Barn Wall Pruning Work.

Today we have been doing some pruning work along the barn wall and border. This is work that continues on from the tree pruning that we did last week.

First job was to tidy up the Ivy on the wall to the steps. The Ivy is under control so it was just a matter of trimming the side and then taking back last years growth. I don't know if you can see in the picture but there are some nice wrought iron rails above the Ivy.  

I think it makes quite a difference to the look of the place once done.

As we move along the wall there are some Dogwoods and a Pyracantha that need pruning. There are several other shrubs as well but they can't be pruned just yet as it would cut off this years flowers.

I just cut the Dogwoods back to last years cut and removed any dead or weak growth. The Pyracantha has to have a degree of training as well as a prune. There are a couple of interesting features in the wall that I don't want to cover so it has to be trained to the wall but around the obstacles. 

This year I added a loop around the statue in the wall, I think you can just make it out if you look close. I now need to get a shoot growing off to the left of that loop to balance things out. Also in this picture you can see a Euonymus to the left of the Pyracantha, this was also given a bit of a trim. As you can see I still have the Dogwood prunings to pick up and cart away as I ran out of time. The Euonymus can be grown as a shrub but as there isn't enough room for that I've trained it to grow flat against the wall. The chunk that's missing out of the left hand side is where some non gardening person decided to install a bird box. I expect it will fill in again with time.

Restoring The Balance.

 We had cause to try and save this tree recently. It got pulled over by the weight of the snow that we had a few weeks back. It was virtually blocking the entrance to the wedding barn so if I could if I couldn't get it back under control it was going to have to be removed which would have been a shame.

Thankfully I was able to save it and at the same time keep it looking respectable.

This is a side view before the work began. Apart from blocking the doorway it was also covering a border.

This is the same side view after the work was done. People can once again walk under it without having to duck or bang their heads.

This the view from the other side and gives a better idea of how far it came away from the wall.

Here is the finished article. It's still away from the wall but I've managed to get a certain balance to it so that hopefully it will reestablish it's self with time.

Pruning The Poets Wife.

 One of the jobs yesterday was to prune the Poets Wife roses in the front garden. I had thought of clearing up a few leaves yesterday as the trees are mostly clear of them now but it was quite windy so I thought I would probably lose control of them if I started moving them around. Anyway we did a good job with the roses and another one less to do. Below are the two rose beds of The Poets Wife roses, the head gardener is on hand to offer advice should it be needed.

Also yesterday I removed some of the rubbish from last weeks work in the rose garden. I would usually clear everything like that up for a weekend but there is no one around these days so I couldn't be bothered rushing round trying to get it done on Friday as I felt it was more important to get all the roses pruned. On the way over to pick up the tractor and trailer I came upon Tess trying to organize a tennis ball. Well she loves riding in the trailer so I loaded her up and took for a ride to the rose garden. But that's it once we arrive she loses all interest in the garden and wants to return home so as it was break time by now we all went for a coffee.

Below Tess is shouting at me to get going, she is very bossy and impatient, I can't get going fast enough for her. Thankfully she shuts up once the wheels start rolling.

Work On The Laburnum Border.

Over the past few weeks I have been sorting out what we call the Laburnum border which as been both neglected and suffered from winter storm damage. Apart from removing leaves and forking over the border I trimmed back Ivy on the and a Fig tree in the corner as well as removing completely the Laburnum which was rotten and fallen over. I have left one young shoot which I intend to train flat against the wall as it grows.

Before I started the work on the border.

Part way through with the Ivy and Laburnum removed.

Finally with the border forked over, fed and some plants split up and replanted. I want to do more work on the fig tree in the corner sometime.