This baby robin kept me company the whole afternoon just inches from my hands as I gently worked in the border.
Help from a baby robin
Our cat slept on the car bonnet and ignored the birds (which luckily he always does.)
Our Burmese cat snoozing on the warm car bonnet
Here I love the way the Virginia creeper is decorating the cat flap
Virginia creeper round the cat flap
This trachelospermum has, without any help from me, made its way along the wall under the bay window to get some sunlight and get out from under the canopy of the monster wisteria. When it flowers next year it will be fabulous.
Trachelospermum jasminoides creeping along under the bay window
Talking of which, here is the wisteria, blocking our windows and grabbing our roof tiles. This week we had it taken down. Even if we had given it the July prune, it would have been back to an unmanageable size again so I decided on drastic action. I believe the trachelospermum lurking underneath it will romp away up the house given light and warmth and that will give us fabulous scent all next summer.
Now you see it
Wisteria taken down to shoulder height
Now you don’t. I am really pleased it has been cut down. The tree surgeons were so careful hardly a bloom in the front garden was affected. Light floods into the house and it feels good to have a change. I’ve seen trachelospermums grow high up a wall and I think ours will now soon cover the front of the house but hopefully not the windows.
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Looks like they have done a grand job with your wisteria, glad you’re pleased with it. I have a Virginia creeper that looks just like yours. Ironically I intend it to do a similar job to your wisteria and cover our front wall, thus hiding a patch of dodgy rendering…
I imagine a Virginia creeper would put on growth far more quickly than the wisteria. They are lovely aren’t they – I hope our cat appreciates its efforts to decorate his cat flap!
What a difference the lack of a wisteria must be making to your electricity bill! Resident cat here, who is a dab hand at catching moles, is a real softie with birds. They land on his head and he hardly moves!
I couldn’t see how to reply to your question about my comment last week. I don’t water the pots but that doesn’t mean they don’t get watered. I’ve installed an irrigation sprinkler system around the garden to save having to lug cans around for hours. But I would imagine that, otherwise, they would need a topup, say, once a week. Otherwise the roots would be encouraged to find their way out of the bottom holes in the pots which would sort of defeat the opject of being able to lift and move them around. They do, of course, get watered in the “holding area”.
I think I’d have gone the whole hog and taken the Wisteria out. It’s not going to do anything useful if you try to restrict it to that sort of height. Sometimes things turn out to be unsuitable and when they’re gone, you really don’t miss them. I love Trachelospermum, you’ll be able to open the window a tad and have the scent through the whole house.
I would have been happy to have had it taken out but the roots are way under the house and the blokes didn’t look at all keen to even try so we compromised. If it comes back I will snip it off as I see it.
So inspiring for the reluctant lazy gardener that I am – sharing your decisions and choices makes me almost reach for the fork and trowel …. great stuff x
After attending Adam Frost's September Masterclass, I wrote in a previous post about his ideas for thinking about designing and using your garden space. Adam’s…
Looks like they have done a grand job with your wisteria, glad you’re pleased with it. I have a Virginia creeper that looks just like yours. Ironically I intend it to do a similar job to your wisteria and cover our front wall, thus hiding a patch of dodgy rendering…
I imagine a Virginia creeper would put on growth far more quickly than the wisteria. They are lovely aren’t they – I hope our cat appreciates its efforts to decorate his cat flap!
Great post. And your cat is gorgeous!
Thanks Cerstin, xx
What a difference the lack of a wisteria must be making to your electricity bill! Resident cat here, who is a dab hand at catching moles, is a real softie with birds. They land on his head and he hardly moves!
I couldn’t see how to reply to your question about my comment last week. I don’t water the pots but that doesn’t mean they don’t get watered. I’ve installed an irrigation sprinkler system around the garden to save having to lug cans around for hours. But I would imagine that, otherwise, they would need a topup, say, once a week. Otherwise the roots would be encouraged to find their way out of the bottom holes in the pots which would sort of defeat the opject of being able to lift and move them around. They do, of course, get watered in the “holding area”.
I think I’d have gone the whole hog and taken the Wisteria out. It’s not going to do anything useful if you try to restrict it to that sort of height. Sometimes things turn out to be unsuitable and when they’re gone, you really don’t miss them. I love Trachelospermum, you’ll be able to open the window a tad and have the scent through the whole house.
I would have been happy to have had it taken out but the roots are way under the house and the blokes didn’t look at all keen to even try so we compromised. If it comes back I will snip it off as I see it.
So inspiring for the reluctant lazy gardener that I am – sharing your decisions and choices makes me almost reach for the fork and trowel …. great stuff x
Lovely post!
Thanks so much Alexandra. Your styling post has really got me thinking too.