I could measure the width and the length of this block of land. These lines can be very exact and they define boundaries. There is a street to the south with its gutters and footpath. There is a neighbour to the east and the boundary is marked by a row of lilly pillys (Acmena smithii). On the western side there is another neighbour. Along this boundary there is a fence, a now old paling fence. To the north the final neighbour, behind a reinforced wall. But for all these boundaries there is in fact no real fence line according to everything else that lives in or visits this garden.
4th January 2026. Why return to boundaries? Is it because as much as they are unreal they are real, when a line of a piece of paper becomes a line on the ground. As my neighbour (no.38) neglected his garden and the plants, the weeds, proliferated and knowing no boundaries, jumped the boundary (Tradescantia fluminensis and Anredera cordifolia) appeared in my garden I began to think I need to maintain this line.
Then Matthew came out and cropped the ground cover with a whipper snipper. Well, take a breath. I am watching the English ivy (Hedera helix) progressing along the fence. How long will it take to reach the boundary?
