November 19, 2010

A Different Perspective

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In life, it is always interesting to get a different perspective on something.

Recently I was able to get a view of my garden from one of the readers of this blog when Bobbie and Ron Gratz, whose garden is featured in the Dogs and their Gardens section of the site, came to visit.

Some of Bobbie’s photos are quite similar to ones that I have taken, but it was really interesting to see what caught her eye as she wandered around on a November morning.

I love this picture of the trellis around the pond with the rose and clematis that adorn it starting to change colour.  The blue of the post works so well with the blue sky, but this is a picture I would never have thought to take.

I love these frogs playing leapfrog – although some visitors are not always sure what they are doing – it depends on the angle they are viewed from.  I bought them in US and have never seen anything similar in UK.   I love the moss growing between the slabs that form the seat around the edge of the raised pond that is now their home.  I usually get rid of the moss whenever I pressure wash, despite wondering on many occasions whether I should leave it.  Maybe next time I will see if I can get the slabs clean whilst preserving the moss.

When I looked at this photo, I was really flummoxed.  I couldn’t think of where it could be – I don’t have a wooden bench anywhere in the garden.  I looked at the picture again and again and then I noticed the trellis in the background.  There is only one place in the garden where I have that sort of trellis.  I suddenly realised where the photo was taken.  Turned through 90°, the picture is a sideways on view of one of my Trachelospermum growing to create a green window.

We had to have a photo with one of the dogs.  Here, Bobby has managed to get a feel of the garden from their perspective .  There is no doubt that this photo is taken outdoors and yet the garden is almost irrelevant to the story.  Far more important is the mission that Ruby is on – if only we could read her mind.

Thank you, Bobby, for introducing me to a new perspective on my garden.  Through your fresh eyes, I now have a whole new view of my outdoor space.

 

November 14, 2010

Pollarding and other winter pruning

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As winter approaches, thoughts move to tidying up in the garden.  Thankfully, the garden hasn’t yet totally succumbed to the weather.  The problem is that I am not allowed to do anything that would aggravate my hernia.  Lifting and gardening are out of the question at the moment.  Hopefully I should have an operation in a couple of weeks and then I can get back to normal, but for now I can’t even sweep the paths.

So, my thoughts must turn to plans for the garden.  I have a beautiful willow that I have always planned to pollard.  Pollarding is a very useful technique for keeping trees of a size suitable for their surroundings.  Tree roots will only grow as large as the canopy that they need to support, so there will be less chance of the roots having any impact on surrounding buildings.  An additional benefit from my perspective is that after a few years of being pollarded, the tree trunk takes on additional character even when it is not in leaf.  The downside may be that there is not very much leaf next year – we will have to wait and see how the tree takes to the process.

The trouble is that there are a couple fairly substantial branches that leave the main trunk a little too low and I am not sure which ones should be totally removed and where to start the pollarding.  While I am happy to do the actual work myself, my current plan is to find a tree surgeon who will give me the advice (for a fee of course) without necessarily having the job of doing the work.

For those of you who have wisteria, the winter prune should be done when the plant is dormant.  I try to do the job on 1 Jan or as close to that date as the weather conditions and work commitments allow.  I plan to video the process this year so that you can see where to prune and how much neater the plant looks when this year’s growth has been tidied up.  The added benefit of the winter pruning is that you will get even more flowers come the spring.

The roses are another group of plants that you need to think about pruning.  This is a good time to tidy up young roses that have not yet established a good root system.  I leave the main pruning until the spring. but where the plant has put on a lot of top growth, I shorten branches to half to two thirds  of their  height to reduce the impact of winter winds loosening them in the soil.

The rest of my shrubs get their hair cut in the spring when I can see the impact of the winter on them.  It seems a little non-productive to remove shoots that may survive the winter well and leave ones that might perish.  That said, I am very tempted to at least reduce the height of the cotinus that I have in front of the kitchen window.  I love the way it acts as a vegetative curtain, far enough from the window to let in light, but still screening us from neighbours.  However it is a little disconcerting when the plant reaches the height of the bedroom window.

 

September 19, 2009

Autumn Tidy Up

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: , , , |
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Normally I delay starting my autumn tidy up until far too late.  I tell myself that I don’t want to start while there is still plenty of green in the garden – why admit that the summer is over before you have to?  Then I end up with a situation where many of the herbaceous perennials have turned into a horrible soggy mush which is most unpleasant to remove. 

This year, things are different.  Next weekend we are planning a walk and BBQ for our canine family and their humans.  It will be great to offer them home grown tomatoes, probably straight off the plant.  A number of the people have said that they want the opportunity to see the garden, so I looked around and decided that there were quite a few jobs to do. 

The irises and hemerocallis leaves had flopped to the ground and, as I found out, had become home to a selection of fat slugs and at least one frog.  

Normally, I love my narrow paths with foliage growing to loose the edges, but I thought it would be wise to allow people to realise that there actually was a way through, so the plants that had decided to expand to make use of the available space have been tidied.  I couldn’t bear to take back all of their growth just yet though, so there will be more work to do on them later.

Whilst I was tidying, I realised that this is the perfect time of year for a canine party.  My garden may be dog friendly, but there is little doubt that bringing ten or so dogs into such a small space will cause quite a bit of damage.  The fact that the garden is about to be cleared (of the herbaceous plants at least) means that there will be no regrets about any casulties.   If any shrubs should suffer, well they have all winter to get damaged by weather anyway. 

At least I can leave my main tidy until after next weekend and by then it will be October.  Time to put the garden to bed for another year.  Then I will be able to see the spaces for planting the spring bulbs that I am waiting for to arrive.  The key joy of gardening is that there is always something to look forward to – next season.