth. My mothers mother met a best friend immediately post- birth in a small maternity unit in the 1930’s. The two women remained friends and their daughters, born in the 50’s subsequently became friends. I am the third generation of this female bonding and am named after another third generation Juliet.

I do wonder if my mum’s friend was OK with her choice of name being used a second time. Sometimes an unusual name is chosen for its uniqueness. The other Juliet is a wonderful person so I have no problem with having a slightly secondhand name. Does sharing a name tighten our bond, I think so.

I’ve been a Juliet all my life, it is a name that has shaped me. I disagree with Shakespeare, my name has worth and meaning to me.