Gardening
More autumn pruning of my garden hedges in Keswick to trim the spike growth and maintain the illusion that the garden is a seamless part of the Lake District countryside. Protection very necessary against the sharp needles on this Juniperus horizontalis, it smells like Juniper but grows and spreads as rapidly as a Leylandi, except that it stays low.
The ground-feeding birds - Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds, Thrush etc - appreciate my clearing the ground level where they can hide from the carnivore birds - Magpies, Rooks, Crows, Jackdaws etc - which threaten them. I distribute the cut branches for the insects but smaller cuttings don’t shred well so they end up bagged for a trip in the car to the council tip at Flusco Wood.
Autumn sunshine but past the equinox so time for pruning the Wisteria on my London patio garden. It’s been growing here since the Sixties at least, so deserves to be treated with care and respect; nonetheless it needs pruning hard to control its spread and keep it flowering. Then chopping up and bagging the trimmings.
Great to be greeted by large flowers on one of the cacti in my balcony cactus garden in Marseille. Probably a variety of Echinopsis, maybe Echinopsis Formosa.
- My Marseille cactus garden
- Up-potting my Marseille cactus garden
- Weeding my cactus garden
- Cactus show time
Lots of strenuous work in my garden in Keswick now that it’s the time for trimming and pruning. The meadow has had its cuts, firstly the strimmer, then the Flymo a few days later; That was a struggle so next year it would be better to cut earlier. And time to trim the hedges now that this year’s fledglings have flown the nests. The hedges are mostly accessible from ground level now, which saves the bother of a ladder and is safer for me.
More photos: August trim time - Lake District National Park,
Walking through a tree fern forest, then a lush swamp of Gunnera as well as alongside traditional borders in a walled garden, Logan Garden’s display is a welcome surprise in the far south-western tip of Scotland. Warmed by the Gulf Stream and with the benefit of plentiful rain, the garden rarely sees frost or extreme heat. The original collection at Logan, established over a hundred years ago, has been expanded with specimens from expeditions to Chile and elsewhere. Lots of plant labels so you know what you are looking at, plus a selection of interesting cakes in the cafe when it’s time to rest up.
