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    Six delights on a Saturday


    August 12th, 2017 - Wildlife gardening

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    This baby robin kept me company the whole afternoon just inches from my hands as I gently worked in the border.

    Baby robin in a cottage garden

    Help from a baby robin

    Our cat slept on the car bonnet and ignored the birds (which luckily he always does.)

    Burmese cat snoozing in a cottage garden

    Our Burmese cat snoozing on the warm car bonnet

    Here I love the way the Virginia creeper is decorating the cat flap

    Virginia creeper

    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

    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.

    Wisteria in a cottage garden

    Now you see it

     

    Wisteria and trachelospermum

    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.

    Thanks for reading my Six on a Saturday and you can read others like this at

    Six on Saturday 12-08

     

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    10 comments on "Six delights on a Saturday"

    1. JJ says:
      12th August 2017 at 9:40 am

      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…

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        12th August 2017 at 9:50 am

        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!

        Reply
    2. Cerstin says:
      12th August 2017 at 10:02 am

      Great post. And your cat is gorgeous!

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        12th August 2017 at 5:37 pm

        Thanks Cerstin, xx

        Reply
    3. John Kingdon says:
      12th August 2017 at 10:27 am

      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”.

      Reply
    4. Jim Stephens says:
      12th August 2017 at 11:26 am

      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.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        12th August 2017 at 5:35 pm

        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.

        Reply
    5. Anne Chamberlain says:
      12th August 2017 at 1:15 pm

      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

      Reply
    6. Alexandra Campbell says:
      14th August 2017 at 4:58 pm

      Lovely post!

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        14th August 2017 at 5:54 pm

        Thanks so much Alexandra. Your styling post has really got me thinking too.

        Reply

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