Friday...Pyjama Pruning

I tend to get up very early; wash up, put the washing in, hang the washing out, clean the kitchen etc etc. At 05:30 I can do all this stuff when the world is still quiet and calm and feel that I can properly start my day all sorted...that’s always the plan anyway!

But what also happens in the quiet of the morning is that my mind wanders off the point...but also that is sort of the point. In the early hours I feel I can conquer the day and it’s the time of day I can think freely...

It is also the time of day I love most in my garden...even though I’m always still in my pyjamas!

This Virginia Creeper is basically one of the foundations of the garden...

but in the Summer it needs a haircut about every 2 weeks otherwise my whole garden would become completely creeperised...

It looks amazing in the Autumn as it turns red, but I find it very tricky to work into arrangements at this time of year; it’s dainty fronds wilt almost immediately that they’re inside and I really struggle to show the leaves natural flow and beauty.  So I made that my table challenge this morning...

There is great satisfaction in tidying up and cutting this beast, but the part which is really boring is the combing of the cut leaves out of the other plants...

  out of the paths...

and into giant piles in various parts of the garden, whilst it barely looks like anything has happened to plant itself!

I’d started to prune yesterday, as one of my pet-hates is a Buddleia covered in dead blooms ( that’s the pile on the blanket behind )...at least by cutting the buddleia back now, I can probably have a second flowering in September...not as large, but still pretty.

Also pruning it now means not such an enormous task later on, as I always prune it back very hard in the Autumn. I try to save as many of it’s branches as I can, because I like to use some of them as garden sticks to prop things up and also, although its a tedious task, if you break them up into small stems, it makes great kindling for the winter when it’s dry.

But out there at 6am, I realised that actually everything seemed to need a cutting back...

the Shasta Daisies...

...the Sage, and even some Montbretia

When I’d realised yesterday afternoon, that there was going to be a lot to take to the tip, I got the blanket out as it makes it a lot easier to transport...although I think Cheeks assumed it was laid out specifically for him...

By about 07:30 I had cut, combed and bagged up the greenery...

I always worry a bit about what might have inadvertently joined the cuttings; I saw a toad loping away from the blanket bundle and a couple of tiny froglets,  just before I caught this ladybird...

and I waited until I’d completely finished in the garden before my cup of tea this morning...

...which was finished in almost one gulp!